High-Level Design (system design) rounds at Amazon lean toward real internal-style problems — sync systems, notification fan-out, and search — rather than pure "design Twitter" templates. Interviewers reward a structured approach: requirements first, then API design, data model, and failure handling, in that order.
Problem 1Design a Device Configuration Sync System
Design a system that keeps a user's settings and configuration in sync across their multiple devices — ideally without depending entirely on a centralized cloud store for every sync.
Requirements to clarify first
- Does sync need to feel real-time, or is a periodic sync every few minutes acceptable?
- Can a device edit configs while fully offline and reconcile later, or is it always online when it writes?
- How fine-grained does conflict resolution need to be — a whole config document, or individual fields inside it?
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The full architecture, API design, data model and scaling discussion for these are part of the Placement-Ready PYQ Kit.
1 more system design prompt with a full architecture writeup in the full Placement-Ready PYQ Kit