Tesla coding interview
questions, leaked.
46 problems reported across recent Tesla interviews. Top patterns: array, string, hash table. The list below is what most reported candidates actually saw, plus the honest play if you can't grind all of it.
Tesla's interview pulls from 46 problems across arrays, strings, and hash tables. You're looking at 27 medium-difficulty questions that demand precision. Half the test touches arrays or strings, so if you blank on Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters or Merge Intervals mid-assessment, you're sunk. Most candidates drill LeetCode in isolation and still hit the wall when the proctor's watching. StealthCoder runs invisible during the assessment, reads the problem on screen, and surfaces a working solution in seconds if you blank. It's the hedge for whatever pattern you didn't see coming.
Top problems at Tesla
| # | Problem | Diff | Frequency | Pass % | Patterns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | MEDIUM | 100.0 | 37% | Hash Table · String · Sliding Window |
| 02 | Find Followers Count | EASY | 95.3 | 70% | Database |
| 03 | Minimum Changes To Make Alternating Binary String | EASY | 95.3 | 64% | String |
| 04 | Basic Calculator II | MEDIUM | 92.6 | 46% | Math · String · Stack |
| 05 | Number of Islands | MEDIUM | 89.6 | 62% | Array · Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search |
| 06 | Merge Intervals | MEDIUM | 89.6 | 49% | Array · Sorting |
| 07 | Building H2O | MEDIUM | 86.1 | 58% | Concurrency |
| 08 | Design Circular Queue | MEDIUM | 86.1 | 53% | Array · Linked List · Design |
| 09 | Letter Combinations of a Phone Number | MEDIUM | 82.2 | 64% | Hash Table · String · Backtracking |
| 10 | Valid Parentheses | EASY | 82.2 | 42% | String · Stack |
| 11 | Top K Frequent Elements | MEDIUM | 82.2 | 65% | Array · Hash Table · Divide and Conquer |
| 12 | Container With Most Water | MEDIUM | 77.5 | 58% | Array · Two Pointers · Greedy |
| 13 | Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | EASY | 77.5 | 55% | Array · Dynamic Programming |
| 14 | LRU Cache | MEDIUM | 77.5 | 45% | Hash Table · Linked List · Design |
| 15 | Subarray Sum Equals K | MEDIUM | 71.8 | 45% | Array · Hash Table · Prefix Sum |
| 16 | Move Zeroes | EASY | 71.8 | 63% | Array · Two Pointers |
| 17 | Maximum Number of Balloons | EASY | 71.8 | 60% | Hash Table · String · Counting |
| 18 | Decode the Message | EASY | 71.8 | 85% | Hash Table · String |
| 19 | Reverse Nodes in k-Group | HARD | 71.8 | 63% | Linked List · Recursion |
| 20 | 3Sum | MEDIUM | 71.8 | 37% | Array · Two Pointers · Sorting |
| 21 | Maximum Subarray | MEDIUM | 64.4 | 52% | Array · Divide and Conquer · Dynamic Programming |
| 22 | Reorganize String | MEDIUM | 64.4 | 56% | Hash Table · String · Greedy |
| 23 | Max Area of Island | MEDIUM | 64.4 | 73% | Array · Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search |
| 24 | Valid Anagram | EASY | 64.4 | 67% | Hash Table · String · Sorting |
| 25 | First Missing Positive | HARD | 54.1 | 41% | Array · Hash Table |
| 26 | Design Bounded Blocking Queue | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 73% | Concurrency |
| 27 | Flatten Nested List Iterator | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 65% | Stack · Tree · Depth-First Search |
| 28 | Basic Calculator | HARD | 54.1 | 46% | Math · String · Stack |
| 29 | Missing Number | EASY | 54.1 | 70% | Array · Hash Table · Math |
| 30 | Is Subsequence | EASY | 54.1 | 48% | Two Pointers · String · Dynamic Programming |
| 31 | Combination Sum II | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 58% | Array · Backtracking |
| 32 | House Robber | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 52% | Array · Dynamic Programming |
| 33 | Reverse Linked List | EASY | 54.1 | 79% | Linked List · Recursion |
| 34 | Find Minimum in Rotated Sorted Array | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 53% | Array · Binary Search |
| 35 | Find Winner on a Tic Tac Toe Game | EASY | 54.1 | 54% | Array · Hash Table · Matrix |
| 36 | Group Anagrams | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 71% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 37 | Simplify Path | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 48% | String · Stack |
| 38 | Construct Binary Tree from Preorder and Inorder Traversal | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 67% | Array · Hash Table · Divide and Conquer |
| 39 | Course Schedule II | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 53% | Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search · Graph |
| 40 | Largest Perimeter Triangle | EASY | 54.1 | 57% | Array · Math · Greedy |
| 41 | Trapping Rain Water | HARD | 54.1 | 65% | Array · Two Pointers · Dynamic Programming |
| 42 | Repeated DNA Sequences | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 51% | Hash Table · String · Bit Manipulation |
| 43 | Moving Average from Data Stream | EASY | 54.1 | 80% | Array · Design · Queue |
| 44 | Longest Palindromic Substring | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 36% | Two Pointers · String · Dynamic Programming |
| 45 | Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree | HARD | 54.1 | 59% | String · Tree · Depth-First Search |
| 46 | Design Tic-Tac-Toe | MEDIUM | 54.1 | 59% | Array · Hash Table · Design |
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 Tesla OA. The proctor cannot see it. Screen share cannot detect it. Built by a senior engineer who knows the OA is theater. This is the script.
Get StealthCoder- array23 · 50%
- string16 · 35%
- hash table16 · 35%
- sorting8 · 17%
- stack6 · 13%
- design6 · 13%
- dynamic programming6 · 13%
- two pointers6 · 13%
- depth first search5 · 11%
- math4 · 9%
Arrays dominate the Tesla test (23 problems), followed closely by strings and hash tables (16 each). The difficulty spread is brutal: 27 mediums to 14 easies, with 5 hards sprinkled in. Your prep should anchor on array manipulation (subarrays, intervals, island patterns), then pivot to hash-table problems like Top K Frequent Elements and Subarray Sum Equals K because they lock in the same skillset. Sorting and two-pointers appear frequently but not overwhelmingly. Design questions (LRU Cache, Circular Queue) are real and worth one full session. Stack problems (Valid Parentheses, Basic Calculator II) are rote once you understand the pattern. If you hit a concurrency or system-design edge case live, StealthCoder solves it invisibly while you stay composed.
Companies with similar patterns
If you prepped for Tesla, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.
You've seen the list.
Now make sure you pass Tesla.
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 a senior engineer who knows the OA is theater. This is the script. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Tesla interview FAQ
How many array problems should I solve before the Tesla OA?+
Tesla's array problem count is 23 out of 46 total. Solve every medium array problem you can find, especially Merge Intervals, Number of Islands, and Subarray Sum Equals K. They repeat patterns. Ten solid mediums will cover most bases.
Is hash table knowledge enough for Tesla's strings?+
No. Strings and hash tables both appear 16 times, but they're not interchangeable. Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters and Letter Combinations use hash tables, but Valid Parentheses and the alternating binary problem are pure string logic. Drill both separately.
Should I study dynamic programming before Tesla?+
Lower priority. DP appears in only 6 problems on Tesla's list. Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock is the canonical one. If you're strong on arrays and strings, skip DP prep and come back only if you have time left.
What design problems actually appear in Tesla interviews?+
LRU Cache and Design Circular Queue are on record. Both are medium difficulty and test your ability to think in data structures, not just algorithms. Spend one focused session on each. They're uncommon but they hit hard when they show up.
How do I prepare for the hard problems without burning out?+
Tesla has only 5 hard problems in the full set. Don't hunt them unless you've nailed every medium. The gap between medium and hard here is steep. Focus on high-frequency mediums first, then pick one hard per session after you're comfortable with the core topics.