What the round is
A separate meeting in which the candidate is given algorithm problems and asked to write code in front of the interviewer. It differs from the language round in its subject: that one checks how well the candidate knows their language and whether they write sound working code; this one checks whether they can solve a problem they have never seen before. At Yandex these are two separate, parallel rounds, and both are still in place: the algorithms round has stayed classic, while applied code — implementing a function, writing autotests, fixing a bug — is tested separately.
Not every company has a dedicated round. It is mandatory at Yandex and T-Bank; at Avito it is called “Programming” and sits inside the technical interview; at VK an algorithm problem comes up within the technical screen. The recruiter knows which rounds are in the loop, and that determines what to prepare for.
How it is structured
At Yandex the round is called “Basic technical skills check” and is officially documented: two algorithm problems in a 90-minute slot, an hour of which goes to solving and half an hour to logistics. All work happens in the company’s online editor, whatever the language. The language is chosen in advance, at the screen with the recruiter; there are seven to choose from — Java, Go, Python, C++, Kotlin, Scala and C#.
The key constraint of the format is that the code is not compiled. Yandex spells out the consequence: “you will have to run the code against the tests in your head.” That changes how one prepares. What is being tested is the ability to read your own code and find the bug before the interviewer does; the habit of adding a line and running the tests does not help in this environment.
What gets graded
This is where the main misunderstanding lies: candidates prepare for “knowing algorithms”, but they are graded on a bundle of five things. Yandex interviewers put it this way (in Russian): what is assessed is “how quickly the candidate comes up with a solution, how clearly they explain the algorithms, whether they can estimate their complexity, and how many bugs there are in the code and how the candidate fixes them.” The piece was written about the internship, but the criteria match the ones the company lists in its official guide to the algorithms round (in Russian): apply a standard algorithm, write clean bug-free code, choose suitable data structures — and, separately, “attention to detail and edge cases” and “the ability to explain one’s line of thought clearly.”
Everything else follows from this list. A solution the interviewer has not heard about cannot be graded: two of the five criteria concern the explanation itself. A missed edge case does not count as a failure — Yandex notes that “sometimes even strong candidates miss an edge case; it happens, and there is nothing terrible about it,” and the interviewer will ask a leading question. Something else is worse, and the company points it out separately: some candidates “cannot find a flaw in their code on their own until the interviewer points it out.”
Yandex names the most common mistake itself: writing code before the solution has been fully thought through. The recommendation comes from the same place — better to spend an extra five minutes thinking than twenty writing an inefficient algorithm.
Problems and topics
Companies do not hide the topics, and their lists nearly coincide. Yandex names the LeetCode tags it recommends preparing on: Array, String, Tree, Binary Search, Hash Table, Depth-first Search, Breadth-first Search, Two Pointers, Stack, Backtracking — at easy and medium level. The same guide notes that solving easy and medium confidently is more useful than focusing on hard.
T-Bank lists the topics of its algorithms round in almost the same words: strings, lists, trees, associative arrays, vectors; searching collections, tree traversal, sorting and dynamic programming; big-O notation, computational complexity and memory usage. Real problems from Yandex’s official guide give a sense of the level: anagrams, generating valid bracket sequences, the maximum length of a run of ones. Nothing exotic shows up in these rounds.
Timing: where the second problem is lost
The round is failed more often on time than on difficulty. Yandex gives a benchmark for the first problem — ideally a solution after about half an hour; if it took forty minutes, the second will have to be written faster. And it identifies the main problem with the second one: “candidates often get stuck at the stage of analyzing the problem and don’t have time to write the code.”
From the other side of the table it looks the same. An Avito interviewer (in Russian) lists what he considers a failure: more than half an hour on one problem without progress, silence about one’s own algorithm, polishing details instead of the main solution, and an inability to switch approach when the current one has hit a dead end. His advice to candidates reads, word for word: “don’t wait to be asked to talk through the main algorithm — explain it yourself.”
How it differs by company
| Company | Round | Format | Environment and rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yandex | “Basic technical skills check”, mandatory | Two problems; 1.5-hour slot — an hour for solving, half an hour for logistics | Online editor only, whatever the language. The code cannot be compiled |
| T-Bank | Dedicated | 60 minutes | “Try not to peek”: if you need to look something up online, you must tell the interviewer |
| Avito | “Programming” section inside a 2–3-hour technical interview | Turning the problem into an algorithm and understanding the complexity of the code written | Library functions banned; pseudocode is allowed |
| VK | None as a separate round | An algorithm problem inside the technical screen, about 15 minutes | Code is written in your own IDE with screen sharing — you can run it |
| Sber | None as a separate round | 15–30 minutes of live coding inside the technical interview | Consent to live coding is asked for; for some roles it is not held |
| Ozon | Yes, according to candidate reports | Inside a large technical round | Official hiring pages sit behind anti-bot protection — the primary source cannot be checked |
AI and the future of the round
Talk of algorithm rounds dying out is not borne out by the data. In October 2025 interviewing.io surveyed interviewers: 67 responses, 52 of them from employees of FAANG-tier companies. Not one of those 52 reported that their company had dropped algorithm questions. What changed is something else: 58% had changed the type of problems, and 81% admitted suspecting candidates of using AI. The sample is small and self-selected — the respondents were users of the platform itself — but there are also no Russian companies that have publicly abolished the algorithms round.
In Russia, the answer to neural networks has been regulation. Yandex’s algorithms round already takes place in an online editor with no compiler. The camera is mandatory, AI assistants are banned by name, and the meeting may be recorded and transcribed with AI tools for grading. T-Bank limits itself to a warning that using a neural network is noticeable.
Problems are being dressed up as work scenarios, which changes the wrapping, not the content. An Alfa-Bank front-end developer who interviews candidates himself describes the approach: algorithm problems are presented as sorting transactions or hashing, that is, in the terms of the business domain. What is being tested is still the algorithm.
What is and isn’t visible on a shared screen is a question for the operating system, not the rules: a breakdown of the mechanics and their limits.
FAQ
Do I need to grind LeetCode?
Yes, and Yandex itself says which problems: easy and medium, tagged Array, String, Tree, Binary Search, Hash Table, Depth-first Search, Breadth-first Search, Two Pointers, Stack, Backtracking. The same guide adds that solving easy and medium confidently and without errors is better than focusing on hard. But working through problems is not enough on its own: two of the five criteria concern how you explain the solution out loud, and that has to be practiced separately.
How many problems, and how much time?
At Yandex, two problems and an hour to solve them; the whole slot is 90 minutes, with the remaining thirty going to logistics. At T-Bank the algorithms round lasts 60 minutes. Yandex gives its own benchmark for the first problem: ideally you have a solution after about half an hour — if it took forty minutes, the second one will have to be written faster.
Which language should I use?
Yandex offers seven languages — Java, Go, Python, C++, Kotlin, Scala and C# — and the choice is made in advance, at the HR screen with the recruiter. The algorithms round itself usually has no restrictions: any language you know will do. The practical case for the familiar one: code in this round is never compiled, and a single syntax slip in an unfamiliar language costs minutes.
What if I get stuck and can’t see a solution?
Talk. Yandex states the criterion plainly: the interviewer assesses not only the solution but how you arrived at it. An Avito interviewer adds the view from the other side of the table: “don’t wait to be asked to talk through the main algorithm — explain it yourself.” Describe the simplest solution and its complexity, say why it doesn’t satisfy you, and name the direction you are exploring. Thinking in silence is also fine: Yandex itself advises spending an extra five minutes thinking rather than twenty writing an inefficient algorithm.
Can I google or use AI during the round?
Yandex publishes no separate rule for the algorithms round, but it runs in the company’s online editor, and for the coding rounds the ban is spelled out by name: Copilot, ChatGPT, Cursor and other AI assistants may not be connected. Searching the internet is allowed there. T-Bank asks candidates to give notice: “If you need to look something up online, say so.” The camera is on, and Yandex warns separately that the meeting may be recorded and transcribed with AI tools for grading.
Does every company have an algorithms round?
No. Yandex and T-Bank have a dedicated round. At Avito it is the “Programming” section inside the technical interview, with library functions banned. VK has no separate algorithms round — a problem comes up within the technical screen. At Sber, live coding takes 15–30 minutes inside the technical interview, and candidates are asked separately whether they agree to it.
Sources
- Yandex: the backend developer interview (in Russian) — the format of the “Basic technical skills check” round, language choice, the rules on AI and meeting recordings.
- T-Bank: the backend development interview (in Russian) — topics of the algorithms round and its length.
- Avito’s hiring playbook (in Russian) — the “Programming” section: the library-function ban, pseudocode, criteria.
- How is AI changing interview processes — October 2025: 67 responses, 52 of them from FAANG interviewers — zero had dropped algorithm questions, 58% had changed the type of problems. The sample is self-selected: the respondents were users of the platform itself.
The other stages of the funnel are covered in the overview of developer interview stages. Neighboring rounds: live coding and system design.