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AI & Engineering Academics›💻 Technical Interviews›Lessons›System Design Fundamentals
🏗️
Technical Interviews • Advanced⏱️ 25 min read

System Design Fundamentals

Public lesson preview

Master the system design interview — from requirement gathering to architecture decisions — with frameworks that work at any scale.

Programme
Technical Interviews
Level
Advanced
Reading time
25 min read

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will understand:

  • ✓The 4-Step Framework
  • ✓The Building Blocks
  • ✓Classic System Design Questions
  • ✓Handling Estimation Questions
  • ✓Communication Tips During System Design

Lesson outline

  1. The 4-Step Framework
  2. Step 1: Requirements Clarification (5 minutes)
  3. Step 2: Back-of-Envelope Estimation (3 minutes)
  4. Step 3: High-Level Design (10 minutes)
  5. Step 4: Deep Dive (15 minutes)
  6. The Building Blocks
  7. Load Balancers
  8. Caches
  9. Databases
  10. Message Queues
  11. CDNs (Content Delivery Networks)
  12. Classic System Design Questions
  13. Design a URL Shortener (e.g., bit.ly)
  14. Design a Chat System (e.g., WhatsApp)
  15. Design a News Feed (e.g., Twitter/Facebook)
  16. Handling Estimation Questions
  17. Communication Tips During System Design
  18. Key Takeaways

Introductory preview

The system design interview is where senior engineers are made or broken. Unlike coding interviews with clear right answers, system design tests your ability to navigate ambiguity, make trade-offs, and communicate architectural decisions. The good news? There's a repeatable framework that works for every question. The great news? Once you understand the building blocks, you can design anything from a URL shortener to a global-scale messaging platform. Let's build that toolkit.

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