Interview Intel · Chime

Chime coding interview
questions, leaked.

2 problems reported across recent Chime interviews. Top patterns: array, math, depth first search. The list below is what most reported candidates actually saw, plus the honest play if you can't grind all of it.

Founder's read

Chime's interview pulls from a shallow but tricky pool. Two problems reported, both medium difficulty, and they span graph traversal, geometry, string manipulation, and backtracking. You're not drowning in volume here, but the breadth is real. "Detonate the Maximum Bombs" mixes distance calculations with graph search. "Letter Combinations of a Phone Number" is a classic backtracking trap. The good news: you can drill both thoroughly before the assessment. The hedge: if you blank on the live OA, StealthCoder surfaces a working solution in seconds, invisible to the proctor.

Tracked problems
2
Easy
0/ 0%
Medium
2/ 100%
Hard
0/ 0%

Top problems at Chime

leaked_problems.csv2 rows
#ProblemDiffFrequency
01Detonate the Maximum BombsMEDIUM
100.0
02Letter Combinations of a Phone NumberMEDIUM
66.5

Frequencies derived from public community-tagged interview reports. Click a row to view on LeetCode.

The hedge

You have a week, maybe less. You can't out-grind the list above. StealthCoder runs invisibly during the actual Chime 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
Topic distribution
What this means

What jumps out is that Chime's problem set forces you to think in multiple dimensions at once. Geometry and graph theory collide in the bomb problem. String generation and recursive state management collide in the phone combinations problem. Neither leans heavily on data-structure brute force alone. Your prep should start with understanding how to model spatial relationships as graphs, then practice the backtracking template cold, because both problems demand clean recursion. Arrays and hash tables are helpers here, not anchors. The math component is mostly distance formulae, not number theory. If you've seen these two problems before, you're in a strong position. If not, StealthCoder is your real-time fallback the moment you realize the pattern during the assessment.

Companies with similar patterns

If you prepped for Chime, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.

The honest play

You've seen the list. Now make sure you pass Chime.

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.

Chime interview FAQ

Should I memorize both Chime problems or learn the patterns instead?+

Learn the patterns. "Detonate" teaches you graph modeling with geometry constraints. "Letter Combinations" teaches recursive backtracking with string building. Memorizing the solutions won't help if the actual assessment tweaks the input format or adds a constraint. Understand the underlying template instead.

Is backtracking the most critical topic for Chime?+

Both problems touch it, but they're equally weighted in the sample. Prioritize understanding graph traversal and spatial distance calculations first (for the bomb problem), then cement backtracking afterward. Neither dominates; both are mandatory.

Do I need to know advanced geometry for Chime's interview?+

No. The geometry here is basic: distance between two points. Euclidean distance formula and range checks. If you can calculate the distance between coordinates and compare it to a threshold, you're fine.

How much time should I spend on hash tables and strings for Chime prep?+

Hash tables appear once, strings once. They're secondary tools in "Letter Combinations," not the core challenge. Spend 20 percent of your time here. The real work is the recursion and state tracking, not the data structure.

Can I pass Chime's assessment without seeing these specific problems before?+

Yes, if you know graph search algorithms and backtracking templates well. Both are common patterns. The twist is combining them with geometry and string manipulation, but the fundamentals are standard. Drill the patterns, not the problems.

Problem frequencies sourced from public community-maintained interview-report repos. Problems, ratings, and trademarks are property of LeetCode and Chime. StealthCoder is not affiliated with Chime.