DE Shaw vs Rippling Interview Questions
DE Shaw lists 105 LeetCode interview questions while Rippling lists 23. They share 4 problems — 4% of DE Shaw's bank and 17% of Rippling's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 101 DE Shaw-only and 19 Rippling-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 4 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both DE Shaw and Rippling.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add DE Shaw-specific problems like Binary Tree Cameras, Find Minimum Cost to Remove Array Elements, Maximum Number of Subsequences After One Inserting and Rippling-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Rippling skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
4 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both DE Shaw and Rippling.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Minimum Number of Taps to Open to Water a Garden | Hard |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
Unique to DE Shaw (101)
Problems in DE Shaw's list that do not appear at Rippling.
Unique to Rippling (19)
Problems in Rippling's list that do not appear at DE Shaw.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Design Spreadsheet | Medium |
| Design Excel Sum Formula | Hard |
| Merge k Sorted Lists | Hard |
| Evaluate Division | Medium |
| Merge Two Sorted Lists | Easy |
| Number of Visible People in a Queue | Hard |
| Optimal Account Balancing | Hard |
| Maximize Amount After Two Days of Conversions | Medium |
| Maximum Xor Product | Medium |
| Accounts Merge | Medium |
| Synonymous Sentences | Medium |
| Last Stone Weight | Easy |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do DE Shaw and Rippling share?
DE Shaw and Rippling share 4 LeetCode interview questions. 101 problems appear only in DE Shaw's list and 19 appear only in Rippling's list.
What topics overlap most between DE Shaw and Rippling?
The most common shared topics between DE Shaw and Rippling are Array (2 shared questions), Hash Table (2 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (1 shared questions), Greedy (1 shared questions), Linked List (1 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: DE Shaw or Rippling?
DE Shaw has 11 Easy, 64 Medium, and 30 Hard questions. Rippling has 2 Easy, 13 Medium, and 8 Hard questions. Rippling has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both DE Shaw and Rippling?
Start with the 4 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 DE Shaw-specific and 19 Rippling-specific questions to round out your prep.