ZipRecruiter Phone Screen Coding Question: Max Occurring Names in Matrix
Question Details
Problem Statement Implement a function String[] getRestaurentWithMaxVotes(String[][] res) that determines which restaurant names appear most frequently in a given 2D array of strings. **Requirem
Full Details
Problem Statement Implement a function String[] getRestaurentWithMaxVotes(String[][] res) that determines which restaurant names appear most frequently in a given 2D array of strings.
Requirements 1.
Validation: Verify that all rows in the input 2D array are of equal length. If the shape is irregular (jagged array),
return an empty array. 2.
Frequency Counting: Count the occurrences of every restaurant name across the entire matrix. 3.
Handling Ties: Identify the maximum frequency found.
Return an array containing all names that match this maximum frequency.
Example Input:
java { {"a", "b", "c"}, {"a", "c", "d"} }
Output: {"a", "c"} Explanation: Both "a" and "c" appear 2 times, which is the maximum occurrence count. "b" and "d" appear only once.
**
Follow-Up Weighted Scoring** Modify the logic to calculate a "score" rather than a raw frequency count. The score depends on the rank (index) of the restaurant within its row. *
Weight Logic: For a row of length $L$, the element at index $i$ receives a weight of $L - i$. * Example: In the row {"a", "b", "c"} (Length 3): * "a" (Index 0): $3 - 0 = 3$ points. * "b" (Index 1): $3 - 1 = 2$ points. * "c" (Index 2): $3 - 2 = 1$ point.
About This Question
This is a reported interview question from a ziprecruiter interview for a swe role during the recruiter round reported in 2025.
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About Ziprecruiter Interview Reports
This question was reported by a candidate who interviewed at Ziprecruiter. LeakCode aggregates interview reports from 10+ sources, including 1Point3Acres, Glassdoor, LeetCode Discuss, Blind, Reddit, Indeed, and Nowcoder. Each report is translated where necessary, deduplicated against existing entries, and tagged by company, role, round type, and reporting date.
Use this question as one calibration data point, not a memorization target. Companies typically rotate their question pools every 2-4 months; the exact wording of a 2024 question may differ from what you encounter today. The underlying pattern, difficulty level, and follow-up depth at Ziprecruiter are the higher-signal extractions to take from this report.
For broader preparation context, the Ziprecruiter interview process typically includes a recruiter screen, one or two technical phone screens, and a 4-5 round on-site loop covering coding, system design (at L4+ levels), and behavioral. Reports tagged on LeakCode show the round-by-round distribution and typical difficulty calibration. To browse questions filtered by round type and seniority, use the company hub linked above.
How To Practice This Type of Question
Solve similar problems on LeetCode under timed conditions (25-35 minutes per medium difficulty). The goal is pattern recognition: recognize the underlying technique (sliding window, two-pointer, BFS, memoized recursion, etc.) within 60-90 seconds of reading. Strong candidates verbalize their hypothesis out loud before coding, then iterate based on feedback. Weak candidates dive into implementation immediately, lose time on the wrong approach, and run out of time for follow-ups.
Companies update their question pools every 2-4 months. The exact wording of any given question may have been retired by the time you interview. Focus your prep on the pattern, not the specific problem. The patterns that appear in Ziprecruiter reports consistently are the ones worth investing in; one-off niche problems are not.
During Your Ziprecruiter Round
Apply the standard interview round template: clarify requirements (2-3 minutes), state your approach out loud and confirm direction with the interviewer (3-5 minutes), code with narration (15-25 minutes), test with concrete examples including edge cases (5 minutes), discuss optimization or trade-offs if time permits (5 minutes). This template is universally accepted across FAANG and adjacent companies; deviating from it produces weaker interviewer feedback signal.
The single most predictive failure mode in Ziprecruiter reports tagged "no hire": not asking clarifying questions. Interviewers are explicitly trained to weight this. Strong candidates ask 3-5 clarifying questions even on problems that look obvious; weak candidates dive into code immediately. The clarifying-question check is often the first signal recorded in the interviewer's written notes.