Cisco vs Lyft Interview Questions
Cisco lists 87 LeetCode interview questions while Lyft lists 26. They share 5 problems — 6% of Cisco's bank and 19% of Lyft's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 82 Cisco-only and 21 Lyft-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 5 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Cisco and Lyft.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Cisco-specific problems like Longest Palindromic Substring, House Robber, Predict the Winner and Lyft-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Lyft skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
5 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Cisco and Lyft.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Product of Array Except Self | Medium |
| Min Stack | Medium |
Unique to Cisco (82)
Problems in Cisco's list that do not appear at Lyft.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| House Robber | 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 |
Unique to Lyft (21)
Problems in Lyft's list that do not appear at Cisco.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Cisco and Lyft share?
Cisco and Lyft share 5 LeetCode interview questions. 82 problems appear only in Cisco's list and 21 appear only in Lyft's list.
What topics overlap most between Cisco and Lyft?
The most common shared topics between Cisco and Lyft are Array (3 shared questions), Hash Table (2 shared questions), Prefix Sum (2 shared questions), String (1 shared questions), Sliding Window (1 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Cisco or Lyft?
Cisco has 24 Easy, 50 Medium, and 13 Hard questions. Lyft has 0 Easy, 19 Medium, and 7 Hard questions. Lyft has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Cisco and Lyft?
Start with the 5 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Cisco-specific and 20 Lyft-specific questions to round out your prep.