OpenAI Coding & Algorithms Interview Questions
Preparing for OpenAI Coding & Algorithms interview questions requires recognizing that OpenAI blends classic algorithmic rigor with product- and safety-oriented thinking. Interviews test algorithmic problem solving, data structures, time/space trade-offs, clean testable code, and the ability to reason about scaling, failure modes, and abuse vectors for real systems. Expect a multi-stage process—recruiter screen, one or two technical screens (pair coding or timed coding), and a final loop of 4–6 interviews covering coding, system design, deep-dives, and behavioral questions—lasting a few hours over one or two days. For interview preparation, practice medium-to-hard coding problems, timed pair-coding, system design scenarios relevant to model serving and data pipelines, and prepare concise STAR examples that highlight ownership and collaboration. Read OpenAI’s public materials and be ready to discuss trade-offs, testing, and safety considerations. Emphasize clear communication, test coverage, and justifying design choices; interviewers value well-reasoned, production-minded answers over trick solutions. Bring specific examples of shipping code and measurable impact.
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Implement a GPU credit manager
Implement a GPU credit manager for a compute cluster. Each user has a nonnegative credit balance that can be increased (grantCredits(user, amount)), c...
Implement an expiring GPU credits ledger
Implement an expiring GPU credits ledger for multiple users with three operations: 1) add_credit(user_id, amount, expiry_time): add a lot of credits t...
Implement a serializable key-value store
Implement in C++ an in-memory key-value store with: - put(key: string, value: string), get(key) -> optional<string>, erase(key). - serialize() -> vect...
Optimize C++ Performance with Provided Concurrency
Given a C++ codebase where threading components (threads, work queues, and synchronization primitives) are already provided, profile and optimize the ...
Implement KV store and plan type conversions
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Implement compile-time function type verification
Implement a C++20 compile-time utility to verify whether a callable matches a target function type. Requirements: create a primary template is_callabl...
Implement IPv4 and CIDR iterators
This question evaluates understanding of IPv4 addressing and CIDR notation, along with competency in binary/bitwise arithmetic, iterator construction,...
Find earliest supporting dependency version
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Identify Bugs in Python Script for User Assignment
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Merge overlapping time intervals efficiently
Given a list of closed intervals [start, end] with 0 <= start <= end, merge all intervals that overlap or touch and return a minimal set of non-overla...
Implement in-memory DB querying
Question Implement an in-memory database that supports: 1. Querying the whole table and returning only selected columns (projection). 2. Adding WHERE ...
Implement A Contiguous Memory Allocator With Free-Block Coalescing
Review a contiguous memory allocator coding prompt with malloc, free, first-fit allocation, block coalescing, and a best-fit follow-up. The interview ...
Streaming Entropy with Numerical Stability
This question tests a candidate's ability to implement numerically stable online algorithms for computing Shannon entropy over streaming data. It eval...
Compute Plant Infection Time
This question evaluates a candidate's understanding of graph traversal and grid-based state propagation, including concepts like breadth-first search,...
Build a Streaming Chat Input
Implement a minimal front-end chat interface, similar to a stripped-down AI assistant (think a bare-bones ChatGPT). The user types a prompt, submits i...
Build a File-Backed Key-Value Store
This question evaluates a candidate's understanding of persistent key-value storage, in-memory versus on-disk state management, serialization/deserial...
Implement Chat Event Counter
Design an in-memory counter for chat activity. You need to implement a class with the following two methods: `text processEvent(userId: string, chatId...
Simulate Plant Infection With Controlled Burning
You are given an R by C grid of plants. Each plant is initially healthy, infected, recovered, or dead. A plant has up to four orthogonal neighbors. De...
Minimize deaths in spreading plant infection
This question evaluates a candidate's ability to model and simulate dynamic grid processes, reason about infection propagation and delayed state chang...
Design an Editable Text Buffer
This question evaluates data structure design, mutable state management, undo/redo semantics, and prefix-based autocomplete indexing with dynamic freq...