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Tired of the same 10-12 system design questions?

Here are 55 real interview questions asked by top tech companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Uber. Each question includes curated solutions, architectural breakdowns, and key interviewer questions.

55Real Questions
|
15+Tech Giants
|
120+Curated Solutions
|
4Complexity Levels
Company:
Complexity:
Showing 55 of 55 questions
#1
Design a URL Shortening service like TinyURL
EasySolutions
Solutions:Good overviewGood solutionNeetcode solutionAnother solution
#2
Design Pastebin
EasySolutions
Solutions:Good solutionGood 20min video solutionAlternate Solution
#3
Design Instagram
EasySolutions
Solutions:Good overviewInteresting discussionGood summary at the very endGreat video on social network design
#4
Design Dropbox or Google Drive
MediumSolutions
Solutions:Solution from ex-Meta EngineerMock Interview
#5
Design Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp
MediumSolutions
Solutions:Good overviewGood solutionReal time chatGreat video
#6
Design Twitter for millions of users
EasySolutions
Solutions:Good overviewGreat video on social network designHigh level solution
#7
Design Youtube or Netflix
MediumSolutions
Solutions:High Level OverviewGood solution
#8
Design Typeahead Suggestion/Autocomplete
HardSolutions
Solutions:Good overview3 ApproachesGreat explanation
#9
Design an API Rate Limiter
HardSolutions
Solutions:Great article + mock interview videoGreat solution by Google engineerIntroGood article on algorithmsLeetcode discussion
#10
Design a Distributed Metrics Logging and Aggregation System
Very HardSolutions
Solutions:Detailed Solution from Google EngineerGood overview from Google EngineerRelated - Ad Click AggregationLeetcode Discussion
#11
Design a Distributed Stream Processing System like Kafka
Very HardSolutions
Solutions:Read the original Kafka paper, but don't feel pressured to complete itGreat overviewSolution from Meta EngineerGood visualization
#12
Design a Key-Value Store
MediumSolutions
Solutions:Good high level solutionMock Interview with Microsoft EngineerDetailed Video Series on this
#13
Identify the K Most Shared Articles in Various Time Windows (24 hours, 1 hour, 5 minutes)
HardSolutions
Solutions:Leetcode discussionOfficial Google Mock InterviewGreat high level overviewSolution from Meta EngineerText solution
#14
Design Web Crawler
MediumSolutions
Solutions:Good solution
#15
Design Facebook's News Feed
MediumSolutions
Solutions:Good solution
#16
Design Yelp or Nearby Friends
Very HardSolutions
Solutions:Good overview (available for free after login)Good videoHigh level summaryTo get a better intuition
#17
System to Collect Performance Metrics from Thousands of Servers
HardSolutions
Solutions:Good solutionNice article with overview
#18
Design Google Calendar
MediumSolutions
Solutions:Good High Level SolutionSolution from FAANG EngineerLeetcode DiscussionRecurring Events
#19
Design a Distributed Queue like RabbitMQ
HardSolutions
Solutions:Leetcode DiscussionGood detailed explanationMock InterviewDetailed explanation video
#20
Design Google Analytics - User Analytics Dashboard and Pipeline
HardSolutions
Solutions:LeetcodeFacebook EM's Mock InterviewDesigning a Dashboard with Data with FAANG Engineer
#21
Design a System for Sorting Large Data Sets
EasySolutions
Solutions:Excellent solutionFrom the same author, a very detailed videoLeetcode
#22
Top K Elements: App Store Rankings, Amazon Bestsellers, etc.
EasySolutions
Solutions:Solution from ex-Meta engineerSolution from FAANG EngineerVery detailed solution from Microsoft engineerSolution on Blind
#23
Design a Job Scheduler
EasySolutions
Solutions:Popular Leetcode DiscussionSolution from Google EngineerHigh Level OverviewMock Interview
#24
Design a Notification Service at Scale
HardSolutions
Solutions:High level overviewGood design by Microsoft engineerNice detailed solution videoSolution by Google Engineer
#25
Surge Pricing System: Uber - Stream Processing, etc.
Very HardSolutions
Solutions:Good overviewGPT Solution
#26
Netflix: Limit the Number of Screens Each User Can Watch
HardSolutions
#27
Design an ETA Service and Location Sharing Between Driver and Rider
Very HardSolutions
Solutions:ETA for Uber Eats, relatedLinks that are ok, but don't do justice for interviews
#28
Design a Hotel Booking System: Room Availability, Reservation, Booking
MediumSolutions
Solutions:Solution from FAANG EngineerHotel reservationGood API and High Level DesignHigh Level Backend Design VideoMock Interview
#29
Design an A/B Testing System (like Optimizely)
HardSolutions
Solutions:Good designHigh level overviewBuilding a small homemade A/B test engine
#30
Design a Price Alert System for Amazon (or for Stock prices)
EasySolutions
Solutions:Leetcode DiscussionGood solutionsAnother solution
#31
Design an IoC/Dependency Injection Framework
Very HardSolutions
Solutions:Intro to conceptsMore infoVideo
#32
Design a Credit Card Processing System
Very HardSolutions
Solutions:Detailed solutionSimpler solutionGood video explanation
#33
Count Facebook Likes, Especially for High-Profile Users
MediumSolutions
Solutions:Discussion on BlindDetailed SolutionVideo Solution
#34
Design a Control Plane for a Distributed Database
Very HardSolutions
Solutions:Good to know what a control plane is. This video does a great jobDynamoDB Paper
#35
Design a User Login and Authentication System for a Website
MediumSolutions
Solutions:Great explanationGood solutionGood summaryExplanation videos
#36
Develop a Weather Application
EasySolutions
Solutions:Leetcode DiscussionVideo explanation with sensorsAnother explanation with sensors
#37
Create a Document Management System like Wikipedia, Notion or Google Docs
EasySolutions
Solutions:Leetcode DiscussionSolution from Google Engineer. This goes over live editing too, but this specific question is not about live editingDetailed Frontend Design
#38
Build a Marketplace Feature for Facebook
EasySolutions
Solutions:Cheat SheetCraigslist DesignMock Interview
#39
Design a System to Monitor the Health of a Cluster
MediumSolutions
Solutions:SolutionLeetcode Discussion
#40
Find a Rider for Uber or Uber Eats
HardSolutions
Solutions:Excellent article on geospatial algorithmsGood solution for Yelp, which applies herePopular VideoMock Interview
#41
Design a Distributed Tracing System
Very HardSolutions
Solutions:Leetcode DiscussionGreat intro to TracingDapper research paperSolution from FAANG engineer
#42
Design Backend for an App to Distribute 6 Million Free Burgers in One Hour
MediumSolutions
Solutions:Mock InterviewAnother Mock InterviewReddit discussion
#43
Design a File Downloader Library from Frontend to Backend
HardSolutions
Solutions:Leetcode DiscussionVideo Solution
#44
Design a System to View Latest Stock Prices Worldwide
EasySolutions
Solutions:Leetcode DiscussionDetailed solutionReal case study
#45
Develop a Photo Sharing Platform like Flickr or Google Photos
MediumSolutions
Solutions:High level approachSolutionFrontend Solution VideoMock Interview
#46
Design an On-Call Escalation System
MediumSolutions
Solutions:No solution available online. However, here are things to consider
#47
Design and Implement a Wire Transfer API
HardSolutions
Solutions:Leetcode DiscussionVideo Solution
#48
Design a Live Comments Feature for Facebook
HardSolutions
Solutions:Great SolutionVideo Solution from Meta EngineerFB Engineering BlogLeetcode Discussion
#49
Design a Feature to Show the Number of Users Viewing a Page
EasySolutions
Solutions:One solutionRelated
#50
Design Facebook Likes Feature with Live Updates
EasySolutions
Solutions:Video Solution
#51
Create a System to Migrate Large Data to Google Cloud
Very HardSolutions
Solutions:3 strategiesRelated interview experience
#52
Design a Distributed Botnet
HardSolutions
Solutions:MapReduce Paper - which coordinates a cluster of machines to do a taskLeetcode DiscussionBlind
#53
Create a Distributed File Transfer System like Bittorrent
HardSolutions
Solutions:Great paper on this topicArticle on thisHigh Level Video Explanation
#54
Design a Parts Compatibility Feature for an eCommerce Site
EasySolutions
#55
Develop an Ads Management and Display System for a Social Feed
Very HardSolutions
Solutions:No good solution online. This video gives an overviewOne solution