Airbnb vs Cisco Interview Questions
Airbnb lists 63 LeetCode interview questions while Cisco lists 87. They share 11 problems — 17% of Airbnb's bank and 13% of Cisco's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 52 Airbnb-only and 76 Cisco-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 11 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Airbnb and Cisco.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Airbnb-specific problems like Text Justification, Maximum Profit in Job Scheduling, Flatten 2D Vector and Cisco-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Airbnb skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
11 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Airbnb and Cisco.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Add Two Numbers | Medium |
| Word Search II | Hard |
| Single Number | Easy |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Merge k Sorted Lists | Hard |
| House Robber | Medium |
| Happy Number | Easy |
| Can Place Flowers | Easy |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
Unique to Airbnb (52)
Problems in Airbnb's list that do not appear at Cisco.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Text Justification | Hard |
| Maximum Profit in Job Scheduling | Hard |
| Flatten 2D Vector | Medium |
| Smallest Common Region | Medium |
| Palindrome Pairs | Hard |
| Maximum Candies You Can Get from Boxes | Hard |
| Pour Water | Medium |
| Sliding Puzzle | Hard |
| Design Excel Sum Formula | Hard |
| Intersection of Two Linked Lists | Easy |
| Alien Dictionary | Hard |
| Contains Duplicate II | Easy |
Unique to Cisco (76)
Problems in Cisco's list that do not appear at Airbnb.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Predict the Winner | Medium |
| Lucky Numbers in a Matrix | Easy |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Fizz Buzz | Easy |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Snakes and Ladders | Medium |
| Number of Valid Words in a Sentence | Easy |
| Maximum Difference Between Increasing Elements | Easy |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Find Third Transaction | Medium |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Airbnb and Cisco share?
Airbnb and Cisco share 11 LeetCode interview questions. 52 problems appear only in Airbnb's list and 76 appear only in Cisco's list.
What topics overlap most between Airbnb and Cisco?
The most common shared topics between Airbnb and Cisco are Array (7 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (3 shared questions), Two Pointers (2 shared questions), Stack (2 shared questions), Hash Table (2 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Airbnb or Cisco?
Airbnb has 11 Easy, 31 Medium, and 21 Hard questions. Cisco has 24 Easy, 50 Medium, and 13 Hard questions. Airbnb has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Airbnb and Cisco?
Start with the 11 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Airbnb-specific and 20 Cisco-specific questions to round out your prep.