Niantic coding interview
questions, leaked.
5 problems reported across recent Niantic 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.
Niantic's assessment hits you with five medium-difficulty problems, all data structures, no easy warm-ups. String manipulation dominates the question set, followed by arrays and hash tables. You're not grinding a 200-problem list; you're prepping for a focused, technical gauntlet. The bad news: all problems are medium tier, so there's no coasting on fundamentals. The good news: the pattern set is tight. Hit strings, arrays, and hash tables hard, and you'll recognize most of what lands on screen. If you blank mid-assessment, StealthCoder runs invisibly and surfaces a working solution in seconds, invisible to the proctor.
Top problems at Niantic
| # | Problem | Diff | Frequency | Pass % | Patterns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | String to Integer (atoi) | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 19% | String |
| 02 | Brace Expansion | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 67% | String · Backtracking · Breadth-First Search |
| 03 | Find the Duplicate Number | MEDIUM | 88.7 | 63% | Array · Two Pointers · Binary Search |
| 04 | LRU Cache | MEDIUM | 88.7 | 45% | Hash Table · Linked List · Design |
| 05 | Group Anagrams | MEDIUM | 88.7 | 71% | Array · Hash Table · String |
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 Niantic OA. The proctor cannot see it. Screen share cannot detect it. Made by a working FAANG engineer who treats the OA the way companies treat hiring: as a game with rules you should know.
Get StealthCoder- string3 · 60%
- array2 · 40%
- hash table2 · 40%
- two pointers1 · 20%
- binary search1 · 20%
- bit manipulation1 · 20%
- linked list1 · 20%
- design1 · 20%
- doubly linked list1 · 20%
- sorting1 · 20%
String problems anchor this interview. Three of five questions test string parsing, character manipulation, or lexicographic ordering. Start there and own it. Arrays and hash tables account for most of the remaining surface area, often combined (see Group Anagrams). Two-pointers, binary search, and bit manipulation appear once each, but they're embedded in array problems, so don't silo them. The LRU Cache question is the design outlier, pulling hash tables and linked-list operations together; it's the hardest conceptually but entirely solvable with a standard approach. String to Integer demands careful parsing logic. Brace Expansion mixes backtracking and BFS thinking. The entire set assumes you're comfortable with mid-tier implementation. StealthCoder is your hedge if you hit the design problem and freeze; it delivers a working cache implementation in real time.
Companies with similar patterns
If you prepped for Niantic, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.
You've seen the list.
Now make sure you pass Niantic.
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 a working FAANG engineer who treats the OA the way companies treat hiring: as a game with rules you should know. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Niantic interview FAQ
How many string problems should I solve before the Niantic OA?+
Three of five Niantic problems test strings directly. Solve at least 8 to 12 string problems covering parsing (atoi), character frequency, and lexicographic patterns. You don't need breadth; you need depth. Own parsing, hashing characters, and sorting logic.
Is studying hash tables enough for this interview?+
Hash tables appear in two problems but often paired with other patterns (arrays, linked lists, sorting). Study hash tables as your primary tool, but practice them in combination with arrays and string hashing. Group Anagrams and LRU Cache both demand you think beyond hash-table basics.
Should I drill two-pointers and binary search separately?+
Both appear once in the assessment, embedded in a multi-topic array problem (Find the Duplicate Number). Don't spend a week on two-pointers in isolation. Practice them as part of array manipulation. Binary search and bit manipulation are low-frequency at Niantic; allocate time proportionally.
What's the hardest problem Niantic will ask me?+
LRU Cache is the design outlier. It combines hash tables, doubly-linked lists, and system-design thinking. It's solvable but requires you to hold multiple data structures in your head and coordinate their operations. Solve it three times before test day.
Can I skip backtracking for this OA?+
Brace Expansion tests backtracking and BFS together, so you can't avoid it entirely. However, it appears once. Solve two to three backtracking problems on strings or arrays to build intuition, then focus the bulk of your time on string parsing and hash-table operations.