IBM vs TikTok Interview Questions
IBM lists 115 LeetCode interview questions while TikTok lists 351. They share 41 problems — 36% of IBM's bank and 12% of TikTok's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 74 IBM-only and 310 TikTok-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 41 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both IBM and TikTok.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add IBM-specific problems like Find the Smallest Divisor Given a Threshold, Gray Code, Exclusive Time of Functions and TikTok-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: TikTok skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
41 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both IBM and TikTok.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Integer to Roman | Medium |
| Roman to Integer | Easy |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| String Compression | Medium |
| Longest Common Prefix | Easy |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Count Binary Substrings | Easy |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Count Pairs Of Similar Strings | Easy |
| Longest Mountain in Array | Medium |
| Kth Missing Positive Number | Easy |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Minimum Swaps to Group All 1's Together II | Medium |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Next Permutation | Medium |
| Longest Increasing Subsequence | Medium |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Rotate Array | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Subsets | Medium |
Showing top 30 of 41 shared problems.
Unique to IBM (74)
Problems in IBM's list that do not appear at TikTok.
Unique to TikTok (310)
Problems in TikTok's list that do not appear at IBM.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Number of Distinct Islands | Medium |
| Course Schedule II | Medium |
| Course Schedule | Medium |
| Subarray With Elements Greater Than Varying Threshold | Hard |
| Text Justification | Hard |
| Decode String | Medium |
| Word Search | Medium |
| Minimum Window Substring | Hard |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Top K Frequent Elements | Medium |
| Minimum Swaps to Group All 1's Together | Medium |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do IBM and TikTok share?
IBM and TikTok share 41 LeetCode interview questions. 74 problems appear only in IBM's list and 310 appear only in TikTok's list.
What topics overlap most between IBM and TikTok?
The most common shared topics between IBM and TikTok are Array (21 shared questions), String (10 shared questions), Two Pointers (9 shared questions), Hash Table (8 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (7 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: IBM or TikTok?
IBM has 33 Easy, 73 Medium, and 9 Hard questions. TikTok has 34 Easy, 245 Medium, and 72 Hard questions. TikTok has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both IBM and TikTok?
Start with the 41 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 IBM-specific and 20 TikTok-specific questions to round out your prep.