Interview Preparation
The core of this site: a structured preparation path for backend and distributed-systems engineers targeting mid-to-senior big-tech roles.
Start Here
- Plan: Complete Senior Backend Interview Prep — the 12-week roadmap covering resume, coding, system design, behavioral, AI coding, and mock interviews.
System Design
A dependency-ordered curriculum: orientation and concepts first, then walkthroughs organized by what kind of system you’re designing.
Orientation
- Plan: 9-Week System Design Interview Prep — the week-by-week roadmap into the full system design library.
- Framework: Thinking About Tradeoffs in System Design — the four-step reasoning process (axes → context → cost → commit) that senior rounds actually score.
- Reference: Common System Design Decisions — a fast-lookup catalog of the recurring choices, each with a default and when to switch.
- Guide: Last-Minute System Design Review Checklist — a condensed pre-interview reference covering concepts, walkthroughs, and common mistakes to avoid.
Concept references
Short cheatsheets — one concept per page. Read these before, or alongside, the walkthroughs.
- Reference: Capacity Estimation
- Reference: Partitioning Strategies
- Reference: Replication Strategies
- Reference: Consistency Models
- Reference: Distributed Transaction Patterns
- Reference: Cache Access and Invalidation Patterns
- Reference: Database Indexing
- Reference: SQL vs NoSQL Schema Design
- Reference: NoSQL Hot Key Mitigation Patterns
- Reference: Queue Delivery Semantics
- Reference: Rate Limiting Algorithms
- Reference: Real-Time Connection Patterns
- Reference: API Design Patterns
- Reference: Consecutive Activity & Retention Aggregation
Infrastructure walkthroughs
Foundational systems that appear as building blocks inside larger designs. The KV store, database, and cache form an AP/CP/cache triad — read them together.
- Walkthrough: Designing a Distributed Key-Value Store
- Walkthrough: Designing a Distributed Cache
- Walkthrough: Designing a Distributed Database
- Walkthrough: Designing a Distributed Lock
- Walkthrough: Designing a Distributed Queue
- Walkthrough: Designing a CDN
Classic product walkthroughs
The questions most commonly asked at FAANG-style interviews.
- Walkthrough: Designing a URL Shortener
- Walkthrough: Designing a News Feed
- Walkthrough: Designing a Chat System
- Walkthrough: Designing a Video Streaming Platform
- Walkthrough: Designing a Notification System
- Walkthrough: Designing a File Storage & Sync Service
- Walkthrough: Designing a Collaborative Editor
Search, ranking & recommendations
- Walkthrough: Designing a Post Search System
- Walkthrough: Designing a Recommendation System
- Walkthrough: Designing a Full Ranking System
- Walkthrough: Designing a Geospatial Matching System
Data & analytics walkthroughs
- Walkthrough: Designing an Ad Click Aggregation System
- Walkthrough: Designing a Metrics & Monitoring System
- Walkthrough: Designing a Top-K System
Transactional & commerce walkthroughs
- Walkthrough: Designing a Rate Limiter
- Walkthrough: Designing a Distributed Job Scheduler
- Walkthrough: Designing a Flash Deal System
- Walkthrough: Designing an Auction System
- Walkthrough: Designing an Order Processing System
AI/ML system walkthroughs
- Walkthrough: Designing an LLM Serving Platform
- Walkthrough: Designing a RAG System
- Walkthrough: Designing a Vector Database
- Walkthrough: Designing an AI Agent Orchestration System
Browse all system design resources →
Behavioral
Frameworks for leadership stories, senior-level signals, and interview communication.
- Framework: The Behavioral Interview for Senior+
- Framework: Structuring Leadership Stories for Behavioral Rounds
- Guide: Meta Signals Decoded
- Guide: The Project Management Interview for Engineers
Browse all behavioral resources →
Coding
Preparation for algorithm interviews, AI-native coding rounds, and company-specific expectations.
- Guide: The FAANG Coding Round — Mid to Senior Level
- List: LeetCode for FAANG Loops — Mid to Senior
- Guide: The AI-Native Coding Interview
- Guide: Amazon’s Logical & Maintainable Coding Interview
Object-Oriented Design
Interview Mechanics
Career Development
Resources for long-term growth beyond the next interview loop.
Growth & Promotion
- Framework: Scope, Impact, Visibility — The Three-Axis Promotion Model
- Framework: Aligning Projects With Your Next-Level Goal
- Guide: Finding Projects That Enrich Your Resume
Staying Sharp in the AI Era
- Framework: What’s Durable vs What’s Hype — A Backend Engineer’s AI Investment Guide
- Plan: 90-Day AI Ramp for Backend Engineers
- Guide: Using AI Coding Tools Without Getting Worse
Transitioning into AI/ML Roles
- Plan: Transitioning to Machine Learning Engineer
- Plan: Transitioning to AI Infrastructure Engineer
- Plan: Transitioning to Forward Deployed Engineer / AI Engineer
Sustainable Engineering
Browse all career development resources →
Opportunities Outside Work
Ideas and frameworks for building leverage outside the employer relationship.