ByteDance vs Cisco Interview Questions
ByteDance lists 64 LeetCode interview questions while Cisco lists 87. They share 23 problems — 36% of ByteDance's bank and 26% of Cisco's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 41 ByteDance-only and 64 Cisco-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 ByteDance and Cisco.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add ByteDance-specific problems like Remove Duplicate Letters, Smallest Subsequence of Distinct Characters, First Day Where You Have Been in All the Rooms and Cisco-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Cisco 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 ByteDance and Cisco.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| House Robber | Medium |
| Top K Frequent Elements | Medium |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Add Two Numbers | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Restore IP Addresses | Medium |
| Decode String | Medium |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) | Medium |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Remove K Digits | Medium |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Merge k Sorted Lists | Hard |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Jump Game | Medium |
| Sliding Window Maximum | Hard |
| Unique Paths | Medium |
Unique to ByteDance (41)
Problems in ByteDance's list that do not appear at Cisco.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Remove Duplicate Letters | Medium |
| Smallest Subsequence of Distinct Characters | Medium |
| First Day Where You Have Been in All the Rooms | Medium |
| Course Schedule | Medium |
| Combination Sum | Medium |
| Basic Calculator II | Medium |
| Shortest Bridge | Medium |
| Maximal Square | Medium |
| Regular Expression Matching | Hard |
| Design Memory Allocator | Medium |
| Word Ladder | Hard |
| Longest Increasing Subsequence | Medium |
Unique to Cisco (64)
Problems in Cisco's list that do not appear at ByteDance.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Predict the Winner | Medium |
| Lucky Numbers in a Matrix | Easy |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Fizz Buzz | Easy |
| Snakes and Ladders | Medium |
| Number of Valid Words in a Sentence | Easy |
| Maximum Difference Between Increasing Elements | Easy |
| Find Third Transaction | Medium |
| Implement Router | Medium |
| Word Search II | Hard |
| Find the Largest Area of Square Inside Two Rectangles | Medium |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do ByteDance and Cisco share?
ByteDance and Cisco share 23 LeetCode interview questions. 41 problems appear only in ByteDance's list and 64 appear only in Cisco's list.
What topics overlap most between ByteDance and Cisco?
The most common shared topics between ByteDance and Cisco are Array (12 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (8 shared questions), Hash Table (6 shared questions), String (6 shared questions), Stack (4 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: ByteDance or Cisco?
ByteDance has 4 Easy, 51 Medium, and 9 Hard questions. Cisco has 24 Easy, 50 Medium, and 13 Hard questions. Cisco has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both ByteDance and Cisco?
Start with the 23 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 ByteDance-specific and 20 Cisco-specific questions to round out your prep.