System Design Mock Interview: Design TikTok ft. Google TPM[System Design Sundays]
We haven't done a mock interview in a while, so this will be fun.
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One of you reached out and texted me that I hadn’t covered a mock interview in a while,
I went back through the archives and turns out this was very true. Anyone who has worked with me knows that I’m a huge believer in the power of watching mock interviews in learning to communicate better/come across new ideas. It’s similar to how athletes study footage of top performers and how writers are told to read a lot to improve the quality of their work.
So here is another excellent mock interview for you to study. Make sure you watch the video, study the points he makes, and think about whether you agree or disagree with them. How would you do things differently? As we covered in the how to learn DSA post yesterday, making your compare and contrast various ideas is a great way of learning the idea on a deeper level.
As you watch the Mock Interview, here are a few things I want you to look out for. These are things that I think the interviewee did really well, that you should definitely integrate into your mock interviews. I’ll also leave some actions you can take, to further improve upon this performance.
Things to Look Out For
Don’t be afraid to ask questions to clarify- Notice how instead of jumping straight in, Adam takes his time understanding what Tik Tok is. He has the interviewer explain the important parts of how TT functions. Steal this technique. Asking the interviewer to explain what they are asking for is a great way to understand what the interviewer values.
Focus on your strengths- Notice how Adam immediately jumps into the backend focus. People feel overwhelmed by the amount of information they feel like they have to know for the System Design Interview. TikTok has video storage, recommendations, app development, recommendation algorithms, and other complex challenges. Instead of worrying about everything, divert the attention to where you are strongest.
Define an MVP and link it to your user experience- One of the most beautiful things that Adam did comes towards the beginning of this video. As he starts to define the requirements for the product, he also keeps linking the app back to the users and their needs. In this he does two things well- he defines a minimum viable product, and he builds a client persona for whom he can build the app. Go out of your way to make this explicit in your interviews. Thinking of your customer needs is an important skill, one that is often overlooked by engineers.
Improvements #1, You can always improve- Towards the end, the interviewer asks “Would you like to add something to your product?”. This is where Adam slipped up a bit. When you’re asked something like this, the answer is always yes. However, sometimes you will not have much to add. In such cases, I would suggest taking a more macroscopic view of the system. How can you integrate this system into a larger ecosystem? What would need to be tackled? This shows off your ability to consider the future. As we’ve already covered in our post about what makes great software devs, considering the future is an important skill to become a great developer.
Improvement #2, Consider the Competition - When talking about developing apps like TikTok (where there is a lot of competition), spend some time talking about their rival apps and what they are doing. Both for copying and for differentiation. Talk about some of the ways challenges are handled, features are built, or other such insights that the competitors had that you would copy. Bonus point if you can mention a relevant publication related to the topic. How do you keep in touch with the various developments? Show up to Finance Fridays and StoryTime Saturdays. I cover such developments and their implications a lot. Aside from this, a good shot is to follow various creators and build up a set of sources who you look to for analysis and news. I will be sharing my list very soon. If you have any people you really like, let me know.
With all these points covered, it is now time for you to watch and learn from the mock interview. Happy Watching my dearest cult member.
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