17 questions · from 5 interviews
TikTok interview questions
Every question candidates reported from their TikTok interviews, most frequently asked first. Each links to the write-up it came from, so you can see the round and how it went.
TikTok coding and DSA questions
- 01
Dynamic Programming Question
The coding part was a hard-difficulty dynamic programming question, to be completed within 15 minutes.
Hard · From TikTok Interview Experience (My Third TikTok Interview Experience)
- 02
Maximize Watch Time with Consecutive Duration Constraint
Select a subset of videos such that the sum of the durations of any two consecutively selected videos does not exceed the user’s attention span, and maximize the total watch time.
- 03
Shortest Path in a Grid with Obstacles Elimination
I was given LeetCode problem 1293, which asks you to find the shortest path from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner of a grid, given that you can eliminate at most k obstacles.
Hard · From TikTok/Bytedance Interview Experience
- 04
Graph Grouping with Even/Odd Level BFS
This was a weirdly worded graph problem about splitting friends into groups. The core concept involved using Breadth-First Search (BFS) and specifically keeping track of nodes at even and odd levels from a starting point to determine the groupings.
- 05
Dot Product of Two Sparse Vectors
How to calculate the dot product of two sparse vectors. The problem involves two key steps: how to store sparse vectors and how to calculate the dot product of these two sparse vectors. Sparse vectors are typically stored using a Hashmap mapping non-zero…
- 06
Find First 'b' in 'g...gb...b' String
Given a string consisting of 'g' and 'b' characters, where all 'g' characters appear before any 'b', find the first 'b'.
TikTok system design questions
- 01
Recommendation System Candidate Generator Model
Describe the models used in the Candidate Generator of a recommendation system, explain the model principles and time complexity.
Medium · From TikTok Interview Experience (My Third TikTok Interview Experience)
- 02
Ranker Model in Recommendation System
Introduce the Ranker model in the recommendation system and its complexity analysis.
Medium · From TikTok Interview Experience (My Third TikTok Interview Experience)
- 03
Design a User-Configurable Monitoring System with Alerts
I was asked to design a monitoring system that could send alerts, and critically, these alerts needed to be configurable by the users themselves.
TikTok behavioural and HR questions
- 01
Tell me about your favorite project.
I was asked to describe my favorite project, elaborating on its scope, my contributions, and the impact it had.
- 02
Describe your biggest challenge or conflict.
I was asked to discuss the biggest challenge or conflict I've faced in a professional setting and how I navigated it.
- 03
What would you do differently?
I was asked about a past situation where, in hindsight, I would have done something differently.
TikTok other questions
- 01
Combinatorics/Counting
A problem involving combinatorics or counting tasks.
Easy · From TikTok OA Report | Research Assistant Internship | Dec 2025
- 02
Simulation
A simulation problem with a tricky edge case.
Easy · From TikTok OA Report | Research Assistant Internship | Dec 2025
- 03
Complex Simulation and State Management
A complex simulation problem requiring careful state management.
From TikTok OA Report | Research Assistant Internship | Dec 2025
- 04
String Counting/Permutations
A problem involving string counting or permutations.
Medium · From TikTok OA Report | Research Assistant Internship | Dec 2025
- 05
Cold Start Problem in Recommendation System
Scenario question: If there are new users or new items in the system now, how to help them quickly resolve the cold start problem?
Medium · From TikTok Interview Experience (My Third TikTok Interview Experience)
TikTok interview questions FAQ
What questions are asked in TikTok interviews?
Candidates reported 17 distinct questions across 5 TikTok interviews. 6 coding and DSA questions, 3 system design questions, 3 behavioural and HR questions, 5 other questions.
How difficult are TikTok interview questions?
Of the questions candidates rated, 25% were easy, 50% medium and 25% hard.