How Many Windows Are In Nyc

"How much does a school bus weigh?"

"How many people are currently online in Germany?"

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

And, most chiefly:"How the heck do you reply these crazy questions?"

Considering if you're interviewing for a tech job, chances are yous'll become thrown ane of these curveballs at some indicate during the selection procedure. And when you do, you lot don't want to totally whiff.

So to brand sure that you're ready to handle just near annihilation, let me share nine steps that helped me earn offers at Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and VC-backed startups.

1) Empathize What the Interviewer Wants

It's easy to get flustered if you assume that this is the aforementioned kind of question you lot might observe on a multiple-choice exam — i.e., in that location's one correct reply and lots of wrong ones.

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

Dealing with uncertainty
Thinking analytically
Communicating clearly

Thus, take a deep jiff and focus on demonstrating your curiosity, logical analysis, and clear communication — not on the respond itself!

two) Clarify the Question

To demonstrate your curiosity, beginning byasking 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 yous say windows, practice you only mean edifice windows or are you also thinking of subways, computers, and exhibits at the Bronx Zoo?"

This not only shows off your curiosity; it tin also salvage you lot tons of desperation. Because if it turns out that your interviewer only cares about edifice windows, this question merely became a whole lot simpler.

3) Ask for Time

Now, every bit 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 it aloud simultaneously. Merely that'southward exactly what you finish up doing when you try to answer the question immediately.

And then instead,ask for a few minutes to get together your thoughts and and so jot down a quick outline like this 1:

1) Assumptions

Only building windows
iii categories of edifice
NYC: 10M people
Apartments: 3 windows/person

2) Categories

Residential
Retail
Office

3) Calculations

Residential: 10M x 3 windows/person
Retail
Role
Total

That fashion, you get both the time to think analytically and the organization to communicate clearly. And no, interviewers aren't going to mark you downwards for taking a timeout. Because, once again, they need someone who tin can do the task — and very few tech jobs involve solving brainteasers live, on-stage!

4) Give a Roadmap

With your outline in-mitt, it's time to requite your interviewera roadmap to your respond. That's considering so many answers go off the rails when you lot call up you're existence clear just the interviewer is totally lost.

Thus, you say:

"OK, so I'm going to solve this problem in three steps. Beginning I'm going to name my assumptions. Side by side, I'm going to suspension the problem into relevant categories. And finally, I'yard going to brand calculations for each category."

At present, the interviewer can keep rail of your progress at every stride ("OK, she but laid out her assumptions. Check!"). And, as a bonus, you lot come beyond as style more organized and analytical.

v) Land Your Assumptions

As mentioned up-forepart, these questions rarely have one correct reply. I mean, fifty-fifty the mayor of New York doesn't know exactly how many windows are in his city!

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

For instance, you might say:

"When it comes to apartment windows, I'k going to presume that there are 3 windows per resident. That's because I've lived in a lot of two-person apartments that had half dozen windows, on average. And and then three per person feels about correct."

While this might seem like relatively flimsy evidence, the critical word here is "because." That'southbecause(wink!) psychology enquiry has shown that people are significantly more likely to accept something with a justification fastened. And, of class, remember what's being tested here: Your ability to think and communicate clearly, not your deep knowledge of residential illumination ratios!

half dozen) Break the Problem Downwardly

Now, these questions are often so massive that trying to solve them in one cruel dive can be downright ridiculous. So, instead,break them down into piece of cake-to-digest parts.

In this case, you tin offering an answer like this:

"OK, since buildings in New York are so different, I'g going to look at the three primary categories of buildings separately: Residential, Retail, and Office."

And now, the question that once looked freakishly scary has get quasi-reasonable — and you get to flex your analytical biceps!

7) Circular!

While knowing that there were eight.406 million people in New York in 2013 might help you win Trivia Night at the demographers' bar, trying to multiply 8.406 times anything is a recipe for disaster. So exercise yourself a large favor andround to the juiciest whole number you can think of:

"Alright, I'grand going to say there are near 10 million people living in New York, give or take a million…"

Again, no ane'southward testing your Rain Man skills. And this will pay off big time when you're ready to…

eight) Calculate on Paper

It might experience safer to do your calculations in your head so the interviewer tin't see your crummy arithmetic skills. But that's just nuts — again, who can pull off 27 different mental calculations while simultaneously obeying the 95 rules of interview etiquette?

And then skip the Math Olympiad stuff andshow your work on newspaper or a whiteboard, step-past-step:

"OK, in that location are 10 million people in NYC. So I'1000 going to multiply that times 3 windows per person to get xxx million residential windows. Now let's move on to retail…"

Now, even if you lot exercise mess up, yous have the visibility to stop yourself before your errors snowball into an barrage.

9) Offer Caveats

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

Not then fast!

Remember that these questions aren't about the respond — instead, they're virtually the process. So before y'all driblet the microphone, take i terminal take a chance to show off your curiosity and analytical chops bycaveating your reply:

"Then that'due south my answer. But I'one thousand not totally happy with it because I completely neglected development trends in the city. I basically assumed that every building was your typical former-schoolhouse New York office or flat, with relatively few windows. But all the new buildings are 100% drinking glass, which suggests that this number is probably on the depression side."

And at present, at terminal, y'all're done. Which leaves you just enough time to figure out how much that school bus weighs after all…

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

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

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/solved-how-many-windows-nyc-any-interview-jeremy-schifeling

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