Amazon vs DE Shaw Interview Questions
Amazon lists 1,968 LeetCode interview questions while DE Shaw lists 105. They share 79 problems — 4% of Amazon's bank and 75% of DE Shaw's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 1,889 Amazon-only and 26 DE Shaw-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 79 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Amazon and DE Shaw.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Amazon-specific problems like Group Anagrams, Add Two Numbers, 3Sum 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
79 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Amazon and DE Shaw.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Two Sum | Easy |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Reorganize String | Medium |
| Container With Most Water | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Koko Eating Bananas | Medium |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Rotting Oranges | Medium |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Majority Element | Easy |
| House Robber | Medium |
| Letter Combinations of a Phone Number | Medium |
| Sliding Window Maximum | Hard |
| Next Permutation | Medium |
| Unique Paths | Medium |
| Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) | Medium |
| Asteroid Collision | Medium |
| Find First and Last Position of Element in Sorted Array | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II | Medium |
| 4Sum | Medium |
| Search a 2D Matrix | Medium |
| Word Search II | Hard |
| Maximum Product Subarray | Medium |
| Split Array Largest Sum | Hard |
| Basic Calculator II | Medium |
Showing top 30 of 79 shared problems.
Unique to Amazon (1,889)
Problems in Amazon's list that do not appear at DE Shaw.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Add Two Numbers | Medium |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Course Schedule | Medium |
| Merge k Sorted Lists | Hard |
| Longest Common Prefix | Easy |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Top K Frequent Elements | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
Unique to DE Shaw (26)
Problems in DE Shaw's list that do not appear at Amazon.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Amazon and DE Shaw share?
Amazon and DE Shaw share 79 LeetCode interview questions. 1889 problems appear only in Amazon's list and 26 appear only in DE Shaw's list.
What topics overlap most between Amazon and DE Shaw?
The most common shared topics between Amazon and DE Shaw are Array (23 shared questions), Hash Table (8 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (7 shared questions), String (6 shared questions), Two Pointers (5 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Amazon or DE Shaw?
Amazon has 527 Easy, 1074 Medium, and 367 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 Amazon and DE Shaw?
Start with the 79 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Amazon-specific and 20 DE Shaw-specific questions to round out your prep.