Framework Thinking - SDE Interview

Here is framework thinking for SDE Interview.

1. Computer Science

  1. What ?

  2. Why ?

  3. Details.

  4. Pros, Cons.

  5. Use case.

2. Coding Interview

  1. Understand the problem.

  2. Clarify constraints.

  3. Explore examples.

  4. Brainstorm 2 - 3 solutions: I’ll start with a simple approach so we have a baseline, then optimize.

  5. Implement solutions.

  6. Dry run testcases.

3. System Design

  1. Understand the problem

  2. Identify functional requirements / non-functional requirements.

  3. Estimate capacity: QPS, Storage.

  4. High-level for Functional Requirements.

  5. Choose the technology: SQL/NoSQL, Kafka / SQS, Eventual/ Strong => Based on Estimate capacity.

  6. Bottlenecks & scaling: non-functional requirements

  7. Optional enhancements: Security, observability, analytics.

4. Behaviour Interview

  • STAR method.

  1. Context.

  2. Ownership.

  3. Contribution.

  4. Effective.

  5. Learn.

November 10, 2025