IBM vs Lyft Interview Questions
IBM lists 115 LeetCode interview questions while Lyft lists 26. They share 5 problems — 4% of IBM's bank and 19% of Lyft's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 110 IBM-only and 21 Lyft-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 5 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both IBM and Lyft.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add IBM-specific problems like Find the Smallest Divisor Given a Threshold, Gray Code, 3Sum and Lyft-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Lyft skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
5 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both IBM and Lyft.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| String Compression | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Product of Array Except Self | Medium |
Unique to IBM (110)
Problems in IBM's list that do not appear at Lyft.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Find the Smallest Divisor Given a Threshold | Medium |
| Gray Code | Medium |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Exclusive Time of Functions | Medium |
| Integer to Roman | Medium |
| Minimum Operations to Make Columns Strictly Increasing | Easy |
| Fizz Buzz | Easy |
| Roman to Integer | Easy |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Count Ways to Group Overlapping Ranges | Medium |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
Unique to Lyft (21)
Problems in Lyft's list that do not appear at IBM.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Rotting Oranges | Medium |
| Time Based Key-Value Store | Medium |
| Read N Characters Given read4 II - Call Multiple Times | Hard |
| Minimum Window Substring | Hard |
| Max Stack | Hard |
| Convert Sorted List to Binary Search Tree | Medium |
| Check Completeness of a Binary Tree | Medium |
| Car Pooling | Medium |
| Smallest Range Covering Elements from K Lists | Hard |
| Range Sum Query 2D - Immutable | Medium |
| Min Stack | Medium |
| Word Ladder II | Hard |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do IBM and Lyft share?
IBM and Lyft share 5 LeetCode interview questions. 110 problems appear only in IBM's list and 21 appear only in Lyft's list.
What topics overlap most between IBM and Lyft?
The most common shared topics between IBM and Lyft are Array (3 shared questions), Two Pointers (2 shared questions), Prefix Sum (2 shared questions), Hash Table (2 shared questions), String (2 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: IBM or Lyft?
IBM has 33 Easy, 73 Medium, and 9 Hard questions. Lyft has 0 Easy, 19 Medium, and 7 Hard questions. Lyft has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both IBM and Lyft?
Start with the 5 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 IBM-specific and 20 Lyft-specific questions to round out your prep.