How Many Windows In Empire State Building

"How much does a school charabanc counterbalance?"

"How many people are currently online in Germany?"

"How many windows are there in New York Metropolis?"

And, near importantly:"How the heck do you answer these crazy questions?"

Because if you lot're interviewing for a tech job, chances are you'll get thrown 1 of these curveballs at some point during the selection process. And when you do, you don't want to totally whiff.

And then to brand sure that you're fix to handle but well-nigh anything, let me share nine steps that helped me earn offers at Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and VC-backed startups.

1) Sympathize What the Interviewer Wants

It'due south easy to get flustered if you assume that this is the same kind of question yous might find on a multiple-choice test — i.due east., there's one right answer and lots of incorrect ones.

Instead, think about itfrom the interviewer'due south perspective. She needs to find someone who tin succeed in this job — not someone who'south neat at counting windows. So what she really wants to know is whether you can handle the rigors of a crazy tech job:

Dealing with doubt
Thinking analytically
Communicating clearly

Thus, accept a deep breath and focus on demonstrating your curiosity, logical analysis, and clear communication — not on the reply itself!

2) Analyze the Question

To demonstrate your marvel, kickoff pastasking some clarifying questions. For example, if you've been asked how many windows are in New York (PS: here's a list I've collected of other tech brainteasers), you might answer by asking:

"When you lot say windows, do you only mean building windows or are you besides thinking of subways, computers, and exhibits at the Bronx Zoo?"

This not but shows off your marvel; it can also save yous tons of agony. Because if it turns out that your interviewer only cares about building windows, this question just became a whole lot simpler.

3) Ask for Time

At present, as tempting as it might exist to dive right into calculations, resist that temptation. There are few people in the world who can write an essay AND read information technology aloud simultaneously. Merely that's exactly what you end up doing when you try to answer the question immediately.

Then instead,ask for a few minutes to gather your thoughts and and so jot down a quick outline like this i:

1) Assumptions

Just edifice windows
three categories of edifice
NYC: 10M people
Apartments: 3 windows/person

ii) Categories

Residential
Retail
Function

iii) Calculations

Residential: 10M x three windows/person
Retail
Role
Total

That mode, you get both the fourth dimension to retrieve analytically and the system to communicate clearly. And no, interviewers aren't going to marker you downwardly for taking a timeout. Because, once again, they demand someone who tin can do the job — and very few tech jobs involve solving brainteasers live, on-phase!

4) Give a Roadmap

With your outline in-hand, information technology's time to give your interviewera roadmap to your answer. That's because so many answers get off the runway when yous think you're existence clear but the interviewer is totally lost.

Thus, you say:

"OK, so I'm going to solve this trouble in 3 steps. First I'grand going to proper noun my assumptions. Adjacent, I'm going to interruption the problem into relevant categories. And finally, I'm going to make calculations for each category."

Now, the interviewer can continue track of your progress at every step ("OK, she just laid out her assumptions. Check!"). And, as a bonus, you come across every bit way more than organized and analytical.

five) State Your Assumptions

Every bit mentioned up-front, these questions rarely have one right answer. I mean, even the mayor of New York doesn't know exactly how many windows are in his city!

So instead of getting caught up in the search for an illusory truth, only make some logical assumptions. And then, most importantly,name and justify your assumptions.

For instance, yous might say:

"When it comes to apartment windows, I'm going to assume that in that location are iii windows per resident. That'south because I've lived in a lot of ii-person apartments that had half-dozen windows, on average. Then iii per person feels about correct."

While this might seem like relatively flimsy bear witness, the critical word hither is "considering." That'sbecause(wink!) psychology research has shown that people are significantly more than likely to accept something with a justification attached. And, of grade, remember what's beingness tested here: Your power to call up and communicate clearly, non your deep cognition of residential illumination ratios!

half-dozen) Pause the Trouble Down

Now, these questions are ofttimes so massive that trying to solve them in one barbarous swoop can exist downright ridiculous. So, instead,intermission them down into easy-to-digest parts.

In this case, y'all can offer an answer like this:

"OK, since buildings in New York are so different, I'm going to wait at the three main categories of buildings separately: Residential, Retail, and Role."

And at present, the question that in one case looked freakishly scary has get quasi-reasonable — and you get to flex your analytical biceps!

7) Round!

While knowing that at that place were 8.406 one thousand thousand people in New York in 2013 might help you lot win Trivia Nighttime at the demographers' bar, trying to multiply 8.406 times anything is a recipe for disaster. So do yourself a big favor andcircular to the juiciest whole number yous can think of:

"Alright, I'm going to say there are about 10 one thousand thousand people living in New York, give or take a 1000000…"

Once more, no one's testing your Rain Man skills. And this will pay off large fourth dimension when you're prepare to…

8) Summate on Paper

It might feel safer to practice your calculations in your caput so the interviewer can't meet your crummy arithmetic skills. But that'south merely nuts — over again, who tin pull off 27 different mental calculations while simultaneously obeying the 95 rules of interview etiquette?

And so skip the Math Olympiad stuff andshow your work on paper or a whiteboard, pace-by-step:

"OK, at that place are 10 million people in NYC. So I'm going to multiply that times 3 windows per person to get 30 million residential windows. Now let's move on to retail…"

Now, fifty-fifty if you do mess upward, yous have the visibility to stop yourself before your errors snowball into an avalanche.

9) Offer Caveats

So you lot've finally reached an answer (see my complete solution and all my tech interview techniques). Congrats — you lot're done, correct?

Non so fast!

Remember that these questions aren't well-nigh the answer — instead, they're about the process. So before yous drib the microphone, accept one last chance to show off your curiosity and analytical chops bycaveating your respond:

"So that'southward my answer. But I'm not totally happy with it considering I completely neglected development trends in the metropolis. I basically causeless that every building was your typical old-school New York part or apartment, with relatively few windows. Simply all the new buildings are 100% drinking glass, which suggests that this number is probably on the low side."

And now, at concluding, you're done. Which leaves you but enough time to effigy out how much that schoolhouse bus weighs afterwards all…

Jeremy Schifeling is the Founder and Chief Nerd of Pause into Tech , a site for anyone who wants to launch a tech career - regardless of background. As a quondam kindergarten teacher, he'southward a big believer in sharing - and then please share if so inspired!

PS: Desire more interview frameworks? Take hold of my complimentary guide to every type of interview question - from "Tell me about yourself" to "Tell me about a time you..." :)