Lyft vs PayPal Interview Questions
Lyft lists 26 LeetCode interview questions while PayPal lists 105. They share 5 problems — 19% of Lyft's bank and 5% of PayPal's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 21 Lyft-only and 100 PayPal-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 Lyft and PayPal.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Lyft-specific problems like Time Based Key-Value Store, Read N Characters Given read4 II - Call Multiple Times, Minimum Window Substring and PayPal-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 Lyft and PayPal.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Rotting Oranges | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Asteroid Collision | Medium |
| Product of Array Except Self | Medium |
Unique to Lyft (21)
Problems in Lyft's list that do not appear at PayPal.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| String Compression | Medium |
| Smallest Range Covering Elements from K Lists | Hard |
| Range Sum Query 2D - Immutable | Medium |
| Min Stack | Medium |
| Word Ladder II | Hard |
Unique to PayPal (100)
Problems in PayPal's list that do not appear at Lyft.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Lyft and PayPal share?
Lyft and PayPal share 5 LeetCode interview questions. 21 problems appear only in Lyft's list and 100 appear only in PayPal's list.
What topics overlap most between Lyft and PayPal?
The most common shared topics between Lyft and PayPal are Array (4 shared questions), Hash Table (2 shared questions), Breadth-First Search (1 shared questions), Matrix (1 shared questions), Union Find (1 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Lyft or PayPal?
Lyft has 0 Easy, 19 Medium, and 7 Hard questions. PayPal has 19 Easy, 69 Medium, and 17 Hard questions. Lyft has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Lyft and PayPal?
Start with the 5 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Lyft-specific and 20 PayPal-specific questions to round out your prep.