BREAK INTO TECH
CRUSH YOUR TECH
INTERVIEWS
HI!
I’M JEREMY
I’M THE FOUNDER +
CHIEF NERD OF
BREAK INTO TECH
L E T M E S TA R T B Y
T E L L I N G Y O U A S T O R Y…
LONG BEFORE I EARNED OFFERS AT SOME OF
THE TOP MBA TECH FIRMS
AND EVEN LONGER BEFORE I
H I R E D M B A’ S , M Y S E L F
HIRING MANAGER
LINKEDIN
V P, M A R K E T I N G
V C - B A C K E D S TA R T U P
I WAS JUST LIKE
THIS GUY
REMEMBER KEANU REEVES’S CHARACTER FROM THE MATRIX:
THOMAS ANDERSON
WELL, I WAS
JUST LIKE HIM:
• Because as I prepared for
my very first tech
interviews as a Ross MBA, I
had a suspicion that things
were not as they
seemed…
• …But, as a former
kindergarten teacher, I was
totally clueless about how
to prepare.
A N D S O I ’ D H AV E N I G H T M A R E S A B O U T
NOT KNOWING THE RIGHT ANSWERS
S O I D I D W H AT E V E R Y O N E
ELSE WAS DOING…
I CRAMMED.
BECAUSE AS SOMEONE WHO HAD NEVER HIRED BEFORE,
T H I S W A S M Y M E N TA L M O D E L O F
INTERVIEWS
AND SO I FIGURED I NEEDED
TO ACE EVERY QUESTION
B U T Y E A R S L AT E R ,
I A C T U A L LY S TA R T E D H I R I N G …
A N D I W O K E U P.
BECAUSE YEAH,
WE DID USE FORMS LIKE THIS
But this was the only box that mattered.
BECAUSE YEAH,
WE DID USE FORMS LIKE THIS
But this was the only box that mattered.
I N F A C T, W E ’ D A L L
FILL OUT THIS BOX FIRST
X
AND THEN RATIONALIZE IT
A F T E R T H E FA C T
W H I C H M E A N S T H AT I N T E R V I E W E R S
DIDN’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ANY OF
THE THINGS I HAD CRAMMED FOR!
SAID NO INTERVIEWER, EVER:
• “Wow - she really did a nice job on her resume walk-
through.”
• “Hmm… he just didn’t have a good framework for his
mini-case.”
INSTEAD, EVERY SINGLE INTERVIEW
BOILED DOWN TO TWO SENTENCES
T H E O N LY T W O T H I N G S T H AT M AT T E R
TO INTERVIEWERS:
• “I really, really liked her!”
• “I don’t know, he just didn’t seem strong.”
O K , S O W H AT S H O U L D
YOU DO?
I T ’ S T I M E T O TA K E
THE RED PILL
B E C A U S E I K N O W T H E S E S E E M VA G U E :
• “I really, really liked her!”
• “I don’t know, he just didn’t seem strong.”
BUT THE TRUTH IS HIDING IN
P L A I N S I G H T:
• “I really, really liked her!”
• “I don’t know, he just didn’t seem strong.”
H E R E ’ S W H AT I M E A N :
W E A L L K N O W T H AT P E O P L E M A K E
SNAP JUDGMENTS
BUT HOW DO WE
A C T U A L LY J U D G E ?
FOR THE FIRST TIME, SOCIAL
S C I E N T I S T S H AV E T H E A N S W E R :
BECAUSE EVERY SINGLE JUDGMENT
COMES DOWN TO TWO CHARACTERISTICS:
DO I LIKE
YOU?
CAN YOU DO
THE JOB?
THE SAME IS TRUE FOR INTERVIEWERS:
• “I really, really liked her!” WARMTH
• “I don’t know, he just didn’t seem strong.” COMPETENCE
SO YOUR GOAL SHOULDN’T BE TO:
• Prepare for as many questions as possible
• Try to get the right answer to those questions
INSTEAD, IT SHOULD BE TO ANSWER
ANY QUESTION!
• With warmth
• With competence
5 W AY S T O P R O J E C T
WARMTH
1 ) S TA R T W I T H E M O T I O N A L
C O N TA G I O N
DON’T BRING NEGATIVE ENERGY
INTO THE INTERVIEW ROOM
I N S T E A D , B R I N G PA S S I O N + E N E R G Y
T H AT R U B S O F F O N Y O U R
INTERVIEWER
2 ) N O FA K E S M I L E S
A FA K E S M I L E
JUST SHOWS UP IN THE MOUTH
A TRUE SMILE
REGISTERS IN THE EYES, TOO
3) SKIP THE BORING BULLET POINTS
O U R S P E C I E S H A S S T O R Y- T E L L I N G H A R D - W I R E D
INTO OUR DNA
SO FOLLOW THE RECIPE
FOR A PERFECT STORY
S T O RY R E C I P E
BAD GUY
+
HEROIC ACTION
+
HAPPY ENDING
+ +
4 ) TA K E A D V A N TA G E O F T H E
P R AT F A L L E F F E C T
NO ONE LIKES
A SHOWOFF
BUT EVERYONE LOVES SOMEONE WHO’S HUMAN -
SO DON’T BE AFRAID TO ADMIT
M I S TA K E S !
5) GET THE INTERVIEWER TO
ROOT FOR YOU VIA THE BEN FRANKLIN EFFECT
NOT BY COMING UP WITH
“CLEVER” QUESTIONS
BUT BY ASKING FOR
THEIR ADVICE
W O U L D Y O U S AY T H I S I S A
FA I R A S S U M P T I O N ?
I WANT TO MAKE SURE I DO
RIGHT BY YOUR TEAM, SO
W H AT ’ S Y O U R M O S T
I M P O R TA N T G O A L ?
4 W AY S T O P R O J E C T
COMPETENCE
COMPETENCE =
C O N T E N T + C O M M U N I C AT I O N
1) KNOW THEIR BUSINESS
BY MASTERING 3 SOURCES
C O N T E N T:
KNOW THEIR BUSINESS
• Their past
WIKIPEDIA
GOOGLE
• Their present
ALERTS
• Their future 10K
C O N T E N T:
KNOW THEIR BUSINESS
• Their past
WIKIPEDIA
GOOGLE
• Their present
ALERTS
• Their future 10K
C O N T E N T:
KNOW THEIR BUSINESS
• Their past
WIKIPEDIA
GOOGLE
• Their present
ALERTS
• Their future 10K
2) KNOW THEIR PRODUCTS BY
F O C U S I N G O N 2 K E Y C AT E G O R I E S
C O N T E N T:
KNOW THEIR PRODUCTS
• Anything that makes $$$
• Anything that’s NEW
C O N T E N T:
KNOW THEIR PRODUCTS
• Anything that makes $$$
• Anything that’s NEW
3) KNOW YOURSELF BY DIAGRAMMING YOUR
S T O R I E S A G A I N S T T H E K E Y Q U A L I F I C AT I O N S
FROM THE JOB DESCRIPTION
C O N T E N T:
KNOW YOURSELF
HEROIC HAPPY
REQUIREMENT BAD GUY
ACTION ENDING
LOOMING MADE CASE LAUNCHED
LEADERSHIP
DEADLINE TO CEO ON-TIME
DISSENSION LED TEAM NO MORE
TEAMWORK SOCIAL
IN THE RANKS AT T R I T I O N
OUTING
MAD REGRESSION 75% INCREASE
A N A LY T I C A L IN RENEWAL
CUSTOMERS A N A LY S I S
R AT E
NO MARKET APPLIED 3 125% M/M
TECHNICAL SEO GROWTH IN
AWARENESS
TECHNIQUES TRAFFIC
C O N T E N T:
KNOW YOURSELF
HEROIC HAPPY
REQUIREMENT BAD GUY
ACTION ENDING
LOOMING MADE CASE LAUNCHED
LEADERSHIP
DEADLINE TO CEO ON-TIME
DISSENSION LED TEAM NO MORE
TEAMWORK SOCIAL
IN THE RANKS AT T R I T I O N
OUTING
MAD REGRESSION 75% INCREASE
A N A LY T I C A L IN RENEWAL
CUSTOMERS A N A LY S I S
R AT E
NO MARKET APPLIED 3 125% M/M
TECHNICAL SEO GROWTH IN
AWARENESS
TECHNIQUES TRAFFIC
C O N T E N T:
KNOW YOURSELF
HEROIC HAPPY
REQUIREMENT BAD GUY
ACTION ENDING
LOOMING MADE CASE LAUNCHED
LEADERSHIP
DEADLINE TO CEO ON-TIME
DISSENSION LED TEAM NO MORE
TEAMWORK SOCIAL
IN THE RANKS AT T R I T I O N
OUTING
MAD REGRESSION 75% INCREASE
A N A LY T I C A L IN RENEWAL
CUSTOMERS A N A LY S I S
R AT E
NO MARKET APPLIED 3 125% M/M
TECHNICAL SEO GROWTH IN
AWARENESS
TECHNIQUES TRAFFIC
C O N T E N T:
KNOW YOURSELF
HEROIC HAPPY
REQUIREMENT BAD GUY
ACTION ENDING
LOOMING MADE CASE LAUNCHED
LEADERSHIP
DEADLINE TO CEO ON-TIME
DISSENSION LED TEAM NO MORE
TEAMWORK SOCIAL
IN THE RANKS AT T R I T I O N
OUTING
MAD REGRESSION 75% INCREASE
A N A LY T I C A L IN RENEWAL
CUSTOMERS A N A LY S I S
R AT E
NO MARKET APPLIED 3 125% M/M
TECHNICAL SEO GROWTH IN
AWARENESS
TECHNIQUES TRAFFIC
C O N T E N T:
KNOW YOURSELF
HEROIC HAPPY
REQUIREMENT BAD GUY
ACTION ENDING
LOOMING MADE CASE LAUNCHED
LEADERSHIP
DEADLINE TO CEO ON-TIME
DISSENSION LED TEAM NO MORE
TEAMWORK SOCIAL
IN THE RANKS AT T R I T I O N
OUTING
MAD REGRESSION 75% INCREASE
A N A LY T I C A L IN RENEWAL
CUSTOMERS A N A LY S I S
R AT E
NO MARKET APPLIED 3 125% M/M
TECHNICAL SEO GROWTH IN
AWARENESS
TECHNIQUES TRAFFIC
4) ORGANIZE YOUR
C O M M U N I C AT I O N I N 3 S T E P S
C O M M U N I C AT I O N :
GET ORGANIZED
• Listen
• How would you estimate the number of LinkedIn users
in Ann Arbor?
• Ask for time
NOTE: THEY’RE NOT ASKING
• Do you mind ifY O
I take a moment to put
U T O C A L C U L AT E A
together a plan?
NUMBER - JUST FOR YOUR
• Sign-post PROCESS!
• Here are the five steps I’d take to tackle this problem…
C O M M U N I C AT I O N :
GET ORGANIZED
• Listen
• How would you estimate the number of LinkedIn users
in Ann Arbor?
• Ask for time
• Do you mind if I take a moment to put together a plan?
• Sign-post
N O T O N LY D O E S T H I S G I V E
YOU TIME TO PLAN A BETTER
• Here are theAfive
N S Wsteps
E R B UI’d take
T IT M A to
KES tackle
Y O U this problem…
LOOK THOUGHTFUL!
C O M M U N I C AT I O N :
GET ORGANIZED
• Listen
• How would you estimate the number of LinkedIn users
in Ann Arbor?
• Ask for time
• Do you mind if I take a moment to put together a plan?
MAKE YOUR ANSWER EASY TO
• Sign-post FOLLOW!
• Here are the five steps I’d take to tackle this problem…
OK, LET’S PUT IT ALL
TOGETHER
INTRO QUESTIONS
“TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF”
LOW WARMTH, LOW COMPETENCE
• I went to Swarthmore College for undergrad
and studied education and political science.
WARMTH:
• Then I taught for a couple of years but NO STORIES
decided I wanted to try something else.
• So then I worked in the nonprofit sector and I
realized I needed to gain more business
skills, so I decided to go to business school.
COMPETENCE:
• I chose Michigan because it’s got a really NO SIGN-
POSTING
good culture and so now I want to work in a
big tech company that has a good culture.
HIGH WARMTH, HIGH COMPETENCE
• All my life, I’ve been passionate about using
technology to improve kids’ lives
WARMTH:
• That’s why, as a kindergarten teacher, I taught my kids in STORIES +
Bed-Stuy how to use Keynote - so they’d have the skills D E TA I L S
to access opportunities their parents couldn’t
• And that’s why I helped iMentor launch a new SaaS
mentoring platform, enabling 300K kids from the Bronx
to Botswana to have a great mentor for the first time
• Now, I’d like nothing more than to put that passion and COMPETENCE:
experience to work for a company like LinkedIn that’s STRUCTURE!
using technology to improve millions of lives around
the world
PRACTICE WITH A FRIEND:
“TELL ME ABOUT
YOURSELF”
H AV E Y O U R F R I E N D J U D G E Y O U :
• Warmth
• How much do you like this person?
• Competence
• Does this seem like the kind of person who could do
their job well?
BEHAVIORAL QUESTIONS
“TELL ME ABOUT A TIME YOU
INFLUENCED A TEAM”
LOW WARMTH, LOW COMPETENCE
• When I was at iMentor, our customers were
initially dissatisfied with all of the bugs in our
WARMTH:
software. SEEMS LIKE A
JERK!
• So I called up our off-shore developer and
warned them that they were potentially in
breach of our contract.
• I stayed on their case and made sure that
they fixed everything. COMPETENCE:
DIDN’T LISTEN
TO QUESTION!
• And that’s how we got rid of the bugs and
increased our satisfaction.
HIGH WARMTH, HIGH COMPETENCE
• When I was at iMentor, we had a big challenge: Our platform was
too buggy for our customers but our developers were too
overworked. WARMTH:
• At first, I felt like it was an impossible situation. But then I realized
P R AT F A L L
that I didn’t really understand what our customers or developers EFFECT
were going through.
• So I made it a priority to spend 3 hours each week with both
audiences, trying to understand what their biggest challenges
were. From these conversations, I realized that there were only a
handful of bugs that our customers actually cared about and that
our developers were spending lots of time on things that didn’t COMPETENCE:
matter. LISTENED TO
THE EXACT
• Based on these conversations, I reprioritized our bug fixes,
QUESTION!
getting all blockers fixed in 1 month and retaining all customers
in the midst of the Great Recession
PRACTICE WITH A FRIEND:
“TELL ME ABOUT A TIME
YOU INFLUENCED A TEAM”
H AV E Y O U R F R I E N D J U D G E Y O U :
• Warmth
• How much do you like this person?
• Competence
• Does this seem like the kind of person who could do
their job well?
CASE QUESTIONS
“HOW WOULD YOU IMPROVE
LINKEDIN’S MOBILE APP?”
LOW WARMTH, LOW COMPETENCE
• So I’ve got a bunch of things that you
could fix in the app: WARMTH:
FOCUSES ON
SELF - NOT
• First, I don’t like how the app takes so USERS
long to load, so I’d want to fix that.
• I also like to post stuff to Twitter and
COMPETENCE:
LinkedIn so I’d add that integration in. NO
O R G A N I Z AT I O N
• Yeah - those are the two things that O R C O M PA N Y
KNOWLEDGE
come to mind right away.
HIGH WARMTH, HIGH COMPETENCE
• Wow - great question. Do you mind if I take a second and put together a
strategy? WARMTH:
SHOWS
• OK, I’d tackle this in five steps:
E M PAT H Y
• First, I’d want to define our goals for the app - are we trying to improve + BEN
App Store reviews, increase usage, maximize revenue, etc.
FRANKLIN
• Second, I’d want to understand who our target customers are - maybe EFFECT
mobile professionals like salespeople or future customers like students?
• Third, I’d want to understand their needs - for example, maybe
salespeople are often walking into meetings and so need to integrate their
calendars with LinkedIn data
COMPETENCE:
• Fourth, once I understand their needs, I’ll consider where those needs ASK FOR TIME +
aren’t being met by the current app SIGN-POSTING
• And fifth and finally, I’d propose solutions to meet these needs and then +
evaluate which ones are most likely to help us hit our goals C O M PA N Y
• Does that sound like a good plan before I dive in? KNOWLEDGE
PRACTICE WITH A FRIEND:
W H AT ’ S A P O O R LY- D E S I G N E D
PRODUCT + HOW WOULD YOU
IMPROVE IT?
H AV E Y O U R F R I E N D J U D G E Y O U :
• Warmth
• How much do you like this person?
• Competence
• Does this seem like the kind of person who could do
their job well?
P R O B L E M - S O LV E R Q U E S T I O N S
“HOW MANY WINDOWS ARE IN NYC?”
LOW WARMTH, LOW COMPETENCE
• Wow - OK. I guess I’d want to start by figuring out
how many buildings there are in New York.
WARMTH:
DOESN’T
• Let’s say there are about 250K buildings give or take.
ENGAGE THE
INTERVIEWER
• Now every building is different so let’s break it up
into segments. Let’s say they’re divided evenly
between residential, office and retail. And residential
buildings have 100 windows on average, office
buildings have 1,000 and retail have 50.
COMPETENCE:
• So then I’d multiply 250K times 1/3 times 100 + 250K
NO SIGN-
times 1/3 times 1,000. Wait, hold on a second while I
POSTING
do some math… Um, I think that’s about 1 billion
windows.
“HOW MANY WINDOWS ARE IN NYC?”
HIGH WARMTH, HIGH COMPETENCE
• Woah - this should be fun. Is it OK if I take 3 minutes to put together a good plan for you?
WARMTH:
• Actually, now that I think about it. I’ve got a couple questions: EMOTIONAL
• Are you thinking only about building windows or are you including others like car windows C O N TA G I O N +
and even computer screens?
BEN FRANKLIN
• Do you want me to actually give you an answer or, in the interest of time, should I just give EFFECT
you my plan of attack?
• OK, since you only want building windows and a plan to estimate them, here are the steps
I’d go through:
• First, I’d estimate the number of buildings by segment
• Second, I’d estimate the average number of windows per building segment
• Third, I’d combine those two answers to get a total
COMPETENCE:
• Does that sound like a fair plan? If so, I’m happy to dig into the specifics:
LISTENING +
• First, I’d want to know how many buildings are in NYC. I’d estimate that by estimating how
many homes, offices, and stores are in New York. Even though that leaves out things like
SIGN-POSTING
museums and libraries, it seems like those would be marginal compared to the first three
categories.
“HOW MANY WINDOWS ARE IN NYC?”
HIGH WARMTH, HIGH COMPETENCE
• OK, based on my experience living in 2-person apartments, I usually have about
6 windows - so let’s say there are 3 residential windows per person or 30 million WARMTH:
residential windows total. EMOTIONAL
• Now, onto offices. So lots of folks commute into New York everyday. So I’m going C O N TA G I O N +
to assume that the working population of New York is actually 30 million - at least BEN FRANKLIN
it seems that way on the subway! Is that fair?
EFFECT
• And again, in my experience, there are probably 3 workers per window when you
factor in bosses vs cubes. So let’s say there are 10 million office windows. I know
that’s a much lower ratio than for residential but it seems like you just don’t need
as much natural light because of all the overheads and the need for efficiency.
• Lastly, it’s hard to know just how many retail locations there are. But let’s say it’s
roughly 1/3 of the space in New York. In that case, if we figure that retail is
probably better-windowed than office space - for aesthetics - but fewer than
homes - for efficiency - we can average the two and say there are 20 million retail COMPETENCE:
windows.
LISTENING +
• Which gives us 60 million in all. Although I’m not 100% satisfied with that number,
SIGN-POSTING
since we neglected development trends in the city. Even though, historically,
there are relatively few windows per people, every new building I’ve seen is an
all-glass monster. Which suggests that this number is probably on the low side.
PRACTICE WITH A FRIEND:
HOW MANY QUERIES PER
SECOND DOES GMAIL GET?
H AV E Y O U R F R I E N D J U D G E Y O U :
• Warmth
• How much do you like this person?
• Competence
• Does this seem like the kind of person who could do
their job well?
RECAP
• Be empathic
• Interviewers are just people
• People are hard-wired to make snap judgments
• Snap judgments are based on warmth +
competence
• Be warm
• Emotional contagion + Duchenne smile
• Tell stories (Bad Guy + Heroic Action + Happy
Ending + Specifics)
WOAH.
• Pratfall + Ben Franklin effects
• Be competent
• Know the business (Past + Present + Future)
• Know yourself (Job Description + Story)
G E T M O R E I N T E R V I E W T I P S AT
• Get organized (Listen + Time + Signpost)
W W W. B R E A K I N T O . T E C H
2 FINAL THOUGHTS
1) I KNOW THIS IS A
STRESSFUL TIME
BECAUSE I KNOW TECH INTERVIEWS
CAN FEEL LIKE THIS
TELL ME ABOUT
YOURSELF
TELL ME A TIME
WHEN…
HOW MANY
CLOWNS FIT IN…
SO STOP AND
F O C U S O N W H AT R E A L LY M AT T E R S
BECAUSE WE’RE
ALL JUST HUMANS
SO BUST OUT
OF THE MACHINE
AND
ROCK YOUR INTERVIEWER’S WORLD
2 ) A N D P L E A S E D O M E A H U G E FA V O R A N D
PAY T H I S F O R W A R D TO
SH
A R E
K
CLIC
As a former teacher,
I believe in sharing everything I’ve learned.
So, in that spirit, please share!
