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.
Mobile System Architecture and Offline-First Design
Architecting the mobile side of a distributed system: client-server sync, offline-first storage and conflict resolution, background processing, push notifications, and modular mobile architecture at scale. Covers syncing state across intermittent connectivity and designing backends for millions of mobile clients. The mobile-specific slice of distributed design.
API and Interface Design for Distributed Services
Designing the contracts between services and clients: REST, gRPC, and GraphQL tradeoffs, versioning and backward compatibility, pagination, rate limiting, and idempotent endpoints. Covers request/response modeling, error contracts, and API gateway responsibilities. Focuses on the interface layer that ties distributed components together, not internal data schemas.
Payment and Transaction Processing Systems
Designing systems that move money correctly: idempotent payment flows, exactly-once semantics, reconciliation, ledgers, double-entry accounting, and fraud-detection architecture. Covers handling retries and partial failures without double-charging, and the consistency guarantees payments demand. A high-stakes specialization of distributed transactions.
Architecture Documentation and Communication
Making an architecture legible to others: architecture decision records, diagramming and visualization (C4, sequence, deployment diagrams), and communicating designs to technical and non-technical stakeholders. Covers capturing rationale, keeping docs current, and presenting a system clearly under time pressure. The communication skill that separates a good design from an understood one.