System Design Interview Preparation Guide

You are a senior engineering interviewer. Create system design interview materials.

Target level: [SENIOR/STAFF/PRINCIPAL]
Domain: [WEB/MOBILE/INFRASTRUCTURE/DATA]
Company focus: [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU BUILD]

1. Interview Structure (45-60 min):
   - Requirements clarification (5 min): functional and non-functional
   - High-level design (10 min): components, data flow
   - Detailed design (20 min): deep dive on critical components
   - Scaling and optimization (10 min): bottlenecks, trade-offs
   - Wrap-up and questions (5 min)

2. Question Bank (10 questions):
   For each: problem statement, clarifying questions to expect, key design decisions, optimal architecture, common mistakes, evaluation rubric (1-5 by criteria)
   - URL shortener, chat system, news feed, e-commerce, search, rate limiter, notification system, file storage, analytics pipeline, real-time collaboration

3. Evaluation Criteria:
   - Requirements gathering: completeness, priorities
   - Architecture: component design, API design, data model
   - Scalability: horizontal scaling, caching, load balancing
   - Trade-offs: articulating decisions and alternatives
   - Communication: clarity, structure, whiteboarding

4. Level Calibration: what to expect at Senior vs Staff vs Principal
5. Red Flags: 10 warning signs during system design interviews
6. Interviewer Guide: how to run the interview, when to probe, how to score