Cisco vs IBM Interview Questions
Cisco lists 87 LeetCode interview questions while IBM lists 115. They share 25 problems — 29% of Cisco's bank and 22% of IBM's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 62 Cisco-only and 90 IBM-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 25 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Cisco and IBM.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Cisco-specific problems like House Robber, Predict the Winner, Lucky Numbers in a Matrix and IBM-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
25 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Cisco and IBM.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Fizz Buzz | Easy |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Happy Number | Easy |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Letter Combinations of a Phone Number | Medium |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array | Easy |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Gas Station | Medium |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Find Minimum in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Product of Array Except Self | Medium |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
Unique to Cisco (62)
Problems in Cisco's list that do not appear at IBM.
Unique to IBM (90)
Problems in IBM's list that do not appear at Cisco.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Cisco and IBM share?
Cisco and IBM share 25 LeetCode interview questions. 62 problems appear only in Cisco's list and 90 appear only in IBM's list.
What topics overlap most between Cisco and IBM?
The most common shared topics between Cisco and IBM are Array (17 shared questions), Hash Table (8 shared questions), Two Pointers (7 shared questions), String (6 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (5 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Cisco or IBM?
Cisco has 24 Easy, 50 Medium, and 13 Hard questions. IBM has 33 Easy, 73 Medium, and 9 Hard questions. Cisco has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Cisco and IBM?
Start with the 25 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Cisco-specific and 20 IBM-specific questions to round out your prep.