Google vs IBM Interview Questions
Google lists 2,305 LeetCode interview questions while IBM lists 115. They share 85 problems — 4% of Google's bank and 74% of IBM's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 2,220 Google-only and 30 IBM-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 85 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Google and IBM.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Google-specific problems like Add Two Numbers, Create Hello World Function, Container With Most Water and IBM-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Google skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
85 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Google and IBM.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Longest Common Prefix | Easy |
| Palindrome Number | Easy |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Merge Strings Alternately | Easy |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Majority Element | Easy |
| Roman to Integer | Easy |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Reverse Integer | Medium |
| Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array | Easy |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
| Next Permutation | Medium |
| Generate Parentheses | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| N-Queens | Hard |
| Letter Combinations of a Phone Number | Medium |
| Rotate Array | Medium |
| Find the Index of the First Occurrence in a String | Easy |
Showing top 30 of 85 shared problems.
Unique to Google (2,220)
Problems in Google's list that do not appear at IBM.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Add Two Numbers | Medium |
| Create Hello World Function | Easy |
| Container With Most Water | Medium |
| Recyclable and Low Fat Products | Easy |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Merge Two Sorted Lists | Easy |
| Reverse Linked List | Easy |
| Decode String | Medium |
| Add Two Integers | Easy |
| Koko Eating Bananas | Medium |
| Remove Element | Easy |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
Unique to IBM (30)
Problems in IBM's list that do not appear at Google.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Google and IBM share?
Google and IBM share 85 LeetCode interview questions. 2220 problems appear only in Google's list and 30 appear only in IBM's list.
What topics overlap most between Google and IBM?
The most common shared topics between Google and IBM are Array (18 shared questions), Two Pointers (10 shared questions), String (9 shared questions), Hash Table (8 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (6 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Google or IBM?
Google has 601 Easy, 1205 Medium, and 499 Hard questions. IBM has 33 Easy, 73 Medium, and 9 Hard questions. Google has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Google and IBM?
Start with the 85 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Google-specific and 20 IBM-specific questions to round out your prep.