Adobe vs DE Shaw Interview Questions
Adobe lists 148 LeetCode interview questions while DE Shaw lists 105. They share 23 problems — 16% of Adobe's bank and 22% of DE Shaw's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 125 Adobe-only and 82 DE Shaw-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 23 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Adobe and DE Shaw.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Adobe-specific problems like Group Anagrams, Special Binary String, Add Two Numbers and DE Shaw-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: DE Shaw skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
23 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Adobe and DE Shaw.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Majority Element | Easy |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Next Permutation | Medium |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Maximum Product Subarray | Medium |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Koko Eating Bananas | Medium |
| Rotting Oranges | Medium |
| Search a 2D Matrix | Medium |
| Flatten Nested List Iterator | Medium |
| Heaters | Medium |
| Basic Calculator II | Medium |
| House Robber | Medium |
| Sliding Window Maximum | Hard |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Container With Most Water | Medium |
| Decode Ways | Medium |
| Minimum Number of Taps to Open to Water a Garden | Hard |
Unique to Adobe (125)
Problems in Adobe's list that do not appear at DE Shaw.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Special Binary String | Hard |
| Add Two Numbers | Medium |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Reverse Linked List | Easy |
| Smallest Range II | Medium |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Nim Game | Easy |
| Number of Increasing Paths in a Grid | Hard |
| Divide Intervals Into Minimum Number of Groups | Medium |
| Tenth Line | Easy |
Unique to DE Shaw (82)
Problems in DE Shaw's list that do not appear at Adobe.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Adobe and DE Shaw share?
Adobe and DE Shaw share 23 LeetCode interview questions. 125 problems appear only in Adobe's list and 82 appear only in DE Shaw's list.
What topics overlap most between Adobe and DE Shaw?
The most common shared topics between Adobe and DE Shaw are Array (17 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (6 shared questions), Hash Table (5 shared questions), String (4 shared questions), Binary Search (4 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Adobe or DE Shaw?
Adobe has 34 Easy, 93 Medium, and 21 Hard questions. DE Shaw has 11 Easy, 64 Medium, and 30 Hard questions. DE Shaw has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Adobe and DE Shaw?
Start with the 23 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Adobe-specific and 20 DE Shaw-specific questions to round out your prep.