How to Nail the System Design Interview
This system design interview guide was assembled with the help of software engineers, technical program managers, and engineering managers at Google, Meta, and Amazon.
If you're interviewing for a technical role, you're bound to come across system design questions at FAANG/MAANG companies and many startups.
You may be intimidated, given the ambiguous nature of the questions, which vary from company to company. But luckily, the general format is predictable.
Your hiring manager will evaluate the way you go about solving technical problems.
They will look at your decision-making in the face of uncertainty, your confidence in tackling risks, your capacity to pivot in light of new information, and many other factors.
System design in this context means defining the architecture, product design, modules, interfaces, and data for a system according to given requirements.
The purpose of system design is to architect a system that can effectively support the functionality of a product or service.
These interviews get a high-level understanding of how you think about building reliable systems for customers and companies.
A system can be designed well across multiple dimensions in system design. These dimensions are:
Scalability: A solid system must be scalable. This means that it can handle the additional load and will operate with efficiency while doing so.
Reliability: Systems must also be reliable. They perform the way they are supposed to. Systems need to handle user requests and mistakes while performing according to the specified requirements. Reliability also means that unauthorized access to the system can be thwarted.
Availability: This term describes whether or not a system can perform its intended function. Availability can be measured in time (its uptime, for example). The availability of a system is related to its reliability but, make no mistake, it is not the same thing. However, if a system is reliable, it is also available, not necessarily vice versa.
Efficiency: A well-designed system is an efficient system. Efficiency means the system performs its functions quickly and reliably. Efficiency is measured with metrics like latency, response time, and bandwidth.
Maintainability: A well-designed system must also be easy to maintain over time. This means that the system must also be designed with new engineers in mind. It must be simple enough for them to understand quickly and modify in unanticipated ways.
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