Find Median from Data Stream: which companies ask it and how to practise

Find Median from Data Stream is a Hard problem that 43 companies are reported to ask. This page shows who, how often and how recently, what the question tests, and how to practise it out loud with an interviewer who asks follow-ups. We link to the original problem statement instead of copying it.

Which companies ask Find Median from Data Stream?

Public company lists attribute Find Median from Data Stream, a Hard problem, to 43 companies. The most frequent askers are Cohesity, Tinder and StackAdapt. 13 reports are from the last six months. It mainly tests two pointers, design and sorting. Use this as a practice guide, not a promise.

Practise this kind of question aloud

Who asks Find Median from Data Stream

43 companies appear in the public lists for this question. By how often each is reported: Cohesity (very often), Tinder (very often), StackAdapt (very often), IXL (very often), Okta (very often), Citadel (very often), Splunk (very often), WorldQuant (very often), Hive (very often) and SIG (very often), and 33 more. 13 of them were reported in the last six months, Tinder, IXL and Citadel among them.

These are candidate reports collected in public lists, not statements from the companies. They are a good guide to what to practise and a poor guide to what you will be asked: interviewers change questions, and the same company asks different questions by team and level. Last reviewed 25 October 2026.

What Find Median from Data Stream tests

It is rated Hard, so a correct brute force with a clear path to the better idea is a good result; interviewers watch how you reason when the answer is not obvious and how you use their hints.

Two pointers walk a sorted or symmetric structure from both ends, or one fast and one slow. The proof that you never skip the answer is what the interviewer is waiting for.

Design questions ask you to build a small data structure with fixed operation costs. Agree on the operations and their target complexity before you pick the containers.

Sorting is often the first step that makes the rest easy. State its cost (usually n log n) and say whether you may change the input.

How to practise it

Do not just solve it silently. In a real interview you explain the approach before you code, write while you talk, and defend the solution to follow-ups. Set a timer, say the brute force and its cost first, then improve it, and finish by stating the time and space complexity and two edge cases you tested.

On giveinterview you can take this kind of question as a spoken interview: the AI interviewer opens with the problem, watches you code, asks cross-questions and ends with a scorecard. Your first 3 single-question interviews are free for life, every interview report is free, and a new account also gets 6 welcome credits.

Read the original statement here: https://leetcode.com/problems/find-median-from-data-stream/ (opens the publisher's page). The statement is theirs; we do not reproduce it.

Questions to practise next

If you can solve Find Median from Data Stream, try these next, chosen because they share its main topic and many of the same companies: Longest Palindromic Substring (Medium), Trapping Rain Water (Hard), Container With Most Water (Medium), 3Sum (Medium), Move Zeroes (Easy) and Sort Colors (Medium). Each has its own page in the questions list.

Frequently asked questions

Is Find Median from Data Stream asked at Amazon?

Amazon appears in the public lists for Find Median from Data Stream, reported often. Treat that as a reason to practise it, not a promise you will be asked it.

How hard is Find Median from Data Stream?