System Design Interview – An insider's guide

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Book overview

System Design Interview - An Insider's Guide (Volume 1)

System design interviews are the most difficult to tackle of all technical interview questions. This book is Volume 1 of the System Design Interview - An insider’s guide series that provides a reliable strategy and knowledge base for approaching a broad range of system design questions. This book provides a step-by-step framework for how to tackle a system design question. It includes many real-world examples to illustrate the systematic approach, with detailed steps that you can follow.

What’s inside?
- An insider’s take on what interviewers really look for and why.
- A 4-step framework for solving any system design interview question.
- 16 real system design interview questions with detailed solutions.
- 188 diagrams to visually explain how different systems work.

Table Of Contents
Chapter 1: Scale From Zero To Millions Of Users
Chapter 2: Back-of-the-envelope Estimation
Chapter 3: A Framework For System Design Interviews
Chapter 4: Design A Rate Limiter
Chapter 5: Design Consistent Hashing
Chapter 6: Design A Key-value Store
Chapter 7: Design A Unique Id Generator In Distributed Systems
Chapter 8: Design A Url Shortener
Chapter 9: Design A Web Crawler
Chapter 10: Design A Notification System
Chapter 11: Design A News Feed System
Chapter 12: Design A Chat System
Chapter 13: Design A Search Autocomplete System
Chapter 14: Design Youtube
Chapter 15: Design Google Drive
Chapter 16: The Learning Continues
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About the author

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Alex Xu is an experienced software engineer and entrepreneur. Previously, he worked at Twitter, Apple and Zynga. He can be found online at LinkedIn and twitter (@alexxubyte)

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Frequently bought together

System Design Interview – An insider's guide
+
System Design Interview – An Insider's Guide: Volume 2
+
Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems

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Product information

ASIN B08CMF2CQF
Publisher Independently published
Publication date June 12, 2020
Language ‎English
Print length 320 pages
ISBN-13 979-8664653403
Item Weight ‎15.2 ounces
Dimensions 6 x 0.73 x 9 inches
Best Sellers Rank
Customer Reviews 4.6 out of 5 stars 3,074Reviews
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Customers say

Customers find the book helpful for system design interviews, with concepts explained in simple terms and diagrams included throughout. Moreover, the information quality receives positive feedback, with customers noting it provides decent walkthroughs of high-level concepts and answers many questions. However, the depth of the content receives mixed reviews, with several customers describing it as shallow.

Customers find the book provides a decent walkthrough of high-level concepts and goes in depth on important topics, with one customer noting it covers useful algorithm and knowledge points.

"Helped me get prepared for my interview. Very clear logic and easy understanding examples." Read more

"...What I found the most useful were the resource sections and further reading which direct the reader at a bounty of useful articles and books...." Read more

"...Plus, there's a bunch of real-world examples, so it's not just theory—you actually see how it works in practice. The best part?..." Read more

"...Highlights: + The book has a good set of questions. + Lots of diagrams and clear explanation...." Read more

Customers praise the book's content, describing it as amazing and incredibly valuable, with one customer noting it's the best book on the topic.

"A case by case study of typical System Design questions. Excellent read when starting out, nowadays there are many similar resources like this one..." Read more

"The book is pretty good. It’s easy to read. There are lots of design diagrams. If you are a visual person, you will love the book...." Read more

"Very known book. Doesn’t need introduction. Don’t get confused that it will take you to the deep concepts." Read more

"It is the best book that discusses the system design so far!..." Read more

Customers find the book lacks depth.

"...It’s tailored towards junior and semi-senior engineers. Some chapters are not deep enough...." Read more

"...Some chapters might feel a bit light if you’re already familiar with certain concepts...." Read more

"...Doesn’t dive deep enough on some subject so farther reading is required. Having said that I’m buying the second volume no doubt." Read more

"...That being said, it is not deep at all. Example diagrams seem hasty and some are not informant at all...." Read more

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Top reviews from the United States

  • 5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    Easy to remember
    Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2025
    Format: Paperback
    Helped me get prepared for my interview. Very clear logic and easy understanding examples.
  • 5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    Get your feet wet with System Design
    Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2025
    Format: Kindle
    A case by case study of typical System Design questions. Excellent read when starting out, nowadays there are many similar resources like this one available on youtube. What I found the most useful were the resource sections and further reading which direct the reader at a...
    A case by case study of typical System Design questions. Excellent read when starting out, nowadays there are many similar resources like this one available on youtube. What I found the most useful were the resource sections and further reading which direct the reader at a bounty of useful articles and books.

    I heavily recommend this for anyone who has not had the pleasure of being in a System Design interview yet or for anyone who wants to broaden their horizons on how tech can really scale.
    One person found this helpful
  • 4.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    Solid
    Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2023
    Format: Paperback
    So, I got my hands on "System Design Interview – An insider's guide" by Alex Xu, and I've got to say, it's a pretty solid book if you're gearing up for a tech interview, especially the tricky system design stuff. What I really liked is how...
    So, I got my hands on "System Design Interview – An insider's guide" by Alex Xu, and I've got to say, it's a pretty solid book if you're gearing up for a tech interview, especially the tricky system design stuff.

    What I really liked is how Alex breaks everything down. Instead of making you wade through a sea of jargon, he walks you through each concept, bit by bit. It's like he's right there, guiding you, which is really cool for beginners like me. Plus, there's a bunch of real-world examples, so it's not just theory—you actually see how it works in practice.

    The best part? Alex doesn't just teach you system design; he gets you into the mind of the interviewer. It's not just about getting the right answers; it's about understanding what the interviewer is looking for. Trust me, that stuff is gold!

    But hey, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. If you're already a pro at system design, you might find this book a bit on the simpler side. Don't get me wrong, the basics are covered really well, but I wished there was more for the advanced folks.

    Also, I had a bit of a tough time with some of the technical lingo. Even though Alex tries to make things simple, some parts still felt like a mouthful. And, more different problem scenarios would've been great to see.

    All in all, I'd definitely recommend "System Design Interview – An insider's guide" if you're starting out or kinda in the middle in system design. It's an easy-to-follow guide that'll help you get through those intimidating interviews. For the pros, maybe look for something more advanced, but as a refresher, it works well.
    8 people found this helpful
  • 5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    Top-notch content, but not sufficient as sole resource. I'll provide some more.
    Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2020
    Format: Kindle
    The book is pretty good. It’s easy to read. There are lots of design diagrams. If you are a visual person, you will love the book. It helped me pass the system design round at FANG. I read the book twice and take notes. I read all the reference materials...
    The book is pretty good. It’s easy to read. There are lots of design diagrams. If you are a visual person, you will love the book. It helped me pass the system design round at FANG.

    I read the book twice and take notes. I read all the reference materials mentioned in the book. Reading those extra materials help me a lot with topics I’m not familiar with.

    Highlights:
    + The book has a good set of questions.
    + Lots of diagrams and clear explanation.
    + You will learn something new by reading the book regardless of your experience.

    Drawbacks:
    - I wish the reference links are footnotes instead of being at the end of chapters. That way, it’s more accessible.
    - Some topics are not talked about too much like security and stream processing.
    - It’s tailored towards junior and semi-senior engineers. Some chapters are not deep enough. For example, I wish the author would talk more about feed ranking and caching in the designing news feed chapter.

    Overall, it’s a masterpiece in system design books. However, no book can cover everything in system design. No one knows every system. Here are some of my other recommendations:

    -- designing data-intensive applications. Highly recommended.
    -- system design primer github repo. Highly recommended free resource.
    -- Leetcode discussion forum about system designs.
    -- Grokking the system interview course. This is an ok resource but not very deep.
    -- Various youtube channels. I like channels like Tushar Roy, System Design Interview, Success in Tech, etc. There are a lot more but I found them most useful for senior engineer positions.
    -- Various tech blogs: Facebook, Netflix, Uber, AirBnb, etc. Those tech blogs are extremely valuable to help us understand real-life systems.
    -- highscalability website. The website contains lots of real world systems.
    -- InfoQ youtube channel. Many tech companies talk about how they scale their systems at infoQ. I find sometimes it’s quite hard to find useful videos on google but when I narrow down it to a specific channel, it’s much easier to find. For example, I found a lot of useful tech talks about uber there. It’s invaluable when I interviewed there.
    1,132 people found this helpful
  • 5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    Fantastic guide on System Design
    Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2025
    Format: Paperback
    System Design Interview—An Insider’s Guide is a great resource for anyone looking to prepare for system design interviews. The book is well-structured, easy to follow, and provides a solid foundation for understanding key system design concepts. I especially appreciated how...
    System Design Interview—An Insider’s Guide is a great resource for anyone looking to prepare for system design interviews. The book is well-structured, easy to follow, and provides a solid foundation for understanding key system design concepts. I especially appreciated how Alex Xu breaks down complex topics into manageable chunks, making it accessible for both beginners and those with some experience.

    What stands out is the step-by-step approach to solving system design problems. The book explains not only how to get to the right answer but also the reasoning behind the decisions, which are crucial during real interviews. The real-world examples and diagrams are incredibly helpful in visualizing the concepts, especially if you’re someone who learns best by seeing things laid out.

    While the book is mostly geared towards those newer to system design, it still has value for more experienced engineers. That said, there are a few areas where the content could go deeper, such as in security or more advanced topics like feed ranking. Some chapters might feel a bit light if you’re already familiar with certain concepts.

    That being said, I would definitely recommend this book if you’re preparing for system design interviews. It’s clear, practical, and gives you the tools to tackle even tough design questions with confidence.
    One person found this helpful
  • 5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    Great book
    Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2025
    Format: Paperback
    Very known book. Doesn’t need introduction. Don’t get confused that it will take you to the deep concepts.
  • 5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    Elegant and well thought!
    Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2021
    Format: Kindle
    It is the best book that discusses the system design so far! I read a few posts from other people, and I think those comments do not really reflect the author's true intent. The author was trying to provide a generic way of how to approach the design issues and...
    It is the best book that discusses the system design so far!
    I read a few posts from other people, and I think those comments do not really reflect the author's true intent. The author was trying to provide a generic way of how to approach the design issues and provided some classic design patterns. The book is very well organized. In the first few chapters, it tells you the common ways to scale the system and then gradually dive into deeper to show some fundamental concepts and practical ways of how a distributed system should be built. For example, Consistent Hashing is the foundation and has been used so many places, Alex explained very well. Then he discussed how to efficiently compare the nodes and how to detect the temp and permanent failures and recover from the failure. Yes, some of the content can be considered as "borrowed" from the paper, but Alex put them together in a very nice and easy way and save you a lot of questions and time. I read the original paper and still get inspired by the book. Another example is the Youtube chapter, Alex used some concepts from facebook paper. But we have to appreciate that he understood the content and put into such an easy way that you don’t need to spend a day to read facebook paper and still only 60% understanding.
    You also need to think of the first eight chapters are the building blocks of the distributed system, and they are the real challenges. Maybe in no interviews, people will ask the same questions, but these technics are really needed for you to build a good distributed system. For example, there is no global clock in the distributed system; then Twitter came up a Snowflake unique ID with the time concept in it. For example, the unique ID becomes the foundation of generating the short URL and newsfeed. For example, the Merkle tree helps you efficiently compare the difference between the nodes.
    Yes, there are some chapters that seem to be oversimplified, such as Google drive chapter, but overall the book covered a lot of patterns that require building the distributed system.
    A suggestion for Alex, organized the book into two sections, the common challenges and practical patterns for the distributed system, then dive into the interview questions.
    Great effort, I will give my 5 stars!
    10 people found this helpful
  • 3.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    okay as an intro
    Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2025
    Format: Kindle
    Good high level concepts for exposure and as starting point for further research but you wont come away from this book with enough knowledge to be dangerous in an interview.

Top reviews from other countries

  • Rafael Alves
    5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    A lot of knowledge
    Reviewed in Brazil on February 15, 2023
    This book helped me a lot, not only for interview but for my career. The content is not perfect, there are a lot of design that was skipped to kept the book simple but I really recommend this book for all engineers. Well done Alex Xu.
  • Fred
    5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    Great book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2025
    Easy to read, well structured, very useful for system design interview preparation.
  • Ali Ismail
    2.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    printed in black and white !!
    Reviewed in the Netherlands on September 23, 2024
    It came as surprising while I started to study the book and then found most of the diagrams are in black and white!! It's not cheap book, it's €40 I found out when I took a look at an online version of the book
  • Nambi
    5.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    Great reading
    Reviewed in India on February 27, 2024
    - Explains the design of most commonly used systems in the industry with great clarity - Analysing all possible solutions to a problem, listing the pros and cons of each approach, thus helping in making more informed decisions
  • Popa Constantin
    2.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
    Pretty good but not worth the price
    Reviewed in Italy on September 1, 2022
    What this book really offers is a collection of well-chosen examples of System Design questions that will indeed prepare you for the interviews. However, the individual examples are not something that you cannot find online already. If you read the index and looked up...
    What this book really offers is a collection of well-chosen examples of System Design questions that will indeed prepare you for the interviews. However, the individual examples are not something that you cannot find online already. If you read the index and looked up yourself a few examples online on how to design a specific app/platform, you would be just as good. I consider the quality of the explanations found in the book not superior in any way, sometimes quite the opposite. The author could have gone more in-depth on some important topics, without having to go look online at additional resources. This is another aspect that does not help with justifying the price tag. Sometimes some pictures are so trivial and superfluous that you get the impression that the author wanted to reach a certain number of pages and didn't know how. If you don't understand, look at Figure 15-4 (the icon of a hard drive), Figure 14-1 (Youtube homepage??), Figure 12-1 (a simple list would have been enough), and many others. I am not saying it is awful, but I am pretty disappointed with what I got after paying 38 euros.

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