ZipRecruiter coding interview
questions, leaked.
4 problems reported across recent ZipRecruiter interviews. Top patterns: array, hash table, string. The list below is what most reported candidates actually saw, plus the honest play if you can't grind all of it.
ZipRecruiter's online assessment is short but punishing. Four problems total, one hard, three medium, zero easy. You're not grinding through a hundred variations here. You're facing array manipulation, hash-table lookups, and string parsing under time pressure, with a breadth-first search or binary-search curveball waiting. Arrays show up in 75 percent of their problems. If you haven't internalized prefix algorithms and grid traversal, you'll hit the wall fast. StealthCoder runs invisibly during the assessment and solves whatever pattern you didn't see coming, giving you the seconds you need to stay ahead.
Top problems at ZipRecruiter
| # | Problem | Diff | Frequency | Pass % | Patterns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Find the Length of the Longest Common Prefix | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 56% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 02 | Rotting Oranges | MEDIUM | 92.7 | 57% | Array · Breadth-First Search · Matrix |
| 03 | Split Message Based on Limit | HARD | 82.4 | 43% | String · Binary Search · Enumeration |
| 04 | Minimum Operations to Write the Letter Y on a Grid | MEDIUM | 82.4 | 62% | Array · Hash Table · Matrix |
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 ZipRecruiter OA. The proctor cannot see it. Screen share cannot detect it. Made by an Amazon engineer who watched the leaked-problem repo become an industry secret. He decided you should have it too.
Get StealthCoder- array3 · 75%
- hash table2 · 50%
- string2 · 50%
- matrix2 · 50%
- trie1 · 25%
- breadth first search1 · 25%
- binary search1 · 25%
- enumeration1 · 25%
- counting1 · 25%
The distribution is tight and pattern-focused. Arrays anchor three of four problems, so you need to own prefix logic, grid iteration, and rotation patterns cold. Hash tables and strings appear twice each, often paired with arrays. The hard problem combines string parsing with binary search and enumeration, a nasty combo that rewards clean code over raw speed. Breadth-first search appears once but it's the rotting oranges problem, which trips up candidates who skip matrix-traversal drills. Most of your prep should be on array-and-string hybrids and how hash tables compress what would otherwise be nested loops. The gap between medium and hard is steep here. StealthCoder is your hedge if an enumeration or binary-search variant lands weird, because there's no room to figure it out from scratch.
Companies with similar patterns
If you prepped for ZipRecruiter, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.
You've seen the list.
Now make sure you pass ZipRecruiter.
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. Made by an Amazon engineer who watched the leaked-problem repo become an industry secret. He decided you should have it too. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
ZipRecruiter interview FAQ
How much time should I spend on array vs hash-table problems for ZipRecruiter?+
Arrays appear in three of four ZipRecruiter problems, so spend 60 percent of prep on array patterns. Hash tables show up twice but usually paired with arrays or strings. Master prefix and rotation logic first, then hash-table acceleration for duplicate detection and frequency counting.
Is the hard problem on ZipRecruiter actually solvable in a live interview?+
Yes, but only if you've drilled binary search and enumeration together. The hard problem combines string limits with binary-search logic. Expect a 10-15 minute solve if you've seen the pattern, 30+ if you haven't. It's worth a practice run, but it's also where you lean on StealthCoder if time cracks.
Should I prepare for breadth-first search before my ZipRecruiter OA?+
One out of four problems uses BFS, but it's the rotting oranges variant on a matrix. If you skip BFS prep, you'll spend 20+ minutes on that problem alone. One focused session on grid-based BFS is worth the time investment.
Do I need to know tries for ZipRecruiter?+
Tries appear in only one problem, the longest common prefix question. It's solvable with a hash table or even a brute-force approach for medium difficulty. Learn the trie approach as a bonus, but don't let it block your main prep.
What's the biggest mistake candidates make on ZipRecruiter's assessment?+
Treating it like a volume grind. Four problems is small. Most candidates fail on edge cases in string or matrix logic because they didn't drill real examples. Do five hard repetitions per topic, not 30 easy ones.