Study guide | System Design Primer

Suggested topics to review based on your interview timeline (short, medium, long).

Diagram

Q: For interviews, do I need to know everything here?

A: No, you don't need to know everything here to prepare for the interview.

What you are asked in an interview depends on variables such as:

How much experience you have
What your technical background is
What positions you are interviewing for
Which companies you are interviewing with
Luck

More experienced candidates are generally expected to know more about system design. Architects or team leads might be expected to know more than individual contributors. Top tech companies are likely to have one or more design interview rounds.

Start broad and go deeper in a few areas. It helps to know a little about various key system design topics. Adjust the following guide based on your timeline, experience, what positions you are interviewing for, and which companies you are interviewing with.

Short timeline - Aim for breadth with system design topics. Practice by solving some interview questions.
Medium timeline - Aim for breadth and some depth with system design topics. Practice by solving many interview questions.
Long timeline - Aim for breadth and more depth with system design topics. Practice by solving most interview questions.

	Short	Medium	Long
Read through the System design topics to get a broad understanding of how systems work	:+1:	:+1:	:+1:
Read through a few articles in the Company engineering blogs for the companies you are interviewing with	:+1:	:+1:	:+1:
Read through a few Real world architectures	:+1:	:+1:	:+1:
Review How to approach a system design interview question	:+1:	:+1:	:+1:
Work through System design interview questions with solutions	Some	Many	Most
Work through Object-oriented design interview questions with solutions	Some	Many	Most
Review Additional system design interview questions	Some	Many	Most