Interview Goals

To understand candidate’s ability to collaborate, to work under pressure, to solve problems, and to communicate — asking good question.

1. Understand the Scope

To understand the problem scope by asking questions. (3 - 10 minutes)

• Features
  • Motivations
• Users
  • Audience
• Scaling
• Tech Stack

2. High-level Design

(10 - 15 minutes)

• Come up with a draft and ask for feedback. This is where the collaboration comes into play;
• Illustrate the key components;
• Do some Estimation before diving into it.

3. Deep Dive

Dive into each component by some priority. (10 - 25 minutes)

4. Wrap up

(3 - 5 minutes)

• Recap
• Improvement
• Failures or issues
• Operational components such as logging and monitoring
• Next-level scaling

Dos and Don’ts

• Do ask for clarification, feedback often
• Do state your assumptions
• Do understand the scope
• Do propose alternatives
• Do prioritize
• Do not jump to conclusions
• Do not dwell on small details
• Do not hesitate to ask questions or hints
• Do not think in silence