Airbnb Architecture/System design Interview

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freakkk

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freakkk
May 26, 2019 9 Comments

Any tips on preparing for the design interviews at Airbnb? Do they focus on overall system design or dive deep into a smaller component? From what I've read so far, the focus is more on scaling the DB layer and getting the data model right. Running low on prep time, highly appreciate some tips on this :)

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TOP 9 Comments
  • New
    hustla

    New

    hustla
    There're no tricks to it. They want you to come up with a sensible approach that would work, no BS.
    May 26, 2019 3
    • New
      hustla

      New

      hustla
      I didn't get NoSQL questions but I wonder if that's because I didn't suggest NoSQL for the solution. But I do recommend brushing up on sql stuff
      May 27, 2019
    • VMware
      freakkk

      Go to company page VMware

      freakkk
      OP
      Thank you @hustla, appreciate it :)
      May 27, 2019
  • New
    hustla

    New

    hustla
    Both. I got asked to define the schema (tables and fields), write queries and also the high level stuff.
    May 26, 2019 2
  • New
    hustla

    New

    hustla
    Yeah I got the same. Given a simple app, design it's data structure. Then they keep adding feature requests and you modify it. Then they increase the scale and ask you to improve it. It was all about the DB.
    May 26, 2019 1
    • VMware
      freakkk

      Go to company page VMware

      freakkk
      OP
      Thanks for your response. By DB, is it the regular SQL/NoSQL, sharding etc. Or are you required to come up with actual schemas in the chosen DB? What kind of questions were you grilled on? @hustla
      May 26, 2019