I had a recent FAANG onsite interview and I screwed up system design although I had strong knowledge about that area. The main reason I felt was that interviewer was not giving me even a minute to organize my thoughts. The moment I would try to think and express something, he would cut me there and ask something else and later would tell me you didnt bring up even basic things yet( which I am always trying to bring) I did not want to stop him anywhere as i was sure he would have given me bad reviews. I tried to be humble and nice and this costed me a lot. How did you handle these overpowering interviews. #systemdesign #google #airbnb #facebook #uber #netflix I definitely think no body among us was wrong actually. We were expressing ourself but didn't know where to stop.
I definitely understand your pain. I think I'm pretty good with system design but the whole format of this interview doesn't match my personality or method of working at all. I'm not the super talkative type especially when I'm not yet even sure what I'm actually talking about. For some people, speaking a lot is effortless and natural. If I focus too much on speaking then I lose bandwidth to actually think and this doesn't represent how I would be normally on the job.
Some interviewers purposely do this , to judge how do you think and convince them under stress. Surprisingly they are the ones who might give a hire rating too, whereas some supposedly nice interviewed give a strong no hire too !! It has happened to few people and my own experience.
Personally, I would try my best to think out loud. If you need a minute to weigh your design options and decide which is the best - just talking through that process verbally rather than in your head can show the interviewer your thought process and that you understand the challenge and are simply trying to land on the best solution rather than not knowing of a single solution, which is probably how it appears.
The SD interview tests your skill as a technical lead, imagine you need to present your solution in a design review meeting. You need to have the ability to hold the conversation while maintaining a structured presentation. Believe it or not, you should have done this plenty of time in your company (maybe easier with your slide opened). My solution is to find a common structure which works for all kind of problems, and try to stick with that.
Totally agree. But if this happened, you would already be prepared (in the manner that suits your personality) before you presented, not flying off the cuff in an interview pressure cooker. But this is the game and I accept, not whining, it is what it is
@bplus do you have a template.
Tell him u need a minutes or two to think
Yes I was telling him but within few seconds of that, he would see me and ask me something else and I could not say 'WAIT' just to act humble and I would completely lose my direction from there. This happend again and again and I just gave up and worked in ways he wanted. Just to later hear that I didnt bring basic things yet.
Tbh from what u described it sounds like the interviewer’s problem. Either he is actually looking for someone who thinks fast and talks fast or he’s just inpatient with u