Take the “Pastebin” problem from Volume 2. Build a high-level diagram using Excalidraw. Identify the bottlenecks. That is what the interviewers want—not a candidate who hoards PDFs but one who can reason about a distributed system under pressure.
Frustrating, but ethical. 3. The Pirated PDF (The Dangerous One) Occasionally, a repo will survive for 48 hours before being DMCA’d by the publisher. Inside, you might find a scanned PDF with watermarks, broken diagrams, and missing chapters. Worse, some of these repos contain executables or scripts that scrape your local SSH keys. system design interview volume 2 pdf github
If you are preparing for a senior engineering interview at a FAANG company (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) or any top-tier tech firm, you have undoubtedly heard the name Alex Xu . His first book, System Design Interview – An Insider’s Guide , became an instant bible for candidates. When Volume 2 was released, the demand exploded. Take the “Pastebin” problem from Volume 2
Volume 2 excels at tables. For every component choice (SQL vs NoSQL for Seat Reservation), copy the book’s table into your notes. The PDF search won’t help you memorize trade-offs—writing will. That is what the interviewers want—not a candidate
Open a chapter (e.g., “Designing Ticketmaster”). Do not look at the solution. Write your own design on a whiteboard. Then read the book’s solution.