Systems Architecture & Distributed Systems Topics
Large-scale distributed system design, service architecture, microservices patterns, global distribution strategies, scalability, and fault tolerance at the service/application layer. Covers microservices decomposition, caching strategies, API design, eventual consistency, multi-region systems, and architectural resilience patterns. Excludes storage and database optimization (see Database Engineering & Data Systems), data pipeline infrastructure (see Data Engineering & Analytics Infrastructure), and infrastructure platform design (see Cloud & Infrastructure).
End-to-End Feature Design and Development
The integrated "build a complete feature" interview format: taking one feature from user-facing flow through API design, backend logic, data model, and storage in a single coherent walkthrough. Tests the ability to connect the layers and make consistent trade-offs across them, rather than depth in any single layer.
Distributed Systems Security and Trust
Securing communication and trust across a distributed system: service-to-service authentication and authorization, mutual TLS, zero-trust boundaries, secrets management, and multi-party protocols and distributed trust models. Covers securing data in transit and at rest across service boundaries and isolating tenant and network zones. The security-architecture concerns specific to distributed designs.
IoT and Edge Device System Architecture
Designing systems for large fleets of connected devices: device connectivity and provisioning, telemetry ingestion at scale, edge-versus-cloud processing splits, intermittent connectivity, and firmware/config rollout. Covers the constraints of constrained devices and the ingestion pipeline behind them. Distributed architecture where the edge is physical hardware.