f5e226b8
i've been conducting system design interviews for 2 years at my company. the number of "senior" candidates (5-8 yoe) who cant design even a basic URL shortener without hand-holding is alarming.
they can recite the textbook answer from alex xu but the moment you throw a curveball ("what if the read:write ratio is 1:1 instead of 100:1") they freeze.
we're handing out senior titles way too easily
93b21be5
title inflation is real. "senior" at a 50 person startup is not the same as senior at google. but both put "Senior Software Engineer" on their resume
f6f7b4db
maybe your interview is testing the wrong thing. system design interviews favor people who've read the popular prep books, not people who've actually designed systems. theres a difference
006fd9ff
i've been a senior for 3 years. i've designed 4 production systems. i still struggle in system design interviews because the format is artificial. you have 45 min to design something my team spent 6 months designing. its theater
9832058b
the curveball thing is fair though. if changing one assumption breaks your entire design, you dont understand the design, you memorized it. thats a legit signal
8277ae35
we're handing out senior titles because companies cant afford to pay people market rate so they give them a title instead. classic tech move
