Solve Word Ladder: the shortest transformation from one word to another changing one letter at a time.

Run a breadth-first search from the start word over a set of dictionary words. For each word, try changing each position to each of the 26 letters, and enqueue any result that is in the set, removing it from the set so it is visited once. The first time you reach the end word, return the BFS depth. With word length L and N words this is O(N times L times 26). Bidirectional BFS from both ends cuts the search space and is the usual follow-up.

TikTok Interview Questions and Answers (2026)

The TikTok interview process for software engineers is an online assessment (CodeSignal for many US new grad and intern roles), then two or three technical interviews (a US round in October 2025 ran about 50 minutes), each with one or two LeetCode-style problems and questions about your projects, plus system design for experienced hires. Problems run from medium to hard: Word Ladder and Expression Add Operators came up in a September 2025 Seattle loop, and a US candidate in October 2025 had two problems in a 50-minute round. Project reviews ask about the most challenging part of your work and how you handled changing requirements.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, and engineering roles for TikTok and ByteDance teams follow the same pattern in the US, Singapore and Sydney.

TikTok interview process

HR or recruiter callShort
Online assessmentNot stated in reports
Technical interview 1~50 min
Technical interview 2Not stated
System design (experienced)Not stated
HR or hiring managerShort

Round	Duration	What it tests
HR or recruiter call	Short	Background, availability, graduation date
Online assessment	Not stated in reports	CodeSignal: four questions, the last two harder (US); three questions (Singapore intern)
Technical interview 1	~50 min	One or two LeetCode medium or hard problems
Technical interview 2	Not stated	Project review plus another coding problem
System design (experienced)	Not stated	A large system, such as Amazon’s fulfillment system
HR or hiring manager	Short	Motivation, start date, team fit

TikTok interview questions with answers

Q: Word Ladder.

Breadth-first search from the start word. Put dictionary words in a set; for each word popped from the queue, change each position to each letter a-z, and enqueue any new word found in the set, removing it so it is visited once. Return the level when you reach the end word, or 0 if the queue empties. Complexity is O(N times L times 26) for N words of length L. Bidirectional BFS, expanding the smaller frontier each step, is the standard optimization.

Q: Expression Add Operators (LeetCode 282).

Backtrack over the digit string, choosing at each step the next operand (any prefix of the remaining digits, skipping operands with a leading zero) and an operator. Track the running value and the last operand so multiplication can undo the previous addition: for *, the new value is value minus last plus last times current, and the new last is last times current. Add the expression to results when you reach the end and the value equals the target. Use 64-bit integers to avoid overflow.

Q: Design a stack that returns the minimum element in O(1).

Keep a second stack of current minimums: on push, push the smaller of the new value and the current minimum; on pop, pop both. getMin reads the top of the second stack. For a variant that returns the K smallest values, keep a sorted multiset alongside the stack, inserting on push and erasing on pop, which gives O(log n) updates and lets you read the first K values.

Q: Binary tree level order traversal.

Use a queue. While it is not empty, record its current size, pop that many nodes into a list for this level, and push each node’s children. Append the list to the result. This is O(n) time and O(width) space. Follow-ups include zigzag order, which reverses every other level, and returning only the rightmost node of each level.

Q: Find the K largest elements in a stream (priority queue).

Keep a min-heap of size K. Push each new element; if the heap size exceeds K, pop the smallest. The heap’s top is the Kth largest, and the heap holds the K largest. Each element costs O(log K). For merge-style questions such as merging K sorted lists, push the head of each list into a min-heap and repeatedly pop the smallest and push its successor.

Q: Design Amazon’s fulfillment system.

Scope it first: orders arrive, inventory is reserved, a warehouse is chosen, items are picked, packed and shipped. Model orders, inventory per warehouse and shipments. Use an order service that writes the order and publishes an event; an inventory service reserves stock with a conditional update to avoid overselling; an allocation service picks a warehouse by stock and distance; warehouse services track pick and pack status. Then go deep on one part, as the Canada candidate advised: for inventory, discuss reservations with expiry, idempotent event handling and reconciliation against physical counts.

TikTok interview questions by role

Role	Reported questions and topics
Software engineer new grad (US)	CodeSignal OA; two coding problems in a 50-minute round, including priority queues
Backend engineer, Trust and Safety (Seattle)	Word Ladder; Expression Add Operators; 25-minute project review; changing requirements
SWE II (Canada)	HR call; design Amazon’s fulfillment system; level order traversal; a coding round
Software engineer intern (Singapore)	OA with one medium and two hard; resume, React and parallel programming questions
Software engineer (Singapore)	HR call; one-problem OA; LeetCode medium rounds; a min-stack variant

TikTok online assessment

Most US new grad and intern candidates start with an online assessment. A San Jose software development engineer in October 2025 said all questions came from CodeSignal: the first two were quite easy and the last two harder, problem statements were much longer than on LeetCode, and dynamic programming was rare. Their advice was to practice CodeSignal-style problems and get used to reading long descriptions.

In Singapore, an October 2025 intern candidate had one LeetCode medium and two LeetCode hard problems and solved one, and a Singapore software engineer had a one-problem OA with a TikTok engineer watching.

TikTok coding interview questions

TikTok’s live coding rounds are LeetCode-style and often include a hard problem.

Reported problems (2025)

Word Ladder (Seattle, Trust and Safety backend, round 1)
Expression Add Operators, LeetCode 282 (Seattle, round 2)
Two problems in a 50-minute round, including a priority queue question (US)
A min-stack variant tracking the minimum K values (Singapore)
Binary tree level order traversal (Canada, SWE II)
Questions listed against TikTok on Taro: Generate Parentheses, Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters, Search in Rotated Sorted Array

The Seattle candidate said interviewers gave hints and were very nice, so talk through your approach and take the hint when it comes.

TikTok system design interview

Experienced candidates get system design, often inside a project round. A March 2025 Canada SWE II candidate was asked to design Amazon’s fulfillment system and advised picking one component and going deep rather than staying at a high level. TikTok’s graduate postings list teams in recommendation architecture, search, ads, e-commerce, LIVE and trust and safety, so systems built for feeds, ads and moderation at high volume are good practice targets.

TikTok project review and behavioral questions

Many TikTok technical rounds include a project review. In the September 2025 Seattle loop it took 25 minutes before the coding problem, with questions on how the candidate handled changing requirements or deadlines and the most challenging part of a project. A Singapore intern was asked about specific bullet points on their resume. Sample answers are on the TikTok behavioral interview questions page.

TikTok new grad and intern hiring

TikTok posts graduate roles by team with a start year, such as “Software Engineer Graduate (Ads Interface) - 2027 Start,” in San Jose, Seattle, Singapore and Sydney. The postings ask for a bachelor’s or master’s in computer science or a related field, strong fundamentals in algorithms, data structures and software design, and an onboarding date you can commit to by the end of the year. Several 2027 postings list skill with AI tools as a preferred qualification, and one Privacy and Security posting asks for an “Always Day 1” attitude.

The two-application limit: you can apply to at most two positions across TikTok and its affiliates worldwide, and they are considered in the order you apply. Pick the two teams that best match your projects.

Internships are 12 weeks full time; the Summer 2027 Ads Interface intern posting in San Jose pays $45-$60 an hour, and interns who are not fully remote may get a housing allowance.

TikTok in Singapore

Singapore has more TikTok graduate postings than any city outside the US in October 2026 listings, behind only San Jose overall, with teams in recommendation, search, LIVE, social and trust and safety. Singapore reports from 2025 describe an HR call, an online assessment, and LeetCode medium rounds. One candidate was told the second round would be system design but got another LeetCode medium. A Singapore intern was asked about resume bullet points, React, and parallel programming, with easy coding problems.

Who does well in TikTok interviews

Good fit: You solve LeetCode medium problems quickly and can work through a hard one with a hint, and you can explain a project’s hardest decision in a few minutes. You read long problem statements carefully.

Harder path: You rely on project work without timed algorithm practice. Every 2025 TikTok report included LeetCode-style problems, and several included hard ones.

A four-week TikTok prep plan

Week 1: CodeSignal-style practice: four problems in 70 minutes, twice, with long statements. Then 10 LeetCode mediums on BFS, heaps and stacks.
Week 2: LeetCode hard practice on backtracking and graph search (Word Ladder, Expression Add Operators style), five problems, explaining aloud.
Week 3: Two problems per 50-minute mock interview, three times. Write a 3-minute and a 25-minute version of your hardest project.
Week 4: For experienced roles, system design on a fulfillment system, a video feed and a content moderation pipeline, going deep on one component each. Prepare stories on changing requirements and deadlines.

10-day version: Days 1-2 OA practice, days 3-6 medium and hard problems, days 7-8 project review rehearsal, days 9-10 two full mock rounds.

TikTok pay in the US

TikTok’s 2027 Software Engineer Graduate (Ads Interface) posting in San Jose lists a base salary of $128,000-$256,000 for that city, with possible discretionary bonuses, incentives and RSUs. The Summer 2027 Software Engineer Intern (Ads Interface) posting in San Jose lists $45-$60 an hour for 12 weeks. Postings also list 17 days of paid personal time, 10 paid holidays and 10 paid sick days for full-time hires.

Levels.fyi’s self-reported US medians for ByteDance software engineer total pay are about $207,000 at level 1-2, $311,000 at 2-1, $423,000 at 2-2 and $549,000 at 3-1.

Frequently asked questions about TikTok interviews

What is the TikTok interview process for software engineers?

An online assessment for most new grad and intern roles, then two or three technical interviews, each usually one or two LeetCode-style problems plus questions on your resume, and a system design discussion for experienced hires. A Seattle Trust and Safety backend candidate in September 2025 had a first round on Word Ladder and a second round with a 25-minute project review and Expression Add Operators. A Canada SWE II candidate in March 2025 had an HR call, a project and system design round on Amazon’s fulfillment system, and a coding round.

What is on the TikTok online assessment?

A San Jose candidate in October 2025 described a CodeSignal test of four questions: the first two easy, the last two harder, with much longer problem statements than LeetCode and little dynamic programming. A Singapore intern candidate in October 2025 had three questions, one LeetCode medium and two LeetCode hard, and solved one.

Are TikTok interviews LeetCode-heavy?

Yes. 2025 reports include LeetCode hard problems such as Word Ladder and Expression Add Operators in Seattle, two questions in a 50-minute US coding interview, a priority queue question, a min-stack variant in Singapore, and level order traversal in Canada. Questions listed against TikTok on Taro include Generate Parentheses, Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters and Search in Rotated Sorted Array.

How many TikTok jobs can I apply to?

TikTok’s 2027 graduate and intern postings say candidates can apply to a maximum of two positions, and that the limit covers TikTok and its affiliates globally. Applications are considered in the order you submit them and reviewed on a rolling basis.

How much does TikTok pay new grads and interns in the US?

A 2027 Start Software Engineer Graduate (Ads Interface) posting in San Jose lists a base salary of $128,000-$256,000, plus possible bonuses and RSUs. A Summer 2027 Software Engineer Intern (Ads Interface) posting in San Jose lists $45-$60 an hour for a 12-week internship. Levels.fyi’s self-reported US median total pay for ByteDance software engineers is about $207,000 at level 1-2 and $311,000 at 2-1.

Does TikTok hire software engineers in Singapore?

Yes. TikTok’s 2027 graduate postings include Singapore teams such as Recommendation Architecture, Search Architecture and Global LIVE. 2025 Singapore reports describe an HR call, an online assessment with an interviewer present, and LeetCode medium rounds, plus resume, React and parallel programming questions for an intern.