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Comment by random42_ | Hacker News Reader

Systems design questions are the only part of interviews that I actually like and find useful for evaluating actual knowledge - I mean, I think it’s harder to fake it than memorizing a bunch of problems and their solutions on Leetcode.

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I have a better solution - ask a candidate to design a system that he helped design and present it. One of the places that I interviewed had me do it. Lot better than asking someone to design twitter or Netflix on the spot.

This runs into big NDA issues. The candidate may also think that you are trying to mine them for knowledge.

Yet this is common. I have been asked this twice at a FAANG and FAANG league company

You can always obfuscate details that are sensitive, which I did.

No. This gives a huge advantage to candidates that have been around something interesting or prepared a made up scenario in advance and are smooth talkers.

It's ok to ask basic details about previous projects but then change the requirements and ask the candidate to update the design on the spot multiple times.

I have the exact opposite view. It's a lot easier to fake systems designs interviews, since one doesn't have to produce a working system at the end.

I'd argue that if you can't tell the difference between a good system design and a bad system design other than "see if it works," you shouldn't be in a position to be giving system design interviews. The idea isn't to get a working system, it's to see how the candidate approaches a system design. If it's a problem you know how to solve and you can't see problems with their approach, they're probably at least as good at it as you are.

My experience is that you might be able to fake up to a certain point. After that, the interviewer can keep throwing curve balls and see how the candidate will approach those. Of course, it all depends on the problem given. I’ve seen system design questions that are way too abstract to be useful but the best ones I’ve been asked were very real life scenarios.

Producing a working system during a 1-hour interview is not a good measure of skill. That's not what interviews are for.

I feel like senior engineers are doing more system design and managing communication among team members than anything else

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