Data Engineering System DesignZero to Hero

1. Part 1 · from page 6

   Foundations

   What a data engineering design round is testing, the five stages every data system is built from, and how the round runs at different companies. It starts with one kirana store and grows it to 5,000.

   1. 02What system design means for a data engineerp. 7
   2. 03Anatomy of a data systemp. 10
   3. 04What the round actually looks likep. 12

2. Part 2 · from page 14

   System design thinking

   The method used for every design in the book, the questions that turn a vague prompt into numbers, and back-of-envelope maths you can do out loud.

   1. 05The PIPELINE methodfree to readp. 15
   2. 06The art of the clarifying questionfree to readp. 16
   3. 07Scale estimation you can do out loudfree to readp. 19

3. Part 3 · from page 22

   Distributed systems fundamentals

   How data is split, how it is copied, what consistent means when machines disagree, and how bytes are laid out on disk, each taught through something you will draw in the round.

   1. 08Partitioning and shardingp. 23
   2. 09Replication, consensus and coordinationp. 25
   3. 10CAP, PACELC and consistencyp. 27
   4. 11The scaling toolkitp. 28
   5. 12Row, columnar and table formatsp. 29

4. Part 4 · from page 32

   Data engineering architecture

   The patterns you will be asked to compare, where each kind of data should live, how to model it, and what you say when the interviewer asks what breaks, who can see it, whether it is right and what it costs.

   1. 13Architecture patterns, and when not to use themp. 33
   2. 14Storage decision guidep. 36
   3. 15Data modeling for design roundsp. 37
   4. 16Reliability engineeringp. 39
   5. 17Data quality in productionp. 41
   6. 18Security and governancep. 42
   7. 19Costp. 42

5. Part 5 · from page 44

   Core technologies

   What each building block is for and where it breaks, then deep chapters on the two that interviewers probe hardest: Spark and Kafka.

   1. 20Building blocksp. 45
   2. 21Spark system designp. 47
   3. 22Kafka system designp. 52

6. Part 6 · from page 55

   Real interview designs

   Twenty-six designs, most traced to a prompt candidates reported, with the evidence printed on each header. Six flagships in fifteen sections, twenty compact designs on one page each.

   1. 23The 26 designs at a glancep. 56
   2. 24Twenty compact designsp. 69

7. Part 7 · from page 91

   Interview mastery

   The 45 minutes themselves: drawing a design that reads at a glance, turning a vague prompt into choices, holding your ground through follow-ups, and what moves an answer from good to a strong hire.

   1. 25How to draw the architecturefree to readp. 92
   2. 26From question to architecturefree to readp. 93
   3. 27The follow-up simulatorp. 95
   4. 28Bad, good and excellent answersp. 96
   5. 29Senior and staff thinkingp. 98

8. Part 8 · from page 99

   Cheat sheets and the master checklist

   The night before the round: nineteen cards, seven lines each in the same order, then the whole method on one page.

   1. 30Cheat sheetsp. 100
   2. 31The system design master checklistp. 105

9. Appendix A · from page 106

   The question database

   Every interview question behind the book, with an honest label for how much weight each one can carry.

   1. 32All 100 questions with sourcesp. 107

• SDE-2 / L4

  2-4 years

  Expected to drive: A correct, buildable design for a scoped prompt. A clear model and grain. Duplicates and late data handled when the interviewer asks.

  Common miss: Vague boxes, no grain, no numbers.

• Senior / L5

  4-8 years

  Expected to drive: Runs the scoping unprompted, does the numbers, raises failure modes before being asked, names costs, defends the design at 10x.

  Common miss: Waits for the interviewer to bring up failure; cannot say what breaks at 10x.

• Staff / L6

  8+ years

  Expected to drive: Questions the requirement itself. Designs for many teams: contracts, self-serve, quotas. Plans migrations and org-wide cost.

  Common miss: A good pipeline with no platform view and no migration path.

How much time do you have?

• Two weeks

  One part every two days. In Part 6, answer section 01 of each design on paper before reading the rest.

• Three days

  Part 2 (the PIPELINE method), the Spark and Kafka chapters, the six flagship designs, then Part 7.

• One night

  The Part 7 decision tree, the cheat sheets and the master checklist. Then talk through one flagship design out loud.