TIL that rsync is an algorithm, not just a program that makes it easy to sync content across hosts.
Algorithms you should know before you take system design interviews
11–20 of 82 posts
Re: Algorithms you should know before you take system design interviews
#12If knowing these gets you the job and it can be crammed for, that's not an effective interview.
You're confusing sufficient vs necessary.
Knowing them is probably necessary, but knowing them alone is very unlikely to land you a job.
Re: Algorithms you should know before you take system design interviews
#13I was expecting to see idempotent consumer, circuit breaker, and a few others that I’ve used frequently when designing systems. Maybe not interesting enough to make the list?
Re: Algorithms you should know before you take system design interviews
#14Several interesting algorithms, but why a picture of a table instead of a table?
> but why a picture of a table instead of a table?
I guess they drawn the whole thing in an image editing tool and exported it as one image. A Table would've required much more effort, multiples images, styling, placement and many web requests to load them.
Re: Algorithms you should know before you take system design interviews
#15If knowing these gets you the job and it can be crammed for, that's not an effective interview.
It’s effective at ruling out people who haven’t even heard of any of them. Though I can’t imagine really expecting people to know more than three or four of these, certainly not in detail.
Re: Algorithms you should know before you take system design interviews
#16Re: Algorithms you should know before you take system design interviews
#17Having done several system design interviews, most of the time they're badly executed. When I asked for some detailed requirements they cannot disclosure them. However in the end they have those hidden requirements and I've failed because my system doesn't meet those requirements.
It's a bad way to conduct a system design interview by having a design in mind and hoping the candidates will reach that with limited knowledge / guidance.
Re: Algorithms you should know before you take system design interviews
#18If knowing these gets you the job and it can be crammed for, that's not an effective interview.
You're confusing sufficient vs necessary. Knowing them is probably necessary, but knowing them alone is very unlikely to land you a job.
Can't wait to learn these because someone said they're necessary only to get a CRUD job offer
Re: Algorithms you should know before you take system design interviews
#19I was expecting to see idempotent consumer, circuit breaker, and a few others that I’ve used frequently when designing systems. Maybe not interesting enough to make the list?
These are more "patterns" than "algorithms"...
Re: Algorithms you should know before you take system design interviews
#20Having done several system design interviews, most of the time they're badly executed. When I asked for some detailed requirements they cannot disclosure them. However in the end they have those hidden requirements and I've failed because my system doesn't meet those requirements. It's a bad way to conduct a system design interview by having a design in mind and hoping the candidates will reach that with limited know…
My solution is to produce a design in my head, and figure out its limitations. Then I ask for each limitation if this limitation will be a problem. If it is, then I figure out how to iterate the design to eliminate that limitation. Once I don't know of any unverified limits, then I start explaining my design, and explain how I know it will perform to spec.
This is also a good way to approach system design in the real world. Don't simply go with the first solution that looks like it might work. Also don't add on nice looking features on general principle. Instead sketch out the simplest thing which works in your head, figure out the limitations, check whether each is OK, and then improve my design if it doesn't work yet.