Yelp coding interview
questions, leaked.
29 problems reported across recent Yelp interviews. Top patterns: string, array, hash table. The list below is what most reported candidates actually saw, plus the honest play if you can't grind all of it.
Yelp's coding assessment hits you with 29 problems across two rounds, and 55% of them are medium or harder. String problems dominate the list, 18 of them, which means you'll spend most of your time parsing, matching, and transforming text. Arrays and hash tables are close behind, appearing in 12 problems each. If you walk in unprepared for string logic, you're already behind. StealthCoder runs invisibly during the live assessment and surfaces working solutions the moment you hit a wall, so you can stay ahead of the clock.
Top problems at Yelp
| # | Problem | Diff | Frequency | Pass % | Patterns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Destination City | EASY | 100.0 | 79% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 02 | Course Schedule | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 49% | Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search · Graph |
| 03 | Filter Restaurants by Vegan-Friendly, Price and Distance | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 63% | Array · Sorting |
| 04 | Remove Colored Pieces if Both Neighbors are the Same Color | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 63% | Math · String · Greedy |
| 05 | Word Ladder | HARD | 97.5 | 43% | Hash Table · String · Breadth-First Search |
| 06 | Word Ladder II | HARD | 97.5 | 27% | Hash Table · String · Backtracking |
| 07 | Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) - Duplicates allowed | HARD | 97.5 | 36% | Array · Hash Table · Math |
| 08 | Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 55% | Array · Hash Table · Math |
| 09 | String Compression | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 58% | Two Pointers · String |
| 10 | Merge Intervals | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 49% | Array · Sorting |
| 11 | Top K Frequent Words | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 59% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 12 | Find the Closest Palindrome | HARD | 97.5 | 32% | Math · String |
| 13 | Valid Anagram | EASY | 97.5 | 67% | Hash Table · String · Sorting |
| 14 | Group Anagrams | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 71% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 15 | Check If a Word Occurs As a Prefix of Any Word in a Sentence | EASY | 97.5 | 69% | Two Pointers · String · String Matching |
| 16 | Letter Case Permutation | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 75% | String · Backtracking · Bit Manipulation |
| 17 | Top K Frequent Elements | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 65% | Array · Hash Table · Divide and Conquer |
| 18 | The Skyline Problem | HARD | 97.5 | 44% | Array · Divide and Conquer · Binary Indexed Tree |
| 19 | Minimum Index Sum of Two Lists | EASY | 97.5 | 58% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 20 | Reverse Words in a String | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 52% | Two Pointers · String |
| 21 | Reverse Linked List | EASY | 97.5 | 79% | Linked List · Recursion |
| 22 | Longest Common Prefix | EASY | 97.5 | 45% | String · Trie |
| 23 | Decode String | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 61% | String · Stack · Recursion |
| 24 | Active Businesses | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 66% | Database |
| 25 | Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | MEDIUM | 97.5 | 37% | Hash Table · String · Sliding Window |
| 26 | Two Sum | EASY | 97.5 | 56% | Array · Hash Table |
| 27 | Random Pick with Weight | MEDIUM | 79.5 | 48% | Array · Math · Binary Search |
| 28 | Minimum String Length After Removing Substrings | EASY | 55.8 | 77% | String · Stack · Simulation |
| 29 | Shortest and Lexicographically Smallest Beautiful String | MEDIUM | 55.8 | 40% | String · Sliding Window |
Frequencies derived from public community-tagged interview reports. Click a row to view on LeetCode.
You have a week, maybe less. You can't out-grind the list above. StealthCoder runs invisibly during the actual Yelp OA. The proctor cannot see it. Screen share cannot detect it. Built by an engineer who got tired of watching his cohort grind for six months and still get filtered at the OA stage.
Get StealthCoder- string18 · 62%
- array12 · 41%
- hash table12 · 41%
- sorting6 · 21%
- math5 · 17%
- randomized3 · 10%
- breadth first search3 · 10%
- two pointers3 · 10%
- heap priority queue3 · 10%
- stack2 · 7%
String mastery is non-negotiable here. Problems like 'Word Ladder', 'Word Ladder II', and 'Group Anagrams' sit at medium and hard difficulty, and they all hinge on clean string handling plus hash-table or BFS patterns. Sort second by frequency: arrays and hash tables appear in roughly 40% of all problems, so drill the combinations early (hash-table + string, array + sorting). Math and randomized problems are lower frequency but appear in harder variants like 'Insert Delete GetRandom O(1)' and 'Find the Closest Palindrome', so treat those as sharpening stones once you're solid on strings. The medium-to-hard ratio (16 to 13) means Yelp expects you to handle state-space search and optimization under pressure. If you freeze on a design problem or a tricky string transformation mid-OA, StealthCoder delivers the pattern instantly and keeps you moving.
Companies with similar patterns
If you prepped for Yelp, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.
You've seen the list.
Now make sure you pass Yelp.
Memorizing every problem above in a week is a fantasy. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay that's invisible during screen share. It reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Built by an engineer who got tired of watching his cohort grind for six months and still get filtered at the OA stage. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Yelp interview FAQ
How many string problems should I solve before the assessment?+
At least 8 to 10 distinct string patterns. Yelp asks string questions in 62% of their problem set, so they're your foundation. Start with 'Valid Anagram' and 'Check If a Word Occurs As a Prefix', then move to 'Group Anagrams' and 'Word Ladder'. You need muscle memory before the live assessment.
Is hash-table knowledge enough for this interview?+
No. Hash tables appear in 12 problems, but they're usually paired with strings or arrays. You need to know when to use a hash map for counting, when to build a graph structure, and when to combine it with BFS or backtracking. Drill 'Word Ladder' and 'Group Anagrams' to see the real patterns.
What should I study first for a Yelp OA?+
String algorithms and hash-table fundamentals. They cover 18 and 12 problems respectively and appear in most hard variants. Sorting comes third at 6 problems but usually as a helper step. Spend 60% of prep time on strings, 30% on hash tables and arrays, 10% on everything else.
How do I handle the medium-to-hard difficulty jump?+
Yelp's test is 55% medium or harder, so expect multi-step problems. 'Word Ladder II' and 'Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) - Duplicates Allowed' require you to combine multiple patterns under time pressure. Practice thinking through the state space, not just the first approach.
Are design problems a big part of the assessment?+
Design appears in only 2 problems, but one is hard: 'Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) - Duplicates Allowed'. It's a real blocker if you see it cold. Study O(1) operations on arrays and hash tables, and understand trade-offs. If you blank during the live OA, that's where StealthCoder saves you time.