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Database Scaling System Design Questions

14 design prompts lean on database scaling. Each one runs on a whiteboard canvas with AI feedback graded against a hidden rubric.

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Design problems

URL Shortener

Junior

Design a URL shortener like TinyURL or Bitly.

CachingLoad Balancing & Scaling

Unique ID Generator

Junior

Design a distributed unique ID generation service like Twitter Snowflake.

Consistency & Trade-offs

Pastebin

Junior

Design a Pastebin-style text snippet sharing service.

CachingLoad Balancing & Scaling

News Feed

Mid/Senior

Design a social news feed like Instagram's or Facebook's home feed.

CachingQueues & Async Processing

Chat Messaging

Mid/Senior

Design a real-time chat and messaging service like WhatsApp or Messenger.

Consistency & Trade-offsQueues & Async Processing

Video Streaming

Mid/Senior

Design the video playback and delivery system for a streaming service like Netflix or YouTube.

CachingLoad Balancing & Scaling

File Sync

Mid/Senior

Design a file sync and storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive.

Consistency & Trade-offsQueues & Async Processing

Maps & ETA

Staff

Design a maps routing and ETA service like Google Maps.

CachingLoad Balancing & Scaling

Ticketing System

Mid/Senior

Design an event ticketing system like Ticketmaster.

Consistency & Trade-offsQueues & Async Processing

Payment Processing

Staff

Design a payment processing system like Stripe.

Consistency & Trade-offsQueues & Async Processing

Search Autocomplete

Mid/Senior

Design a search autocomplete (typeahead) service.

CachingLoad Balancing & Scaling

Web Crawler

Mid/Senior

Design a large-scale distributed web crawler.

CachingQueues & Async Processing

Ad Click Aggregator

Staff

Design a real-time ad click aggregation system.

Consistency & Trade-offsQueues & Async Processing

Recommendation System

Staff

Design a personalized recommendation system like Netflix's.

CachingQueues & Async Processing

Want the pressure version? Any of these can run as a live 45-minute design interview with follow-up questions and a verdict. Set up a design interview