DE Shaw vs TikTok Interview Questions
DE Shaw lists 105 LeetCode interview questions while TikTok lists 351. They share 44 problems — 42% of DE Shaw's bank and 13% of TikTok's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 61 DE Shaw-only and 307 TikTok-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 44 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both DE Shaw and TikTok.
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 TikTok-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: DE Shaw skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
44 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both DE Shaw and TikTok.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| K-th Smallest in Lexicographical Order | Hard |
| House Robber | Medium |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) | Medium |
| Reorganize String | Medium |
| Sliding Window Maximum | Hard |
| Koko Eating Bananas | Medium |
| Rotting Oranges | Medium |
| Maximum Product Subarray | Medium |
| Furthest Building You Can Reach | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Put Marbles in Bags | Hard |
| Implement Rand10() Using Rand7() | Medium |
| Shortest Subarray to be Removed to Make Array Sorted | Medium |
| Heaters | Medium |
| Consecutive Numbers Sum | Hard |
| Coin Change II | Medium |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Asteroid Collision | Medium |
| Open the Lock | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Search a 2D Matrix | Medium |
| Remove Duplicate Letters | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II | Medium |
| Basic Calculator II | Medium |
| Unique Paths | Medium |
| Maximum Performance of a Team | Hard |
Showing top 30 of 44 shared problems.
Unique to DE Shaw (61)
Problems in DE Shaw's list that do not appear at TikTok.
Unique to TikTok (307)
Problems in TikTok's list that do not appear at DE Shaw.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Longest Increasing Subsequence | Medium |
| Number of Distinct Islands | Medium |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Course Schedule II | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Course Schedule | Medium |
| Subarray With Elements Greater Than Varying Threshold | Hard |
| Decode String | Medium |
| Word Search | Medium |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| N-Queens | Hard |
| Minimum Window Substring | Hard |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do DE Shaw and TikTok share?
DE Shaw and TikTok share 44 LeetCode interview questions. 61 problems appear only in DE Shaw's list and 307 appear only in TikTok's list.
What topics overlap most between DE Shaw and TikTok?
The most common shared topics between DE Shaw and TikTok are Array (21 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (7 shared questions), Stack (6 shared questions), Greedy (6 shared questions), String (5 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: DE Shaw or TikTok?
DE Shaw has 11 Easy, 64 Medium, and 30 Hard questions. TikTok has 34 Easy, 245 Medium, and 72 Hard questions. DE Shaw has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both DE Shaw and TikTok?
Start with the 44 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 DE Shaw-specific and 20 TikTok-specific questions to round out your prep.