What is a System Design Interview?

Our system design course is equally useful for real jobs and interviews. In this appendix, we will highlight different aspects of a system design interview (SDI), and some helpful tips for learners preparing for an upcoming interview. We will encourage the learners to read this appendix even if they are not preparing for an interview because some of the discussion here applies more broadly.

How are SDIs different from other interviews?

Like any other interview, we need to strategically approach a systems design interview (SDI). SDIs are different from the coding interviews. There is rarely any coding in this interview.

SDI is at a much higher level of abstraction where we figure out the requirements and map them to computational components and the high-level communication protocols connecting these sub-systems.

The final answer does not matter. What matters is the process and the journey that a good applicant takes the interviewer through.

As compared to coding problems in interviews, system design is much more aligned with what we will do on our job.

How to tackle a design question?

Design questions are open-ended, and they are intentionally vague to start with. Such vagueness mimics the reality in modern-day business.

Interviewers often ...