DE Shaw vs Zepto Interview Questions
DE Shaw lists 105 LeetCode interview questions while Zepto lists 24. They share 8 problems — 8% of DE Shaw's bank and 33% of Zepto's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 97 DE Shaw-only and 16 Zepto-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 8 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both DE Shaw and Zepto.
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 Zepto-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
8 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both DE Shaw and Zepto.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Sliding Window Maximum | Hard |
| Koko Eating Bananas | Medium |
| Rotting Oranges | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Maximum Width Ramp | Medium |
| Next Permutation | Medium |
Unique to DE Shaw (97)
Problems in DE Shaw's list that do not appear at Zepto.
Unique to Zepto (16)
Problems in Zepto's list that do not appear at DE Shaw.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Longest Univalue Path | Medium |
| Minimum Cost For Tickets | Medium |
| Path Sum III | Medium |
| Make Array Empty | Hard |
| Find Peak Element | Medium |
| Find the Distance Value Between Two Arrays | Easy |
| Longest Repeating Character Replacement | Medium |
| Count Sub Islands | Medium |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Unique Paths II | Medium |
| Divide Two Integers | Medium |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do DE Shaw and Zepto share?
DE Shaw and Zepto share 8 LeetCode interview questions. 97 problems appear only in DE Shaw's list and 16 appear only in Zepto's list.
What topics overlap most between DE Shaw and Zepto?
The most common shared topics between DE Shaw and Zepto are Array (7 shared questions), Sliding Window (2 shared questions), Breadth-First Search (2 shared questions), Matrix (2 shared questions), Hash Table (2 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: DE Shaw or Zepto?
DE Shaw has 11 Easy, 64 Medium, and 30 Hard questions. Zepto has 1 Easy, 21 Medium, and 2 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 Zepto?
Start with the 8 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 DE Shaw-specific and 16 Zepto-specific questions to round out your prep.