PayPal vs Pinterest Interview Questions
PayPal lists 105 LeetCode interview questions while Pinterest lists 49. They share 6 problems — 6% of PayPal's bank and 12% of Pinterest's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 99 PayPal-only and 43 Pinterest-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 6 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both PayPal and Pinterest.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add PayPal-specific problems like Zigzag Conversion, Minimum Absolute Difference, Longest Increasing Subsequence and Pinterest-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Pinterest skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
6 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both PayPal and Pinterest.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Coin Change | Medium |
| Find Median from Data Stream | Hard |
| Top K Frequent Elements | Medium |
| Find First and Last Position of Element in Sorted Array | Medium |
| Combination Sum | Medium |
Unique to PayPal (99)
Problems in PayPal's list that do not appear at Pinterest.
Unique to Pinterest (43)
Problems in Pinterest's list that do not appear at PayPal.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do PayPal and Pinterest share?
PayPal and Pinterest share 6 LeetCode interview questions. 99 problems appear only in PayPal's list and 43 appear only in Pinterest's list.
What topics overlap most between PayPal and Pinterest?
The most common shared topics between PayPal and Pinterest are Array (5 shared questions), Breadth-First Search (2 shared questions), Sorting (2 shared questions), Heap (Priority Queue) (2 shared questions), Depth-First Search (1 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: PayPal or Pinterest?
PayPal has 19 Easy, 69 Medium, and 17 Hard questions. Pinterest has 1 Easy, 29 Medium, and 19 Hard questions. Pinterest has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both PayPal and Pinterest?
Start with the 6 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 PayPal-specific and 20 Pinterest-specific questions to round out your prep.