Cisco vs TikTok Interview Questions
Cisco lists 87 LeetCode interview questions while TikTok lists 351. They share 48 problems — 55% of Cisco's bank and 14% of TikTok's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 39 Cisco-only and 303 TikTok-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 48 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Cisco and TikTok.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Cisco-specific problems like Predict the Winner, Lucky Numbers in a Matrix, Fizz Buzz and TikTok-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: TikTok skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
48 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Cisco and TikTok.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| House Robber | Medium |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Snakes and Ladders | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Word Search II | Hard |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Happy Number | Easy |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Decode String | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Move Zeroes | Easy |
| Reverse Linked List | Easy |
| Search a 2D Matrix | Medium |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Permutation in String | Medium |
| Word Search | Medium |
| Add Two Numbers | Medium |
| Gas Station | Medium |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Valid Palindrome | Easy |
| Top K Frequent Elements | Medium |
Showing top 30 of 48 shared problems.
Unique to Cisco (39)
Problems in Cisco's list that do not appear at TikTok.
Unique to TikTok (303)
Problems in TikTok's list that do not appear at Cisco.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Longest Increasing Subsequence | Medium |
| Number of Distinct Islands | Medium |
| Course Schedule II | Medium |
| Course Schedule | Medium |
| Subarray With Elements Greater Than Varying Threshold | Hard |
| Text Justification | Hard |
| N-Queens | Hard |
| Minimum Window Substring | Hard |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Minimum Swaps to Group All 1's Together | Medium |
| Sqrt(x) | Easy |
| Coin Change | Medium |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Cisco and TikTok share?
Cisco and TikTok share 48 LeetCode interview questions. 39 problems appear only in Cisco's list and 303 appear only in TikTok's list.
What topics overlap most between Cisco and TikTok?
The most common shared topics between Cisco and TikTok are Array (20 shared questions), String (9 shared questions), Two Pointers (8 shared questions), Hash Table (8 shared questions), Matrix (7 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Cisco or TikTok?
Cisco has 24 Easy, 50 Medium, and 13 Hard questions. TikTok has 34 Easy, 245 Medium, and 72 Hard questions. TikTok has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Cisco and TikTok?
Start with the 48 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Cisco-specific and 20 TikTok-specific questions to round out your prep.