Dream of working in Cupertino? Or just want to scramble your brain and break out in a cold sweat at some nightmare brainteasers? Check out this selection of 10 of the toughest Apple job interview questions to be asked in genuine Apple interviews.
10 toughest Apple job interview questions
We alternately praise and criticize the folks at Apple depending on whether they just created the fantastic iPhone or the potentially life-threatening Apple Maps, but there’s no doubting the company employs some pretty darn smart guys and gals.
To see if you could make the cut, see how you do with these hairy Apple job interview questions, compiled by job site Glassdoor:
- “If you have 2 eggs, and you want to figure out what’s the highest floor from which you can drop the egg without breaking it, how would you do it? What’s the optimal solution?” — Software Engineer candidate
- “How many children are born every day?” — Global Supply Manager candidate
- “You have a 100 coins laying flat on a table, each with a head side and a tail side. 10 of them are heads up, 90 are tails up. You can’t feel, see or in any other way find out which side is up. Split the coins into two piles such that there are the same number of heads in each pile.” — Software Engineer candidate
- “There are three boxes, one contains only apples, one contains only oranges, and one contains both apples and oranges. The boxes have been incorrectly labeled such that no label identifies the actual contents of the box it labels. Opening just one box, and without looking in the box, you take out one piece of fruit. By looking at the fruit, how can you immediately label all of the boxes correctly?” — Software QA Engineer candidate
- “How would you breakdown the cost of this pen?” — Global Supply Manager candidate
- “Are you smart?” — Build Engineer candidate
- “You put a glass of water on a record turntable and begin slowly increasing the speed. What happens first — does the glass slide off, tip over, or does the water splash out?” — Mechanical Engineer candidate
- “What’s more important, fixing the customer’s problem or creating a good customer experience?” — Apple At Home Advisor candidate
- “If you’re given a jar with a mix of fair and unfair coins, and you pull one out and flip it 3 times, and get the specific sequence heads heads tails, what are the chances that you pulled out a fair or an unfair coin?” — Lead Analyst candidate
- “How would you test a toaster?” — Software QA Engineer candidate
Share your own experiences at Apple job interviews
How did you fare? Obviously, without the answers being provided, it’s not too easy to gauge. However, I do a lot better on the general brainteasers than on the more- nightmarish Apple-specific job interview questions like number eight.
If you ever faced a real Apple job interview, or an equally tough interview with another tech company, tell us about your experience in the comments below. I’m sure Cult of Mac readers would be fascinated to know the deets.
Source: Time
