IBM vs NVIDIA Interview Questions
IBM lists 115 LeetCode interview questions while NVIDIA lists 136. They share 30 problems — 26% of IBM's bank and 22% of NVIDIA's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 85 IBM-only and 106 NVIDIA-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 30 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both IBM and NVIDIA.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add IBM-specific problems like Find the Smallest Divisor Given a Threshold, Gray Code, Exclusive Time of Functions and NVIDIA-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: NVIDIA skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
30 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both IBM and NVIDIA.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Fizz Buzz | Easy |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Minimum Absolute Difference | Easy |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| String Compression | Medium |
| Longest Common Prefix | Easy |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Maximum Sum of Distinct Subarrays With Length K | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Product of Array Except Self | Medium |
| Longest Increasing Subsequence | Medium |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Find The Original Array of Prefix Xor | Medium |
| Generate Parentheses | Medium |
| Minimum Operations to Reduce an Integer to 0 | Medium |
| Find the Duplicate Number | Medium |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Task Scheduler | Medium |
Unique to IBM (85)
Problems in IBM's list that do not appear at NVIDIA.
Unique to NVIDIA (106)
Problems in NVIDIA's list that do not appear at IBM.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Special Binary String | Hard |
| Merge k Sorted Lists | Hard |
| Last Stone Weight | Easy |
| Maximize Greatness of an Array | Medium |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Maximum Number of Visible Points | Hard |
| Restore IP Addresses | Medium |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Reverse Bits | Easy |
| Missing Number | Easy |
| Dot Product of Two Sparse Vectors | Medium |
| Task Scheduler II | Medium |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do IBM and NVIDIA share?
IBM and NVIDIA share 30 LeetCode interview questions. 85 problems appear only in IBM's list and 106 appear only in NVIDIA's list.
What topics overlap most between IBM and NVIDIA?
The most common shared topics between IBM and NVIDIA are Array (20 shared questions), String (8 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (8 shared questions), Hash Table (8 shared questions), Two Pointers (6 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: IBM or NVIDIA?
IBM has 33 Easy, 73 Medium, and 9 Hard questions. NVIDIA has 32 Easy, 89 Medium, and 15 Hard questions. NVIDIA has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both IBM and NVIDIA?
Start with the 30 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 IBM-specific and 20 NVIDIA-specific questions to round out your prep.