Lyft coding interview
questions, leaked.
26 problems reported across recent Lyft 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.
Lyft's coding interview is heavy on arrays and hash tables, period. Of 26 problems in reports, 13 are arrays and 7 are hash tables. You're facing mostly medium difficulty, but 7 hards will show up, and they tend to chain multiple patterns together: Minimum Window Substring, Word Ladder II, Smallest Range Covering Elements from K Lists. If you blank on any of these mid-assessment, StealthCoder runs invisibly and surfaces a working solution in seconds. The real risk isn't knowing the patterns; it's panicking when the problem mixes array, hash table, and sliding window in one shot.
Top problems at Lyft
| # | Problem | Diff | Frequency | Pass % | Patterns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Rotting Oranges | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 57% | Array · Breadth-First Search · Matrix |
| 02 | Time Based Key-Value Store | MEDIUM | 94.3 | 49% | Hash Table · String · Binary Search |
| 03 | Read N Characters Given read4 II - Call Multiple Times | HARD | 93.5 | 43% | Array · Simulation · Interactive |
| 04 | Minimum Window Substring | HARD | 91.9 | 45% | Hash Table · String · Sliding Window |
| 05 | Max Stack | HARD | 79.8 | 46% | Linked List · Stack · Design |
| 06 | Convert Sorted List to Binary Search Tree | MEDIUM | 78.2 | 64% | Linked List · Divide and Conquer · Tree |
| 07 | Check Completeness of a Binary Tree | MEDIUM | 74.6 | 58% | Tree · Breadth-First Search · Binary Tree |
| 08 | Car Pooling | MEDIUM | 74.6 | 56% | Array · Sorting · Heap (Priority Queue) |
| 09 | String Compression | MEDIUM | 74.6 | 58% | Two Pointers · String |
| 10 | Smallest Range Covering Elements from K Lists | HARD | 74.6 | 70% | Array · Hash Table · Greedy |
| 11 | Range Sum Query 2D - Immutable | MEDIUM | 70.1 | 57% | Array · Design · Matrix |
| 12 | Min Stack | MEDIUM | 67.5 | 56% | Stack · Design |
| 13 | Word Ladder II | HARD | 64.4 | 27% | Hash Table · String · Backtracking |
| 14 | Longest Consecutive Sequence | MEDIUM | 60.8 | 47% | Array · Hash Table · Union Find |
| 15 | Decode Ways | MEDIUM | 56.4 | 37% | String · Dynamic Programming |
| 16 | Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | MEDIUM | 56.4 | 37% | Hash Table · String · Sliding Window |
| 17 | Water and Jug Problem | MEDIUM | 56.4 | 43% | Math · Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search |
| 18 | Implement Trie (Prefix Tree) | MEDIUM | 56.4 | 68% | Hash Table · String · Design |
| 19 | Sort List | MEDIUM | 50.7 | 62% | Linked List · Two Pointers · Divide and Conquer |
| 20 | Meeting Rooms II | MEDIUM | 50.7 | 52% | Array · Two Pointers · Greedy |
| 21 | Asteroid Collision | MEDIUM | 50.7 | 46% | Array · Stack · Simulation |
| 22 | Product of Array Except Self | MEDIUM | 50.7 | 68% | Array · Prefix Sum |
| 23 | Maximum Candies You Can Get from Boxes | HARD | 50.7 | 69% | Array · Breadth-First Search · Graph |
| 24 | Process Tasks Using Servers | MEDIUM | 42.7 | 41% | Array · Heap (Priority Queue) |
| 25 | Find Minimum Time to Finish All Jobs | HARD | 42.7 | 44% | Array · Dynamic Programming · Backtracking |
| 26 | Coordinate With Maximum Network Quality | MEDIUM | 42.7 | 38% | Array · Enumeration |
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 Lyft OA. The proctor cannot see it. Screen share cannot detect it. Built by an Amazon engineer who realized the OA tests how well you memorized 200 problems, not how well you code.
Get StealthCoder- array13 · 50%
- hash table7 · 27%
- string7 · 27%
- breadth first search5 · 19%
- design5 · 19%
- sorting4 · 15%
- prefix sum4 · 15%
- heap priority queue4 · 15%
- sliding window3 · 12%
- simulation3 · 12%
Arrays dominate Lyft's assessment because they test your ability to manipulate data in place and handle spatial relationships. Rotting Oranges and Car Pooling are the gatekeepers. Hash tables appear in 7 problems and almost always pair with another skill: strings, binary search, or sliding window. The hard problems don't introduce new concepts; they just demand you combine them under time pressure. Breadth-first search shows up 5 times, often in tree and matrix problems. If you see a tree or graph problem you haven't drilled, that's where StealthCoder becomes your safety net. Drill arrays and hash tables first, then focus on two-pointer and sliding-window combinations, because Minimum Window Substring is a real problem and it's hard.
Companies with similar patterns
If you prepped for Lyft, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.
You've seen the list.
Now make sure you pass Lyft.
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 Amazon engineer who realized the OA tests how well you memorized 200 problems, not how well you code. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Lyft interview FAQ
Should I focus on arrays first, or spread across topics equally?+
Arrays first. Thirteen of Lyft's 26 problems involve arrays. After you're solid on array manipulation and prefix sums, then move to hash tables. You'll hit both in almost every hard problem anyway.
How much time should I spend on design problems?+
Five design problems appear in reports. They're medium difficulty and tie to core structures: stacks, hash tables, trees. Don't skip them, but don't study design as a separate topic. Solve Min Stack and Time Based Key-Value Store as part of your data-structure prep.
Is Minimum Window Substring worth drilling multiple times?+
Yes. It's hard, uses hash table, sliding window, and strings together, and appears in Lyft reports. It's the prototype for how Lyft chains patterns. Solve it three times in a row until it's muscle memory.
Do I need to know union find for this interview?+
It appears in one problem: Longest Consecutive Sequence. Hash table is the dominant solution for that problem at Lyft. Union find is optional. Focus on what shows up five or more times first.
What should I do if I hit a hard problem I haven't seen?+
Breadth-first search, word ladder, and range queries are the hard patterns that repeat. If you hit one cold, you have two minutes to think before you're in trouble. That's where StealthCoder covers you.