Reddit Question · Nov 2025

My Approach to System Design and Coding Interviews: Resources, Practice, and Real-World Prep - this may help someone who is actively looking to learn DSA or system design

Eng Manager Take Home
3 upvotes 1 reply

Question Details

As an Engineering Manager with 14 years of experience in the industry, I’ve seen countless interview processes and evaluated many candidates. Despite my background, I realized that targeted preparatio

Full Details

As an Engineering Manager with 14 years of experience in the industry, I’ve seen countless interview processes and evaluated many candidates. Despite my background, I realized that targeted preparation is key, even for seasoned professionals, especially with the evolving landscape of tech interviews. Recently, I completed a comprehensive interview prep course alongside a Gen AI bootcamp, and it was a game-changer for me. Here’s how it helped: * Refined My System Design Approach: The course broke down advanced system architecture topics into actionable frameworks (think monolith vs microservices, scaling strategies, handling trade-offs), which allowed me to sharpen my technical leadership skills and communicate solutions more clearly. * Boosted My Coding Interview Confidence: Practicing coding problems with structured feedback helped me quickly identify weak spots. The schedule and peer mock sessions simulated real interview pressure and improved my problem-solving speed and clarity. * Leveraged Gen AI for Productivity: Learning prompt engineering and AI tools for interview prep made coding practice, generating system design scenarios, and preparing practice questions much more efficient. * Real-World Practice: The curriculum emphasized applying these concepts to real work challenges (optimizing team workflows, reviewing system proposals, mentoring reports), not just to pass interviews. * Resources I Recommend: * Interview Kickstart’s system design tracks * LeetCode guided paths * Prompt engineering courses (Coursera) * Collaborative study groups and mock interviews (Discord/WA/Slack) If you’re an experienced engineer or manager considering a career move or just want to sharpen your interview performance structured prep and new AI-powered tools can make a big difference. Happy to answer any questions or share more details!

Free preview. Unlock all questions →

Topics

System Design