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The interview framework

A repeatable path through a system design interview: requirements, estimates, API, data model, high-level design, deep dives, trade-offs and wrap-up, with a time budget.

20 min7 steps

By the end you can
  • Order the stages of a system design interview and say what each one produces
  • Make quick estimates that decide the design, such as total storage over years
  • Choose deep dives that target the riskiest part of the design
  • Budget interview time across the stages and protect time for deep dives

A path you can follow under pressure

  1. 1

    Requirements

  2. 2

    Estimates

  3. 3

    API

  4. 4

    Data model

  5. 5

    High-level design

  6. 6

    Deep dives

  7. 7

    Trade-offs

  8. 8

    Wrap-up

Each stage consumes the previous one's output. Same arc as the SRE Workbook's large-system design exercise.

Put the interview stages in order.

  1. 1Clarify functional and non-functional requirements
  2. 2Deep-dive into the riskiest components
  3. 3Define the API
  4. 4State trade-offs and wrap up
  5. 5Define the data model and access patterns
  6. 6Draw the high-level design
  7. 7Estimate load, storage and bandwidth

Answer this step to continue.