mockx

System Design Interviews: A Step-by-Step Guide

LinkedIn

Lyft

Zynga

Yahoo

Sumitha Poornachandran

Founder, MockX | x-Director, LinkedIn

Build a solid understanding of essential system components—Client-Server model, APIs, Databases, Caching, Queues, etc.

System design: core concepts

Gain a strong understanding of the core system design framework commonly applied across various design questions.

A framework to navigate any system design problem

Quick overview of a system design problem. See how the framework and concepts come together in a practical scenario.

A sample problem walkthrough

Understand the most common mistakes made in system design interviews and  learn how to avoid them

System design traps — and how to stay clear of them

Use AI and expert guidance to prepare and land your Big Tech job in 2026!

Principal at BigTech with 18+ YOE

Prasad Rao

Principal Solutions Architect | Co-founder, BeSA (Become a Solutions Architect)

AI edition

Learn from an expert behavioral interview coach and practice mock interviews with a custom AI tool!-- -- --You're a skilled professional who KNOWS you have what it takes to work at big tech. But you haven't cracked those interviews yet.You're impacted by:→ Interview anxiety→ Stories without structure→ Not knowing expectations→ Blanking during behavioral questionsIN THIS COURSE YOU'LL LEARN- How to craft Big Tech ready resume- How to deliver high-impact responses in STAR format- How to craft compelling technical achievement stories- How to effectively communicate leadership experiences- How to blend technical depth with strong behavioral skills- How to maintain authenticity while following structured frameworks- How to project confidence through voice, body language, and pacing- How to share lessons learned from past failure and conflict experiences- How to craft and deliver senior level responses to get hired at the right level Then put it all into practice with free AI-powered mock interviews for a week.With the right strategy and preparation, you can showcase your expertise and demonstrate your leadership potential. Note: This is not a DSA or System Design interview prep course

Learn to craft and deliver compelling stories that highlight your technical skills and leadership experience to excel in big tech interviews

Craft a Big Tech-ready resume that gets you noticed

Stand Out in Technical Interviews using Behavioral Skills

STAR method expertise for structured, impactful responses

Craft compelling leadership and technical achievement stories

Techniques to handle technical and behavioral questions effectively

How to practice mock interviews with custom AI tool effectively

Tech ICs and leaders targeting their first MAANG+ role

Strong performers who struggle with articulating their experiences in interviews

Tech professionals aiming to secure $300K+ job

Master every stage of the interview process — once and for all

Design Leadership at Apple

Apple

Google

Revolut

Bumble

Eugene Trofimov

Design Manager from Apple, ex-Bumble (IPO), Badoo, 10+ years in design

Delete this Cohort / No Students

Cohort 3

❗ NOT just theory. 80% practical in small group and personal feedback for every stage.    📈 1.5–2× salary growth through confident negotiation  🏆 200+ offers at Google, Meta, Revolut and more  ⚡️ 50+ designers landed roles in 2025-2026 alone   I've spent 7 years hiring designers at Apple, Bumble, and Badoo — 500+ interviews conducted across every level. But this course isn't just built on my experience. Over 4 years of teaching, I've gathered insights from hundreds of students who went through real interviews at top companies, consulted with hiring managers and recruiters across the industry, and brought in guest speakers from the inside. Every pattern, every mistake, every winning move — collected, tested, and built into one system. The most complete guide to getting hired at top-tier companies that exists today.  By the end of the course you'll have every artifact ready to use tailored for top-level companies: ✓︎ Resume, ✓ Cover Letter, ✓ LinkedIn, ✓ Portfolio Cases, ✓ interview answers for every stage. Some students get their first offer before the course even ends.

Get hired at FAANG-level companies. Learn how to pass interviews from an insider

Position yourself as a standout designer

Build a portfolio and resume that get noticed

Master every stage of the interview

Make LinkedIn work for you

Ace interview with confidence

This course is designed for Mid-to-Staff level Product Designers and UX Researchers.

Experience Level:

You need to be open to letting go of old habits and ways of thinking. Trust the instructor and the proven process to really succeed.

Mindset:

Successful completion requires consistent effort and engagement, so please ensure you can commit the time to apply the learnings.

Availability

Designers aiming to land jobs at FAANG and other top global tech companies, or those who want a clear, practical system to get hired.

Mid- to Lead-level designers ready to grow and level up their careers.

Those who want to get offers 1.5–2× higher than their current salary.

Go from shaky in design reviews to the engineer everyone trusts to architect the hard stuff

Principal Engineer → Staff Architect

Ehsan Gazar

Principal SE. 500+ mentorship sessions. 5.0 rating Systems at scale.

The architecture skills that get senior engineers promoted. Live, 6 weeks, small cohort.

Cohort 1

You're a strong engineer. You ship reliable code, you debug fast, your PRs get approved. But when a system design question comes up in an interview, design review, or promotion conversation, something shifts.You know the concepts. You've read the articles. But under pressure, your thinking gets fuzzy. You're not sure where to start. You hedge. You cover too much or miss what matters. And afterwards, you can't always explain why.This is the gap that holds senior engineers back. It's not about intelligence or experience. It is that system design is a skill no one explicitly teaches you on the job. You're expected to absorb it. Most don't.I've worked through this with 500+ engineers. The pattern is always the same. Once someone understands how to structure their thinking, frame constraints, drive trade-offs, and justify decisions out loud, everything changes. Interviews get clearer. Design reviews get easier. Promotions follow.This cohort is six weeks of doing exactly that, live, with feedback. Not theory. Not another article to bookmark. A repeatable way to think that works under pressure, in interviews, on the job, and at the next level.

System design taught by someone who designs systems for a living.

Structure any system design problem confidently

Lead architecture discussions without doubt

Clear the system design interview round

Make trade-offs that hold up to scrutiny

Think at the level your next promotion requires

Build a repeatable design process

Solid coder, shaky on architecture. Keeps getting passed over for staff. Knows something's missing but can't name it.

Strong track record, rusty on design rounds. Needs a structured approach before facing a FAANG or scale-up loop

Not waiting to be promoted. Building staff-level skills now to compress the timeline from L4 to L6.

Build a repeatable system for designing programs with more clarity, speed, and consistency.

Strength Coach & Systems Educator

Exos

Cleveland Browns

Munster Rugby

Denis Logan

Former EXOS coach teaching systems for faster, better program design.

Most coaches don’t struggle because they lack exercises, methods, or information. They struggle because every program requires dozens of decisions, and most of those decisions are made without a repeatable system.That’s where programming breaks down.Weeks get built session by session.Stress gets stacked without a clear map.Conditioning interferes with strength.Readiness changes lead to random adjustments.Hours are spent writing programs or you just use an old program because of decision fatigue. And we haven't even spoken about the specific population you're working with yet.Over time, coaches spend more energy reacting than designing.This course matters because it solves that problem directly.Instead of giving you more disconnected ideas, Programming Architecture gives you a structured system for making better decisions with more speed and consistency.You’ll learn how to organize, and then build, training through clear frameworks, map stress across the week, prioritize training qualities, adjust for training age and readiness, and build templates that scale.The goal is to help you build repeatable programs on purpose — not just assemble sessions that work in isolation.

Most coaches don’t need more ideas. They need a better system.

Build a clear program design system

Map stress with more precision

Prioritize training qualities across the week

Adapt programs without breaking structure

Build templates that scale

Use AI to accelerate workflow the right way

Coaches who are tired of rebuilding programs from scratch: Programming still feels too manual, reactive, or mentally heavy each week

Trainers who feel overwhelmed by too many programming choices: You want a clearer way to organize stress, progression, and adaptation

Performance coaches and rehab professionals: You want templates, frameworks, and decision systems that scale across clients and athletes<h2></h2>

Agentic AI

Coding with AI

AI Workflows

Claude Code

OpenClaw

Vibe Coding

AI Evals

AI Transformation

RAG & Search

AI for PMs

AI for Engineers

AI for Designers

AI for Marketers

AI for Founders

Product Sense

Product Discovery

User Research

Prototyping

Growth

Analytics

Tech Foundations

Strategy

Influence

Leadership

Career Growth

Machine Learning

LLM Ops

Context Eng

Security

System Design

Figma

Design Systems

Visual Design

Design Strategy

Automation

Content Marketing

Demand Gen

Go-to-Market

Product Marketing

Positioning

Social Media

Brand

B2B Marketing

SEO & AEO

AI for Leaders

AI Governance

Communication

Management

People Operations

Exec Presence

Storytelling

Goal-setting

Personal Brand

Fundraising

Everyone

Operators

Data Scientists

Business Analysts

User Researchers

Customer Success

Project Managers

HR Professionals

Sales People

Lawyers

Finance

Investors

Real Estate

Educators

Creators

Introduction and Agenda

Anatomy of a System Design

Core Concepts: Client-Server Communication

Core Concepts: API Gateway

Core Concepts: Load Balancers (L4 vs. L7)

Core Concepts: Real-Time Communication Patterns

Core Concepts: Microservices Architecture

Core Concepts: Databases (SQL vs. NoSQL)

Core Concepts: Caching Strategies

Core Concepts: CAP Theorem

A Step-by-Step Framework for System Design Interviews

Sample Problem: Designing a News Feed System

Optimizing the News Feed Design

Common Mistakes and Best Practices

Time Management and Wrap-up

Q&A Session

Product managers who drive strategy, development, and launch of products.

Executives and senior leaders who set strategy, lead teams, and drive organizational outcomes.

Engineers and engineering leaders who build, deploy, and scale software systems.

Getting promoted, navigating job transitions, and advancing to the next level in your career.

Developing leadership skills — inspiring teams, building culture, navigating organizational complexity, and driving results through others.

Building technical literacy — understanding APIs, databases, system architecture, and engineering tradeoffs.

Designing scalable, reliable software systems — architecture patterns, distributed systems, and technical tradeoffs.

System Design Interviews: A Step-by-Step Guide

What you'll learn

Why this topic matters

You'll learn from

Sumitha Poornachandran