Cisco vs Microsoft Interview Questions
Cisco lists 87 LeetCode interview questions while Microsoft lists 192. They share 47 problems — 54% of Cisco's bank and 24% of Microsoft's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 40 Cisco-only and 145 Microsoft-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 47 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Cisco and Microsoft.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Cisco-specific problems like Predict the Winner, Lucky Numbers in a Matrix, Fizz Buzz and Microsoft-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
47 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Cisco and Microsoft.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| House Robber | Medium |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| 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 |
| Linked List Cycle | Easy |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Letter Combinations of a Phone Number | Medium |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Move Zeroes | Easy |
| Reverse Linked List | Easy |
| Search a 2D Matrix | Medium |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array | Easy |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Word Search | Medium |
| Add Two Numbers | Medium |
| Gas Station | Medium |
| Single Number | Easy |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Merge k Sorted Lists | Hard |
Showing top 30 of 47 shared problems.
Unique to Cisco (40)
Problems in Cisco's list that do not appear at Microsoft.
Unique to Microsoft (145)
Problems in Microsoft's list that do not appear at Cisco.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Single Element in a Sorted Array | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Reverse Nodes in k-Group | Hard |
| Merge Two Sorted Lists | Easy |
| Roman to Integer | Easy |
| Container With Most Water | Medium |
| Palindrome Number | Easy |
| Sort Colors | Medium |
| Longest Common Prefix | Easy |
| Create Hello World Function | Easy |
| Set Matrix Zeroes | Medium |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Cisco and Microsoft share?
Cisco and Microsoft share 47 LeetCode interview questions. 40 problems appear only in Cisco's list and 145 appear only in Microsoft's list.
What topics overlap most between Cisco and Microsoft?
The most common shared topics between Cisco and Microsoft are Array (20 shared questions), Two Pointers (9 shared questions), Hash Table (8 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 Microsoft?
Cisco has 24 Easy, 50 Medium, and 13 Hard questions. Microsoft has 55 Easy, 109 Medium, and 28 Hard questions. Cisco has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Cisco and Microsoft?
Start with the 47 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Cisco-specific and 20 Microsoft-specific questions to round out your prep.