ZorixOS
49+ Pinterest questions

Pinterest interview questions and how to prepare

The questions candidates report from Pinterest interviews, sorted by how often they come up, with difficulty and topics, plus original practice written in Pinterest's interview style.

Practice Pinterest questions free All companies

ZorixOS tracks 49 community-reported Pinterest interview questions, drawn from an open-source dataset of real interview reports and sorted by how frequently each one comes up. Every question links to its source. Alongside them are 98 original ZorixOS practice questions written in Pinterest's known interview style (not claimed as asked at Pinterest), so you can rehearse the real format. Practice any of them out loud in a free AI mock interview tuned to Pinterest.

Updated July 2026

Pinterest interview questions candidates report

Community-reported from real Pinterest interviews (open-source dataset), most-asked first. Showing 49. Each links to its source.

  1. Bus Routes
    ArrayHash TableBreadth-First Search
    Hard100% asked
  2. Count and Say
    String
    Medium100% asked
  3. Reconstruct Itinerary
    Depth-First SearchGraphEulerian Circuit
    Hard100% asked
  4. Shortest Path in a Grid with Obstacles Elimination
    ArrayBreadth-First SearchMatrix
    Hard93% asked
  5. Optimal Account Balancing
    ArrayDynamic ProgrammingBacktrackingBit Manipulation
    Hard92% asked
  6. Count Subarrays With Score Less Than K
    ArrayBinary SearchSliding WindowPrefix Sum
    Hard91% asked
  7. Maximum Profit in Job Scheduling
    ArrayBinary SearchDynamic ProgrammingSorting
    Hard90% asked
  8. Expression Add Operators
    MathStringBacktracking
    Hard89% asked
  9. Find Median from Data Stream
    Two PointersDesignSortingHeap (Priority Queue)
    Hard79% asked
  10. Shortest Way to Form String
    Two PointersStringBinary SearchGreedy
    Medium78% asked
  11. Find Minimum Time to Finish All Jobs
    ArrayDynamic ProgrammingBacktrackingBit Manipulation
    Hard76% asked
  12. Is Subsequence
    Two PointersStringDynamic Programming
    Easy74% asked
  13. Reorganize String
    Hash TableStringGreedySorting
    Medium74% asked
  14. Design Search Autocomplete System
    StringDepth-First SearchDesignTrie
    Hard70% asked
  15. Longest Word in Dictionary
    ArrayHash TableStringTrie
    Medium70% asked
  16. Target Sum
    ArrayDynamic ProgrammingBacktracking
    Medium70% asked
  17. Find Median Given Frequency of Numbers
    Database
    Hard66% asked
  18. Jump Game III
    ArrayDepth-First SearchBreadth-First Search
    Medium66% asked
  19. Coin Change
    ArrayDynamic ProgrammingBreadth-First Search
    Medium62% asked
  20. Find K-th Smallest Pair Distance
    ArrayTwo PointersBinary SearchSorting
    Hard62% asked
  21. Meeting Rooms III
    ArrayHash TableSortingHeap (Priority Queue)
    Hard62% asked
  22. Sparse Matrix Multiplication
    ArrayHash TableMatrix
    Medium59% asked
  23. String Compression
    Two PointersString
    Medium59% asked
  24. Split Array Largest Sum
    ArrayBinary SearchDynamic ProgrammingGreedy
    Hard59% asked
  25. Unique Paths II
    ArrayDynamic ProgrammingMatrix
    Medium58% asked
  26. Minimize Result by Adding Parentheses to Expression
    StringEnumeration
    Medium53% asked
  27. Accounts Merge
    ArrayHash TableStringDepth-First Search
    Medium51% asked
  28. Combination Sum
    ArrayBacktracking
    Medium51% asked
  29. Employee Free Time
    ArrayLine SweepSortingHeap (Priority Queue)
    Hard50% asked
  30. Is Graph Bipartite?
    Depth-First SearchBreadth-First SearchUnion FindGraph
    Medium50% asked
  31. The Number of Weak Characters in the Game
    ArrayStackGreedySorting
    Medium50% asked
  32. Unique Paths III
    ArrayBacktrackingBit ManipulationMatrix
    Hard50% asked
  33. Letter Combinations of a Phone Number
    Hash TableStringBacktracking
    Medium45% asked
  34. Meeting Rooms II
    ArrayTwo PointersGreedySorting
    Medium45% asked
  35. Single Element in a Sorted Array
    ArrayBinary Search
    Medium45% asked
  36. Top K Frequent Elements
    ArrayHash TableDivide and ConquerSorting
    Medium45% asked
  37. Multiply Strings
    MathStringSimulation
    Medium43% asked
  38. Possible Bipartition
    Depth-First SearchBreadth-First SearchUnion FindGraph
    Medium43% asked
  39. Dot Product of Two Sparse Vectors
    ArrayHash TableTwo PointersDesign
    Medium37% asked
  40. Find First and Last Position of Element in Sorted Array
    ArrayBinary Search
    Medium37% asked
  41. Find the Celebrity
    Two PointersGraphInteractive
    Medium37% asked
  42. Implement Trie (Prefix Tree)
    Hash TableStringDesignTrie
    Medium37% asked
  43. Number of Islands
    ArrayDepth-First SearchBreadth-First SearchUnion Find
    Medium37% asked
  44. Shortest Path to Get All Keys
    ArrayBit ManipulationBreadth-First SearchMatrix
    Hard37% asked
  45. Snakes and Ladders
    ArrayBreadth-First SearchMatrix
    Medium37% asked
  46. Sudoku Solver
    ArrayHash TableBacktrackingMatrix
    Hard37% asked
  47. The Maze
    ArrayDepth-First SearchBreadth-First SearchMatrix
    Medium37% asked
  48. Candy Crush
    ArrayTwo PointersMatrixSimulation
    Medium35% asked
  49. Smallest Range Covering Elements from K Lists
    ArrayHash TableGreedySliding Window
    Hard35% asked

Practice questions in Pinterest's style

Original ZorixOS questions written the way Pinterest interviews, so you rehearse the real format. Not claimed as asked at Pinterest.

  1. Imagine a Pinterest user is trying to find inspiration for a specific event, like a wedding. They start by searching for 'wedding ideas'. Describe the journey from their search query to them seeing relevant Pins, focusing on the technical challenges Pinterest might face at scale.

    Software EngineerSearch & Recommendation SystemsTests: Evaluates understanding of large-scale search infrastructure, relevance ranking, and user intent interpretation.

  2. Pinterest experiences viral trends. How would you design a system to detect and surface new trending Pins or Boards quickly, ensuring fresh content is shown to users without overwhelming the system or promoting low-quality content?

    Software EngineerReal-time Data Processing & Trend DetectionTests: Assesses ability to design scalable, real-time systems for anomaly detection and content surfacing.

  3. A user reports that Pins they previously saved to a Board are now disappearing. How would you approach debugging this issue, considering potential causes from data storage to front-end rendering?

    Software EngineerDebugging & Distributed SystemsTests: Tests systematic debugging skills in a complex, distributed environment.

  4. Pinterest's core is visual discovery. How would you design an API endpoint to serve a user's home feed, considering factors like personalization, freshness, and the potential for millions of concurrent requests?

    Software EngineerSystem Design API & ScalabilityTests: Evaluates system design capabilities for high-throughput, personalized content delivery.

  5. How would you design a system to detect and mitigate duplicate Pins being uploaded by different users, given the sheer volume of content on Pinterest?

    Software EngineerDuplicate Detection & Content ModerationTests: Probes understanding of large-scale data processing and similarity algorithms for content management.

  6. Consider the Pin creation flow. What are the potential performance bottlenecks when a user uploads a high-resolution image, and how would you optimize this process for a global user base?

    Software EngineerPerformance Optimization & Image ProcessingTests: Assesses understanding of performance optimization, especially for media-heavy operations.

92+ more Pinterest-style questions are in the free library, each practiceable live with adaptive follow-ups and an honest scorecard. Start free.

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Pinterest Interview Questions (2026) | ZorixOS