Find Words Containing Character
A easy-tier problem at 91% community acceptance, tagged with Array, String. Reported in interviews at Deliveroo and 1 others.
Find Words Containing Character looks trivial at first glance, but it's exactly the kind of problem that trips candidates up in live assessments because they overthink it. Asked at Google and Deliveroo, it tests whether you can write clean, readable code under pressure without inserting unnecessary complexity. The 90% acceptance rate is misleading; that includes people solving it in practice. In a timed OA with a proctor watching, even easy problems can become mental fog. If you blank on the loop structure or string method syntax, StealthCoder surfaces a working solution invisible to the screen share.
Companies that ask "Find Words Containing Character"
Find Words Containing Character is the kind of problem that decides whether you pass. StealthCoder reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Invisible to screen share. The proctor sees nothing. Built because the OA filter rejects engineers who'd pass the on-site. That's a broken filter. This is the workaround.
Get StealthCoderThe algorithmic pattern here is straightforward: iterate through an array of strings, check if each string contains a target character, and return indices of matches. The trap isn't the algorithm, it's overengineering. Some candidates reach for regex, others build nested conditionals when a simple contains or indexOf call solves it. The actual work is string membership testing, which every language handles differently. Array iteration and indexing are table stakes. The real skill being tested is clarity and speed, not cleverness. In a live OA, you want to write it in one pass with no backtracking. StealthCoder is your hedge if the syntax or loop logic doesn't flow on the day.
Pattern tags
You know the problem.
Make sure you actually pass it.
Find Words Containing Character recycles across companies for a reason. It's easy-tier, and most candidates blank under the timer. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay invisible during screen share. It reads the problem and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Built because the OA filter rejects engineers who'd pass the on-site. That's a broken filter. This is the workaround. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Find Words Containing Character interview FAQ
Why is this marked easy but still asked at Google?+
Google uses easy problems as warm-up rounds or screening gates, not as final-round assessments. This problem filters for baseline coding hygiene and speed. A sloppy solution tells them you don't write clean code under time pressure. It's a signal, not a difficulty bar.
What's the most common mistake on this problem?+
Candidates overcomplicate the character check. They use regex, nested loops, or convert strings to sets when the language's built-in contains or find method does it in one call. Overengineering burns time and introduces bugs.
Should I precompute anything or just iterate once?+
One pass is enough. Precomputing the character position or building a lookup table adds no real benefit for a linear array. Write the simplest loop, check containment, collect indices. Simplicity is faster and cleaner in an interview.
How does this relate to the Array and String topics?+
Array handling covers iteration and index collection. String topic tests your familiarity with membership testing methods in your language of choice. Together they confirm you can marry the two data structures without friction.
Is this still asked after I've prepped it once?+
Yes. Easy problems are reused across companies and cohorts because they're reliable signals. Even after drilling it, you can stumble on syntax or typos in a live assessment. That's exactly when StealthCoder bridges the gap and keeps you moving.
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