Cisco vs Palo Alto Networks Interview Questions
Cisco lists 87 LeetCode interview questions while Palo Alto Networks lists 46. They share 16 problems — 18% of Cisco's bank and 35% of Palo Alto Networks's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 71 Cisco-only and 30 Palo Alto Networks-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 16 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Cisco and Palo Alto Networks.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Cisco-specific problems like House Robber, Predict the Winner, Lucky Numbers in a Matrix and Palo Alto Networks-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
16 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Cisco and Palo Alto Networks.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Linked List Cycle | Easy |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Decode String | Medium |
| Add Two Numbers | Medium |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) | Medium |
| Restore IP Addresses | Medium |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Min Stack | Medium |
| Sliding Window Maximum | Hard |
Unique to Cisco (71)
Problems in Cisco's list that do not appear at Palo Alto Networks.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| House Robber | Medium |
| 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 |
Unique to Palo Alto Networks (30)
Problems in Palo Alto Networks's list that do not appear at Cisco.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Find the Longest Equal Subarray | Medium |
| Logger Rate Limiter | Easy |
| String Compression | Medium |
| Design HashMap | Easy |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Minimum Number of Food Buckets to Feed the Hamsters | Medium |
| Binary Tree Level Order Traversal | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Top K Frequent Words | Medium |
| Integer to Roman | Medium |
| Longest Common Prefix | Easy |
| Design Twitter | Medium |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Cisco and Palo Alto Networks share?
Cisco and Palo Alto Networks share 16 LeetCode interview questions. 71 problems appear only in Cisco's list and 30 appear only in Palo Alto Networks's list.
What topics overlap most between Cisco and Palo Alto Networks?
The most common shared topics between Cisco and Palo Alto Networks are Hash Table (7 shared questions), Array (7 shared questions), String (6 shared questions), Two Pointers (3 shared questions), Linked List (3 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Cisco or Palo Alto Networks?
Cisco has 24 Easy, 50 Medium, and 13 Hard questions. Palo Alto Networks has 12 Easy, 29 Medium, and 5 Hard questions. Cisco has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Cisco and Palo Alto Networks?
Start with the 16 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Cisco-specific and 20 Palo Alto Networks-specific questions to round out your prep.