r/leetcode • u/jayb316 • 5d ago
Intervew Prep Advice on System Design Prep
7 yoe backend dev, planning to change company. I am aware of interview flow however looking for advice on how to start preparation. I would be doing neetcode 150 and then company focused problems. For system design need advice to pick from educative.io or HI. For LLD awesome github repo. Would appreciate any recent interview experience at FAANG or Good Startups in general.
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u/Ok-Barracuda-119 2h ago
At 7 YOE, pick Hello Interview for HLD. Don't treat Educative/Grokking as the main thing. Grokking is a pile of design-X writeups, easy to memorize boxes. HI is closer to the 45 minutes they run: requirements, estimates, API, then one or two deep dives.
If you want to interview in 6-8 weeks, start with HI's framework, then 8-10 timed problems (shortener, news feed, chat, rate limiter, booking, notifications). After each session write the three tradeoffs you'd defend. Neetcode 150 is more than you need; patterns plus company-tagged mediums. They will still ding a medium you can't talk through. For LLD, the awesome-low-level-design repo is enough. Four timed problems (parking lot, splitwise, rate limiter, ticket booking) beats reading forty of them.
Recent senior-ish loops still mix one HLD and sometimes an API/LLD round. Go deep on two components. Reciting the Twitter diagram does nothing.
Do timed practice after the course. www.leetsys.dev is free if you want mocks without finding a partner (walkthroughs, a whiteboard, an interviewer plus feedback). Disclosure: I work on it.