Nordstrom coding interview
questions, leaked.
10 problems reported across recent Nordstrom 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.
Nordstrom's coding assessment leans hard on arrays and hash tables. You're looking at 10 problems across one easy, eight medium, and one hard. Most candidates freeze on medium difficulty problems they've never drilled. That's where StealthCoder steps in. During your live assessment, if you hit a wall on something like Course Schedule or Word Break, it surfaces a working solution in seconds without the proctor seeing a thing. You still need to know the basics, but you won't tank the OA because you blanked on a pattern.
Top problems at Nordstrom
| # | Problem | Diff | Frequency | Pass % | Patterns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Course Schedule | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 49% | Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search · Graph |
| 02 | Palindrome Permutation | EASY | 100.0 | 69% | Hash Table · String · Bit Manipulation |
| 03 | Integer to English Words | HARD | 100.0 | 34% | Math · String · Recursion |
| 04 | House Robber II | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 44% | Array · Dynamic Programming |
| 05 | House Robber | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 52% | Array · Dynamic Programming |
| 06 | Spiral Matrix | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 54% | Array · Matrix · Simulation |
| 07 | Meeting Rooms II | MEDIUM | 88.1 | 52% | Array · Two Pointers · Greedy |
| 08 | Word Break | MEDIUM | 88.1 | 48% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 09 | LRU Cache | MEDIUM | 88.1 | 45% | Hash Table · Linked List · Design |
| 10 | Display Table of Food Orders in a Restaurant | MEDIUM | 88.1 | 76% | 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 Nordstrom OA. The proctor cannot see it. Screen share cannot detect it. Built by an engineer who got tired of watching his cohort grind for six months and still get filtered at the OA stage.
Get StealthCoder- array6 · 60%
- hash table4 · 40%
- string4 · 40%
- dynamic programming3 · 30%
- sorting2 · 20%
- depth first search1 · 10%
- breadth first search1 · 10%
- graph1 · 10%
- topological sort1 · 10%
- bit manipulation1 · 10%
Arrays dominate here: six of ten problems touch them, and half of those pair arrays with dynamic programming or sorting. Hash tables appear in four problems, often layered with strings. Your first week should be House Robber, Spiral Matrix, and Meeting Rooms II to lock down array fundamentals and sorting under pressure. Word Break and LRU Cache come next because they're frequent anchors for medium-difficulty rounds. The one hard problem, Integer to English Words, is a recursion and string monster that most people skip in prep. That's exactly when StealthCoder earns its keep: mid-interview, you don't have time to reason through number-to-word conversion logic, but you do have 10 seconds for a working solution to buy you thinking room.
Companies with similar patterns
If you prepped for Nordstrom, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.
You've seen the list.
Now make sure you pass Nordstrom.
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 engineer who got tired of watching his cohort grind for six months and still get filtered at the OA stage. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Nordstrom interview FAQ
Should I focus on arrays first at Nordstrom?+
Yes. Arrays appear in six of the ten reported problems, and five of those are medium difficulty. Start with House Robber and Spiral Matrix to build speed. Nordstrom's assessment weights array patterns heavily, so drilling these first gives you the highest accuracy-per-hour.
How much dynamic programming do I need to know?+
Three problems tie to DP: House Robber, House Robber II, and Word Break. All are medium. You don't need to master optimal substructure theory. Focus on recognizing overlapping subproblems and memoization patterns in actual code.
Is the one hard problem worth drilling before my OA?+
Integer to English Words is a high-variance problem. If you have a week, drill medium problems first: they're eight of ten and more predictable. The hard problem is a hedge case where StealthCoder provides real safety if you run out of time on it.
What should I study if I have only three days?+
House Robber, Word Break, and LRU Cache. These three hit array, hash table, string, and DP patterns. They're medium difficulty and appear frequently in reports from candidates who passed this assessment.
Do I need to know topological sort for Nordstrom?+
One problem, Course Schedule, uses it. It's medium difficulty and involves graph traversal. If you run out of prep time, it's a lower-frequency topic, but if you see it live, knowing the DFS-based solution prevents panic.