186: Interview Preparation - Design and Behavioral Loop
Assessment
Complete a system-design interview and a behavioral interview under time limits. Start the design with questions and the behavioral answer with a specific situation.
Checkpoint
Write the interviewer’s likely concern, the evidence you gave, and one clearer explanation to use next time.
Calibration
For system design, mark every assumption and unresolved risk. For behavioral answers, mark every claim that needs a concrete example. The purpose of this loop is diagnosis; a low score should produce a targeted next session, not a larger random question list.
Worked loop
Spend 25 minutes designing a notification service: clarify delivery guarantee, volume, latency, tenant isolation, retention, and provider failure; then show an outbox, worker, retry, dead-letter, and status path. Spend 15 minutes on “tell me about a disagreement,” answering with the decision, your evidence, the other view, and the result. Spend 5 minutes naming one unresolved risk in each answer.
Rubric and edge checks
Score design 0-4 for requirements, estimates, data flow, reliability, security, and tradeoffs. Score behavior 0-4 for specificity, ownership, judgment, outcome, reflection, and follow-up consistency. Probe duplicate delivery, provider timeout, unauthorized tenant access, invented metrics, confidential details, and a story where the result was not ideal. Passing requires 70% overall and no zero for failure handling or honesty.