Airbnb vs IBM Interview Questions
Airbnb lists 63 LeetCode interview questions while IBM lists 115. They share 6 problems — 10% of Airbnb's bank and 5% of IBM's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 57 Airbnb-only and 109 IBM-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 6 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Airbnb and IBM.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Airbnb-specific problems like Text Justification, Maximum Profit in Job Scheduling, Flatten 2D Vector and IBM-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
6 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Airbnb and IBM.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Happy Number | Easy |
| Subarray Product Less Than K | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
Unique to Airbnb (57)
Problems in Airbnb's list that do not appear at IBM.
| 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 IBM (109)
Problems in IBM's list that do not appear at Airbnb.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Find the Smallest Divisor Given a Threshold | Medium |
| Gray Code | Medium |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Exclusive Time of Functions | Medium |
| Integer to Roman | Medium |
| Minimum Operations to Make Columns Strictly Increasing | Easy |
| Fizz Buzz | Easy |
| Roman to Integer | Easy |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Count Ways to Group Overlapping Ranges | Medium |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Airbnb and IBM share?
Airbnb and IBM share 6 LeetCode interview questions. 57 problems appear only in Airbnb's list and 109 appear only in IBM's list.
What topics overlap most between Airbnb and IBM?
The most common shared topics between Airbnb and IBM are Array (4 shared questions), Two Pointers (2 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (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 IBM?
Airbnb has 11 Easy, 31 Medium, and 21 Hard questions. IBM has 33 Easy, 73 Medium, and 9 Hard questions. Airbnb has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Airbnb and IBM?
Start with the 6 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Airbnb-specific and 20 IBM-specific questions to round out your prep.