Interview Concepts

ystem Design CONCEPT BASED interview topics -

1. Horizontal vs Vertical Partitioning: https://bit.ly/3zyBRew

Vertical partitioning splits tables by columns, often separating different features. Horizontal
partitioning splits tables by rows, distributing data across multiple servers. Vertical organizes
data logically, while horizontal improves scalability + performance.

2. Apache Kafka: https://kafka.apache.org/

Kafka is a distributed streaming platform using a publish-subscribe model. It's fast due to
sequential disk I/O, zero-copy principle, and efficient batching of messages.

3. Rate Limiter: https://lnkd.in/dvvNjKue

A rate limiter controls the rate of requests a client can make to a service. It prevents overload
and ensures fair resource usage.

4. JWT vs OAuth vs SAML: https://lnkd.in/dPqrcN3u

JWT is a compact, self-contained token for secure information transmission. OAuth is an
authorization framework for delegated access. SAML is an XML-based standard for exchanging
authentication and authorization data.

5. Single Sign-On (SSO): https://lnkd.in/diU54_-s

SSO allows users to access multiple applications with one set of credentials. It typically uses a
central authentication server and protocols like SAML/OAuth.

6. Microservices vs Monolithic Architecture: https://bit.ly/4bAt2hv

Microservices architecture breaks an application into small, independent services. Monolithic
architecture is a single, tightly-coupled unit. Microservices offer scalability while monoliths are
simpler to develop + deploy.

7. Reverse Proxy vs Forward Proxy: https://bit.ly/3xOx6wO

A reverse proxy sits in front of web servers, forwarding client requests to backend servers. A
forward proxy sits in front of clients, forwarding their requests to the internet. Reverse proxies
are used for load balancing and security, while forward proxies are used for anonymity and
filtering.

8. CAP Theorem: https://lnkd.in/dQhhe4jD

The CAP theorem states that a distributed system can only provide two of three guarantees:
Consistency, Availability, and Partition tolerance. In practice, partition tolerance is necessary,
so systems must choose between consistency and availability during network partitions.

9. Global Scale System Design:https://bit.ly/3RW8DMJ

Key considerations include data replication, CDN usage, distributed caching, efficient load
balancing, and handling data consistency across regions. Latency management, regulatory
compliance, and disaster recovery are also crucial for global systems.

10. Efficient Caching Strategy: https://lnkd.in/dfnP9keJ

Implement multi-level caching (browser, CDN, application server, database). Use appropriate
cache invalidation strategies (TTL, event-based). Consider cache coherence for distributed
systems.
Cloud
https://github.com/sv222/cloud-engineer-interview-questions
https://www.turing.com/interview-questions/cloud

Java Back-end

or Java Backend developers:

LLD Topics:
------------
Youtube Playlist: https://lnkd.in/dJkgzKxf
Udemy course: https://lnkd.in/gtBEC7eM
1. Solid Principles, 🔥
2. Strategy Design Pattern,
3. Design Notify Me, Observer pattern,
4. Decorator Pattern,
5. Factory Pattern,
6. Abstract Factory Pattern,
7. LLD of Parking Lot,🔥
8. LLD of Snake and Ladder, 🔥
9. LLD of Elevator System, 🔥
10. LLD of Car Rental System, 🔥
11. LLD of Logging System, Chain of Responsibility,
12. Design Tic-Tac-Toe,
13. Proxy Design Pattern,
14. LLD of BookMyShow, 🔥
15. Null object Pattern,
16. Design Vending Machine,🔥
17. LLD of ATM,🔥
18. Design Chess Game,🔥
19. Design File System,
20. Adapter Design Pattern,
21. LLD Of Splitwise, 🔥
22. Splitwise Simplification Algorithm
23. Builder Design Pattern
24. LLD of Cricbuzz🔥
25. Facade Design Pattern
26. Bridge Design Pattern
27. LLD of Zepto
28. Flyweight Design Pattern
29. Command Design pattern
30. Iterative Design Pattern
31. Mediator Design Pattern
32. Visitor Design Pattern
33. Memento Design Pattern
34. MVC Design Pattern
35. LLD of Apply Coupon code system
36. LLD of Payment Gateway System
37. Object Pool Design Pattern

HLD Topics:
--------------
Youtube Playlist: https://lnkd.in/d8eDwYVA
Udemy course: https://lnkd.in/gZwTudYq
1. Network Protocols
2. Cap Theorem 💥
3. Microservices Design Pattern
4. Scale from 0 to Millions Users💥
5. Consistent Hashing💥
6. Design URL Shortening💥
7. Back of the Envelope Estimation
8. Design Key Value Store
9. SQL vs NoSQL💥
10. WhatsApp System Design💥
11. Design Rate Limiter
12. Zoom Video Calling App System Design
13. Design Idempotent POST API
14. Design High Availability System
15. Design Kafka (Messaging Queue) 💥
16. Proxy vs Reverse Proxy
17. Load Balancer and its algo
18. Distributed Caching
19. Distributed Transaction
20. Database Indexing💥
21. Distributed Concurrency Control💥
22. Distributed Locking
23. OAuth 2.0 💥
24. Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption
25. JWT Explained
26. API Gateway 💥
27. Microservices Architecture
28. Services Mesh
29. DNS💥
Ad click aggregation system
1. Top 10 songs played on spotify (top-k problem)
2. Design web crawler
3. Design a system to store images for FB and insta that would require 1000 uploads per sec and
handle duplication.
4. Deisgn online chess
5. Design whatsapp
6. Design price alert system similar to camelcamelcamel.com
7. Design proximity server.
8. Design YouTube.
9. Design the Facebook post privacy functionality. In other words, if I make a Facebook post, and
I have 3 privacy options to choose from (Only Me, Friends Only, Public), design how wold you
get the visibility for any Faceook user (ie. can a FB user see the post or not)
10.Design an online judge like leetcode.
Infra
messaging system 2
Design something similar to Instagram reels.
Design Instagram upload and feed service 2
Design Leetcode Judging System 3
cloud sharing
Top k frequently played songs for an apple music like service.
Ad aggregator 2
Web crawler (Slight variation) 2
Job scheduler
System to store and search (query) through facebook status updates.
System to store and search (query) through facebook status updates. These are text based
updates.
Ticket booking workflow. Really deep dives into concurrency control and race condition
resolutions.

Product
design facebook newsfeed 2
Design a leetcode Product
"Design a File/Folder Sync app (like Drive and dropbox)
Focused more on the API design and the schema table design went Alright"
design a version of a ticket buying application (ie/ Ticketmaster)

Java Topics:
------------
Youtube Playlist: https://lnkd.in/dUNA6vsU
Udemy course: https://lnkd.in/gkq4nRe9
- Fundamentals: 4 pillars
- Procedural vs OOPs
- JDK vs JRE vs JVM
- Classes
- Variables
- String Pool
- String Immutability
- Access Specifiers
- Type Casting
- Overloading and Overriding
- Pass by value vs pass by reference
- Garbage Collector
- Understand Constructor
- Operators
- Control Flow Statements
- Multithreading
- Exception Handling
- Generic Programming
- Collections
- Functional Interface
- Lambda Expression
- Stream APIs

80% of concepts and topics frequently asked about system design are based on 20% of these
problems. I would recommend having a strong understanding of these if you've got an
upcoming interview:

[1️] Scalability & Performance

► Load Balancing (LB algorithms, HAProxy, Nginx)
► Caching Strategies (LRU, Write-Through, Write-Back)
► Database Sharding vs. Partitioning
► Indexing & Query Optimization
► CDN & Edge Computing
► Asynchronous Processing (Queues, Event-driven architecture)

[2️] Data Storage & Databases

► SQL vs NoSQL (When to use what)
► CAP Theorem PACELC Theorem & Trade-offs
► Data Replication Strategies
► Indexing & Query Optimization
► Multi-Region Deployment
► Time-Series & Event-Driven Databases

[3️] High Availability & Fault Tolerance

► Leader Election and Consensus Protocols (Paxos, Raft)
► Replication & Failover Mechanisms
► Distributed Transactions (2PC, Saga Pattern)
► Rate limiting, Circuit Breakers & Retries
► Chaos Engineering & Failure Testing

[4️] API Design & Communication

► REST vs. GraphQL vs. gRPC
► Rate Limiting & API Gateway
► WebSockets & Long Polling
► Service Discovery & Load Balancing
► Message Queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS)
► Idempotency & API Versioning

[5️] Security & Compliance

► Authentication & Authorization (OAuth, JWT)
► Rate Limiting & DDOS Protection
► Data Encryption (AES, TLS, HMAC)
► Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
► Access-Based Access Control (ABAC)
► Audit Logging & Monitoring

[6️] Microservices & Distributed Systems

► Monolith vs. Microservices vs. Serverless
► Event-Driven Architectures
► Saga Pattern for Distributed Transactions
► Service Mesh (Istio, Linkerd)
► API Gateway & BFF Pattern
► Kubernetes & Container Orchestration

[7️] Logging, Monitoring & Observability

► Centralized Logging (ELK, Loki)
► Distributed Tracing (Jaeger, OpenTelemetry)
► Metrics & Dashboards (Prometheus, Grafana)
► Real-time Alerts & Anomaly Detection
► Service Health Checks
► Log Aggregation & Storage Strategies

📌 Data Structures:
Arrays, Linked Lists, Hash Tables, Trees (BST, AVL), Graphs, Queues, Stacks

📌 Algorithms:
Sorting (Quick, Merge), Searching (Binary Search), Graph Traversals (BFS, DFS), Dynamic
Programming, Complexity Analysis (Big O)

📌 Software Engineering Practices:

Clean Code Principles, SOLID Principles, Code Reviews, Unit & Integration Testing, Refactoring

📌 Design Patterns:
Singleton, Factory, Observer, Builder, Adapter, Strategy

📌 System Design Concepts:

Scalability, Availability, Load Balancing, Caching, Database Indexing, Sharding, Microservices,
Message Queues

📌 Data Pipelining:
Apache Kafka, ETL Processes, Apache Airflow, Batch vs. Real-time processing

📌 Version Control:
Git Workflow, Branching Strategies (Git Flow, GitHub Flow), Merge vs. Rebase

📌 CI/CD:
GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, Automated Testing & Deployment

📌 Cloud Services:
AWS (EC2, S3, Lambda, RDS), GCP (Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, BigQuery), Azure (App
Service, Cosmos DB, Functions)

📌 Authentication & Security:

OAuth2, JWT, Multi-factor Authentication, RBAC, Security Best Practices

► Scalability
↳https://lnkd.in/gjS6wgaW
↳https://lnkd.in/g7Ubkt2p

► Database scaling and Sharding

↳https://lnkd.in/gGPf3Chj
↳https://lnkd.in/gXtAu8_q
↳https://lnkd.in/gR44yVbd

► Fault tolerance, Replication and Disaster recovery

↳https://lnkd.in/gXqcp36n
↳https://lnkd.in/gN2xYsD8
↳https://lnkd.in/gAkFBpqm

►Load Balancing
↳https://lnkd.in/gXHwMtWE
↳https://lnkd.in/gEcr53sX

►Caching and CDNs

↳https://lnkd.in/gB6JtHSf
↳https://lnkd.in/gUcRRKHi
↳https://lnkd.in/gr-w477q

► Rate Limiting and Circuit Breaker

↳https://lnkd.in/g4iym7DU
↳https://lnkd.in/gCY4zhHt

► CAP Theorem, ACID and consistency patterns

↳https://lnkd.in/giwb5wCd
↳https://lnkd.in/gTgBtQcN
↳https://lnkd.in/gAy8jQaZ
↳https://lnkd.in/gSDUb86N

► Microservices Architecture
↳https://lnkd.in/gECnvWpW

🔹 1. Microservices Architecture
Understand why microservices work better than monoliths. Learn about independence,
scalability, and resilience, and use Domain-Driven Design (DDD) to define service boundaries.

🔹 2. Service Communication
Know when to use REST/gRPC (synchronous) vs. Kafka/RabbitMQ (asynchronous). Master
event-driven architecture and proper API versioning to avoid breaking changes.
🔹 3. Data Management Strategies
Microservices don’t share databases! Learn database-per-service, Saga patterns, CQRS, and
strategies for handling distributed transactions.

🔹 4. Deployment & Scaling

Dockerize your services and orchestrate them with Kubernetes. Implement service discovery
(Eureka, Consul) to ensure smooth inter-service communication.

🔹 5. Frameworks & Tools

Spring Boot is the king, but also explore Micronaut, Quarkus, and Dropwizard. Use Spring
Cloud for distributed microservices management.
🔹 6. Communication Protocols
Master RESTful APIs, gRPC, and messaging systems like Kafka & RabbitMQ for efficient inter-
service communication.

🔹 7. Database Choices
Understand when to use SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL) vs. NoSQL (MongoDB, Cassandra).
Optimize performance with Redis or Memcached caching.

🔹 8. CI/CD Pipelines
Automate everything using Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or GitLab CI. Use Blue-Green & Canary
deployments for zero-downtime releases.

🔹 9. Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Define infrastructure using Terraform, Ansible, or AWS CloudFormation instead of manual
setups.

🔹 10. Logging & Monitoring

Centralize logs with ELK Stack, Splunk, and monitor performance using Prometheus, Grafana
to catch issues before they escalate.

🔹 11. Building Resilient Systems

Microservices fail. Make them recover with Circuit Breakers (Hystrix, Resilience4j), Bulkhead
patterns, and retries.

🔹 12. Security First!

Protect APIs using OAuth2, OpenID Connect, and enforce security at the API Gateway level
(Zuul, Spring Cloud Gateway, Kong).

🔹 13. Microservices Testing

Go beyond unit tests. Write integration tests, contract tests (Pact), and end-to-end tests to
avoid deployment surprises.

🔹 14. Scalability Patterns

Achieve seamless scalability through horizontal scaling, load balancing (HAProxy, NGINX), and
efficient resource management.

🔹 15. Distributed Tracing

Find performance bottlenecks across services with Jaeger and Zipkin.

🔹 16. Avoid Common Pitfalls

Don’t turn microservices into a distributed monolith. Keep it simple—design services smartly
instead of over-engineering.

TOP 5 Message Brokers

1. RabbitMQ
🔎Overview: RabbitMQ is an open-source message broker that uses the Advanced Message
Queuing Protocol (AMQP). It supports multiple messaging protocols and is known for its
flexibility and ease of use.

🔦Key Features:
✅Reliable messaging with acknowledgments and persistent messages.
✅Flexible routing capabilities through exchanges.
✅Support for multiple programming languages.
✅Strong community support and extensive documentation.

2. Apache Kafka
🔎Overview: Kafka is a distributed streaming platform designed for high-throughput, fault-
tolerant messaging. It's primarily used for building real-time data pipelines and streaming
applications.

🔦Key Features:
✅High throughput and scalability, capable of handling large volumes of data.
✅Durability through distributed log storage.
✅Supports stream processing through Kafka Streams.
✅Integration with various big data tools and systems.

3. ActiveMQ
🔎Overview: ActiveMQ is an open-source message broker that supports the Java Message
Service (JMS) and multiple protocols. It's widely used in enterprise environments.

🔦Key Features:
✅Supports various messaging protocols (AMQP, MQTT, STOMP, etc.).
✅Provides both point-to-point and publish-subscribe messaging models.
✅Offers features like message persistence, transactions, and security.
✅Good integration with Java applications and enterprise frameworks.

4. IBM MQ
🔎Overview: IBM MQ (formerly known as WebSphere MQ) is a robust message broker designed
for enterprise-level applications, offering high reliability and security.
🔦Key Features:
✅Strong support for transactional messaging.
✅Built-in security features, including encryption and authentication.
✅Integration with IBM's ecosystem and other enterprise systems.
✅Support for a variety of programming languages and platforms.

5. NATS
🔎Overview: NATS is a lightweight, high-performance messaging system designed for cloud-
native applications and microservices architectures.

🔦Key Features:
✅Simple design with a focus on performance and low latency.
✅Supports publish-subscribe and request-reply messaging patterns.
✅Easy to deploy and manage with minimal configuration.
✅Built-in clustering and support for distributed systems.

- DSA (Data Structures & Algorithms)

- System Design
- Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
- Database Management (SQL, NoSQL)
- Version Control (Git, GitHub/GitLab)
- Cloud Services (AWS, GCP, Azure - Pick One)
- Microservices & APIs (REST, GraphQL, gRPC)
- DevOps & CI/CD
- Scalability & Performance Optimization
- Security Best Practices

ll

1. Database Management Systems (DBMS)

- Basics of DBMS
- Relational Algebra
- Types of Keys
- Joins (Inner vs Outer)
- Normalization (1NF to 5NF)
- ACID Properties
- Transactions and Concurrency Control
- SQL Queries (CRUD operations, Functions)

2. Operating Systems (OS)

- Process Management
- Threads & Multithreading
- CPU Scheduling (Preemptive & Non-Preemptive)
- Deadlocks & Handling Methods
- Memory Management (Paging, Segmentation, Virtual Memory)
- File Systems & Disk Scheduling
- Synchronization (Mutex, Semaphores)

3. Computer Networks
- OSI & TCP/IP Models
- LAN, WAN, MAN
- IP Addressing (IPv4, IPv6)
- Routing Techniques (Unicast, Multicast)
- Protocols (HTTP/HTTPS, TCP/UDP, DNS)
- Data Link Layer (MAC Address, CSMA/CD)
- Transport Layer (TCP Congestion Control)

4. System Design
- Load Balancing & Caching
- Microservices & API Design
- Database Sharding
- CAP Theorem
- Distributed Systems (Eventual Consistency, Replication)

5. Version Control (Git)

- Git Commands (Commit, Push, Pull, Merge)
- Branching & Merging
- Conflict Resolution
- Pull Requests & Code Reviews

6. Multithreading and Concurrency

- Thread Safety & Synchronization
- Race Conditions & Deadlocks
- Mutex, Semaphores, and Conditional Variables
- Concurrent Data Structures

7. Memory Management
- Stack vs Heap Memory
- Garbage Collection
- Memory Leaks & Prevention
- Page Replacement Algorithms

8. Security Fundamentals
- Encryption (SSL/TLS)
- OAuth, JWT
- Authentication & Authorization
- Common Vulnerabilities (SQL Injection, XSS)