Since these interviews are more open ended there's no one correct answer but what criteria do interviewers usually evaluate? Use of UML/ other diagrams? Asked enough questions for clarity? Sounds like system design is more of a conversation of about design choices and trade offs so as long as you're asking and answering questions you may be fine (no silence?) I am interviewing with AWS for sde1 but am interested in seeing what others think as well
Btw sde1 doesn't need to worry about system design interview
The people I fail either draw one small box on the whiteboard and label it their system or they draw a 1000 boxes and lines. The other reason would be diving into the tech details without first clarifying the product requirements a bit.
I get that 1000 boxes is an exaggeration, but are they doing that without explaining why or is it because they're too narrow/ too wide scoped?
Mainly I’m looking for a logical approach to the system. Start with the UI or the storage and work your way through the stack. The 1000 boxes and lines usually comes from when the person works on one system in the middle and then they just start listing the surrounding systems. Ideally you start with the product requirements and walk through the stack.
Interviewer wanting to go deep down in some area, let’s say databases. And the interviewer just not having enough experience in that area. Any ideas how to handle such a situation?
In that situation or depends on your confidence and how u takle interviewers cross questions
Yes, have messed up on this once
https://www.practicecodinginterview.com/blog/2018/8/18/the-system-design-interview
I have never ever failed any system design interview. Most critical is to understand the expectations and ask enough questions before and during solution because main area of focus can be very different. Sometimes, you can relate the question to your previous projects. If you give the best solution without discussing or iterating with the interviewer than it is viewed badly no matter how good the solution is