System Design Interview – An insider's guide product image

System Design Interview – An insider's guide

(5/5)
Review by Joshua Morris on
View on Amazon

Review

Essential reading for any developer preparing for system design interviews. This book provides a structured approach to tackling large-scale system design problems that you'll encounter at top tech companies. The book covers fundamental concepts like scalability, reliability, and performance, then walks through real-world examples of designing systems like Twitter, Uber, and YouTube. Each chapter includes step-by-step guidance on how to approach the problem, identify requirements, design the architecture, and communicate your decisions effectively. The book also covers important topics like load balancing, caching strategies, database design, and message queues. Whether you're interviewing for a senior engineer role or just want to understand how large-scale systems work, this book is invaluable.

✓ Pros

  • ✓Structured approach to tackling system design problems
  • ✓Real-world examples of designing systems like Twitter, Uber, and YouTube
  • ✓Covers fundamental concepts: scalability, reliability, and performance
  • ✓Step-by-step guidance on architecture design and communication
  • ✓Comprehensive coverage of load balancing, caching, databases, and message queues
  • ✓Essential for senior engineer interviews at top tech companies

✗ Cons

  • ✗Assumes some prior knowledge of distributed systems concepts
  • ✗Examples may need updating as technology evolves

Specifications

Pages300
Edition1st
PublisherByteByteGo
LanguageEnglish
FormatPaperback

Related Products

97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts product image

97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts

(4/5)

Edited by Kevlin Henney, a curated set of timeless, page-length lessons from industry legends. Each item is a standalone insight you can read in five minutes.

Timeless, page-length lessons from industry legends. Perfect for busy developers—read one item in five minutes, learn something useful, put it down. Read full review.

Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations product image

Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations

(5/5)

Research-backed field guide that ties lean software delivery habits to measurable business outcomes, unpacking the DORA metrics, cultural foundations, and continuous delivery capabilities that separated top performers in the Accelerate State of DevOps reports.

Still my go-to reference when aligning execs around DORA metrics and the cultural work that makes continuous delivery stick. Read full review.

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions product image

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

(4/5)

Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths' exploration of computer science explained through everyday life. Surprisingly useful for developers who want to understand algorithms through real-world applications.

Made me see computer science everywhere. The chapter on caching helped me understand slow database queries, and the scheduling insights improved our task queues. Read full review.