Practise a system design interview

This prompt makes the AI a system design interviewer at your level, from junior to senior, on a problem such as designing a URL shortener. It runs the interview step by step, starting with clarifying questions.

text-system-design-interview — chatgpt — 63 words

Act as a system design interviewer at a top tech company.

Level: [JUNIOR / MID / SENIOR]
Problem: [e.g. design a URL shortener]

Run the interview step by step. Start by asking for requirements, then let me propose the design. Push back with questions on scale, data storage, failure and trade-offs. At the end give feedback on structure, depth and what I missed.

Edit in the builder Copy & open ChatGPT ↗Copy & open Gemini ↗Copy & open Claude ↗

Talk through your trade-offs. Interviewers care more about reasoning than the final diagram.

Get a better result

What you will get

A mock interview where the AI asks for requirements first, lets you propose a design, pushes back on scale, storage, failure and trade-offs, then gives feedback on structure, depth and what you missed.

Common mistake

You jump straight into drawing boxes.

Fix: Start with questions about users, scale and limits, and write the requirements down before any design.

Also watch for

You skip trade-offs. Say out loud why you chose each part and what you give up, since reasoning counts more than the final diagram.
The level is too easy. Set the level honestly and ask the interviewer to be strict, with one follow-up per answer.

Try a variation: practise a second problem

Switch to a different problem, such as a chat app or a news feed, and keep the same step-by-step interview format.

Still not right? Reply with this

Run the same problem again from the start, and this time give feedback only on the weakest area from my first attempt.