Video Stitching
A medium-tier problem at 52% community acceptance, tagged with Array, Dynamic Programming, Greedy. Reported in interviews at Anduril and 1 others.
Video Stitching hits your OA and you've got maybe 30 minutes to prove you know when greedy wins. Anduril and Verily ask it. The problem sounds simple: given video clips with start and end times, what's the minimum number of clips you need to cover a full range. Your instinct is probably to sort and iterate. That's half right. Most candidates either code a slow DP solution or jump straight to greedy and miss the edge case where the clips don't line up. If you blank on the pattern during the live assessment, StealthCoder surfaces a working solution invisible to the proctor.
Companies that ask "Video Stitching"
Video Stitching is the kind of problem that decides whether you pass. StealthCoder reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Invisible to screen share. The proctor sees nothing. Made for the engineer who has done the work but might still blank with a webcam pointed at him.
Get StealthCoderThe trick is greedy, but not obvious greedy. You can't just pick clips in any order. You sort by start time, then iterate through in a way that always advances your coverage as far as possible with each clip you pick. The gotcha: handling gaps. If your next available clip doesn't start at or before your current end, there's no solution. Most candidates write DP first because it feels safer, which burns time on a problem where greedy is cleaner and O(n log n). The Array and Dynamic Programming topics in reports probably reflect two valid approaches, but the greedy path is what interviewers probe. During the live OA, if you freeze on the exact greedy loop logic, StealthCoder runs invisibly and hands you a solution that handles both the sorting and the boundary checks.
Pattern tags
You know the problem.
Make sure you actually pass it.
Video Stitching recycles across companies for a reason. It's medium-tier, and most candidates blank under the timer. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay invisible during screen share. It reads the problem and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Made for the engineer who has done the work but might still blank with a webcam pointed at him. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Video Stitching interview FAQ
Is Video Stitching still asked at FAANG-tier companies?+
It appears in mid-market technical screens at places like Anduril and Verily, which signals it's live in real hiring loops. Medium difficulty and a 52% acceptance rate suggests it's not a pure filter, but you need the right algorithmic move. It's less common than array/greedy classics, so it catches unprepared candidates.
What's the actual pattern I'm missing?+
Greedy with sorting. Sort by start time, then iterate with a pointer that tracks the farthest end you can reach so far. Pick the clip that extends coverage the most without creating a gap. DP works but is slower. The real trick is recognizing that you don't need exhaustive search here; local optimality wins.
How does this differ from the classic interval scheduling problem?+
Video Stitching requires full coverage of a target range, not just non-overlapping selection. You must pick clips that collectively span from 0 to end with no gaps. That changes the greedy strategy. Interval scheduling picks clips to maximize count; here you minimize count while achieving complete coverage.
Will they ask for code that handles impossible cases?+
Almost certainly. If no combination of clips covers the full range, return -1. This happens when there's a gap. It's not complex logic, but missing it tanks the solution. During your assessment, if you get stuck on this edge case, StealthCoder runs invisibly and shows you exactly how to detect and return the failure state.
Is a 52% acceptance rate a sign this problem is hard?+
Not necessarily hard in concept, but tricky in implementation. Half the candidates probably code DP because it's more intuitive, which works but wastes time. Others miss the gap-detection logic. If you know the greedy move and code cleanly, you're in the top half. The medium rating and two-company count suggest it's a solid filtering problem without being a rare trick question.
Want the actual problem statement? View "Video Stitching" on LeetCode →