System Design (TPM) Mock Interview: Twitter API

[@rajdeepbanerjee340]

We can use API gateway to request throttling, rate limiting. The APIs can be abstracted behind the API gateway which will throttle and route the requests.

[@ValeriCFBG]

What if we don't want to use AWS? What is the abstraction behind, or actually infront, of API Gateway?

[@iamworstgamer]

this is good interaction. interviews I attend people keep interupting me when I answer the question

[@ValeriCFBG]

The interviewer played his role well, that's how interviewers behave usually - kinda reserved, not following exactly the train of thought or direction of the interviewee, asking a lot of follow up questions in the middle of something! This is legit stuff! Typically on other videos from this channel, the interviewer is either missing or too nice. I noticed that Jacob was a bit underperforming, compared to the stellar designs in other videos. I think it is mostly because of how the interviewer leads the interview. Keep that in mind, interviewees! Most of the interviews will be something like that. I usually want to draw some boxes, talk about concrete implementation and it's kinda sad that most interviews have really strong timelines and leave me unfullfilled.

[@tryexponent]

Hi Vallerious! Thanks for watching and taking the time to share your thoughts. Appreciate it!

[@deathbombs]

10:46 clear explaining. I like how you set up explaination by saying goign heads up on it's prior to request sent( to creating token or obtain token then send it WITH the request). Great thorough explainations with a clear structure, and specific implementation details on how the authentication works The simple way to explain would've just been "we use tokens"

[@lasophistique3513]

Love the idea behind this video, it's very timely. Thank you so much!! Want to see more of it. Also, more in depth discussion would be helpful. Also for the interview, using "tsk" sound often can be distracting.

[@tryexponent]

Thanks for the tip about the "tsk" sound and thanks for the compliments! What type of interview video would you like us to film next?

[@lasophistique3513]

@@tryexponent Thank you so much for responding so quickly! Totally surprised, and really grateful. Next video request: How would you design Dropbox API? How would the client request data on the document from the server, especially as the document gets large enough that you wouldn’t want to download it in a single request? How would you handle loss of internet connectivity in the middle of download/upload? How would you add new features without breaking older clients?

[@sharma2029]

Make more videos on system design interview... Really appreciate your work 😇😇

[@tryexponent]

We have a whole course on it now at tryExponent.com :)

[@amit1245]

I think, it was good learning but I really missed the database part, which database to use, sharding desing. Can you please put your thoughts

[@yanciliang7735]

This is a great video, thank you!

[@golammuhaimeen2825]

really great video guys! super helpful, concise and informative. Loved it

[@johnsmith21123]

You don't update entites with POST, you do it with PUT or with PATCH (for partial updates)

[@cipher6042]

Ya was thinking the same, when it said POST update user profile

[@GauravJain108]

Thank you for posting this! :)

[@italia0141]

what software has been used for the whiteboard ?

[@wasabi_san]

This seems like a quiz on technical jargons (What is REST, 4xx status codes, OAUTH). Too elementary for an actually system design interview. Remember that you won't even be given a system design interview if you're applying for an entry level position.

[@aiman_yt]

Untrue. Many companies do.

[@xasm83]

POST is not for updates, is to create new entities, PUT should be used for updates

[@deathbombs]

14:05 was it a good idea to basically justify why interviewer asked about rate limiting? Usually they don't really care about these signals, although you might show them your depth of the topic and friendliness, but aren't you wasting time potentially when they just care about the solution to the problem given?

[@JH00ker]

14:30 The HTTP Status Code that's returned when you are being rate-limited is 429 - Too Many Requests

[@avinashtomar7143]

This was a great interview. Can you please post Uber/Lfyt API design next time.

[@tryexponent]

Thanks Avinash! Anything in particular you'd like us to focus on for that video?

[@avinashtomar4794]

Exponent We can focus on 3 Entities for API - Passenger, Driver and Uber System. How these three collaborate to make rides happen.

[@riteshpatel16]

Hey, Thank you for doing this. Very concise and systematic approach. Very seamless flow of discussion. Do you have a video that goes into depth that you referred in the end. I would like to learn about approach or details on the architecture and implementation side. Especially how much details are expected and how to balance between keeping it abstract enough while covering important part for that section.

[@tryexponent]

Glad you liked it! You can view another of our system design videos here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHvTl4JsgMmsjac

[@relishxylitol]

In a system design interview, when It comes to designing an API, is the interviewer expecting API endpoint design which was shown in the video?

[@tryexponent]

It depends! You can ask your interviewer for what level of specificity they're interested in.

[@praveensg]

Please do a deep dive of api authentication.

[@Justinbieber4eva]

How long is it appropriate to spend writing the api/brainstorming?

[@AlikElzin]

Thanks for the video! What about some text board like whiteboard? Do system design interviews on vchat have some text board?

[@tryexponent]

They may! It usually is done with a virtual whiteboard.

[@christinakayla]

When the interviewer is asking for solutions other than Rest API, is he asking for something about Protobuf or Thrift?

[@danielbalagula1792]

protobuf is a serialization format, the guy mention soap and graphql as alternatives

[@baothai9715]

Protobuf would be something more like OpenAPI or RPC in comparison to REST

[@migfulcrum1]

Alternatives to REST are for example GraphQL and gRPC. Protobuf or Thirft are just ways to serialize data inside your message body.

[@DiklahC]

Great video! Is this relevant also for Product Manager interviews?

[@tryexponent]

Hey DiklahC! This video is more technical than most PM interviews will go, but some of these concepts are certainly fair game for the interview. I'd recommend checking our our technical PM mock interview to get a better sense: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aX7WiHeHf9KMhac

[@DiklahC]

@@tryexponent Thank you!

[@srihari2742]

nice video.. what is the drawing tool you were using ?

[@tryexponent]

Thanks Srihari! Whimsical!

[@hakooplayplay3212]

updating routs should be patch not post

[@barakhazan26]

Hi :-) The question is also characterized for technical product manager interviews?

[@tryexponent]

Hey Barak! That's right. TPMs often get system design interview questions.

[@barakhazan26]

​@@tryexponent Thanks appreciate :-) I have a Technical Product Manager interview at Israel and I am looking for an example of Technical Product Manager questions, you wrote that this is a Technical Program (and not product) Manager interview- why?

[@tryexponent]

@@barakhazan26 System design interviews often don't occur in product manager interviews. However, it's definitely possible! We'd recommend asking your recruiter about what types of questions to expect, and preparing as such.

[@barakhazan26]

@@tryexponent Do you think I can ask HR what questions to expect? Is it legitimate to ask that kind of question? I am not familiar withe the VP products person, the person from the HR talk with me to about the interview.

[@tryexponent]

@@barakhazan26 Definitely legitimate to ask that!

[@sinpleplayer7340]

helpful, thanks!

[@tryexponent]

Thanks :)!

[@mohnishdubey5]

Are you both in the same room 😂...

[@tryexponent]

Don't leave your career to chance. Sign up for Exponent's technical program manager course today: bit.ly/3NC2RME

[@cschua06]

great content! new subscriber here

[@yingxuezhu6693]

The right guy looks so hansom, wish he could be my interviewer, lol

[@RobertWiesner]

That’s not a good solution 😇 Wrong HTTP Verbs in REST, what about backend for Frontend pattern? Or ask about what clients are there to also choose between REST BFF or GraphQL. What about real time interaction or push notifications / subscriptions …

"Awesome, ccc, yeah, ccc, cool, ccc, definitely, ccc..." - interviewee could work on his speaking skills

[@gxo-mt5vo]

This was very basic. I feel it lacked depth

[@loveanimals-0197]

What a joke video. You'd probably fail the interview if you answered like this.

[@praveensg]

Underrated comment. Agreed. Need to be more passionate and gather your thoughts quickly. This is a pretty low bar. Sorry exponent.

[@Glazepta]

It's a very shallow response