IBM vs Yandex Interview Questions
IBM lists 115 LeetCode interview questions while Yandex lists 128. They share 26 problems — 23% of IBM's bank and 20% of Yandex's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 89 IBM-only and 102 Yandex-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 26 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both IBM and Yandex.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add IBM-specific problems like Find the Smallest Divisor Given a Threshold, Gray Code, 3Sum and Yandex-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: IBM skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
26 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both IBM and Yandex.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| String Compression | Medium |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Letter Combinations of a Phone Number | Medium |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Validate Binary Search Tree | Medium |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Product of Array Except Self | Medium |
| Longest Increasing Subsequence | Medium |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Intersection of Two Arrays | Easy |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Find Minimum in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Palindrome Number | Easy |
| Reverse Integer | Medium |
| Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array | Easy |
| Generate Parentheses | Medium |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Majority Element | Easy |
Unique to IBM (89)
Problems in IBM's list that do not appear at Yandex.
| 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 |
| Count Ways to Group Overlapping Ranges | Medium |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Minimum Absolute Difference | Easy |
Unique to Yandex (102)
Problems in Yandex's list that do not appear at IBM.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Longest Subarray of 1's After Deleting One Element | Medium |
| Summary Ranges | Easy |
| Maximize Distance to Closest Person | Medium |
| Find K Closest Elements | Medium |
| Valid Palindrome II | Easy |
| Move Zeroes | Easy |
| One Edit Distance | Medium |
| Permutation in String | Medium |
| Isomorphic Strings | Easy |
| Line Reflection | Medium |
| Longest Strictly Increasing or Strictly Decreasing Subarray | Easy |
| Valid Palindrome | Easy |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do IBM and Yandex share?
IBM and Yandex share 26 LeetCode interview questions. 89 problems appear only in IBM's list and 102 appear only in Yandex's list.
What topics overlap most between IBM and Yandex?
The most common shared topics between IBM and Yandex are Array (16 shared questions), Hash Table (8 shared questions), String (7 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (6 shared questions), Two Pointers (6 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: IBM or Yandex?
IBM has 33 Easy, 73 Medium, and 9 Hard questions. Yandex has 51 Easy, 67 Medium, and 10 Hard questions. IBM has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both IBM and Yandex?
Start with the 26 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 IBM-specific and 20 Yandex-specific questions to round out your prep.