System Design Interview

A system design interview is a technical interview where you're given a vague requirement (e.g., "Design a video streaming platform like Netflix") and must propose a system architecture. You clarify requirements, propose solutions, discuss tradeoffs (consistency vs. availability, latency vs. throughput), and defend your choices. It's about thinking like an architect, not a programmer: load balancing, databases, caching, messaging, monitoring, and scaling.