Dataford
Top 50
Topic roadmap
Updated weekly · Last refresh Sep 13

Top 50 scalability Interview Questions

The most frequently asked scalability questions across all roles and companies, ranked by real interview frequency. Updated daily.

50questions
~7htotal time
260companies covered
Track your progressSign up free to work through all 50 questions and resume where you left off.
Start practicing free →
1
System DesignStart here. 25 questions · ~209 min
Design a Highly Available ML Serving PlatformMedium
Recently asked

Design a distributed ML serving platform that stays available and scales under failures, traffic spikes, and model updates.

distributed systemsscalabilityhigh availabilityPPorterGlobal Payment HoldingCisco Restaurant + Bar
Design a Low Latency RAG PlatformHard
Recently asked

Design a low latency RAG system over millions of documents, with scalable retrieval, ranking, generation, and production monitoring.

low latencyscalabilityRAG architectureAnthropicWells FargoThe Boston Consulting Group
Design a Personalized Notification RankerMedium
Recently asked

Design a personalized notification system that selects, ranks, and delivers the right pushes while controlling spam and latency.

class structurenotification systemscalabilityRedditCisco Restaurant + BarLinkedIn
Design a Parking Slot BookerMedium
Recently asked

Design an ML-driven parking slot booking system with multi-company inventory sharing, ranking, and booking decisions.

booking logicparking systemscalabilitySwiggyThe Boston Consulting Group
More System Design questions with a free account
2
Execution9 questions · ~75 min
Ensure Notification Delivery at ScaleHard
Recently asked

Define how you would execute a reliable notification delivery initiative at scale, balancing delivery guarantees, risk, and stakeholder expectations.

system designnotification deliveryscalabilityCharlotte StaffingPlaceholderGrammarly
More Execution questions with a free account
3
Behavioral & Leadership3 questions · ~25 min
Driving Architecture Alignment Without AuthorityMedium
Recently asked

Tests influence without authority in an ambiguous mobile architecture decision, including ownership, technical judgment, and alignment across stakeholders.

scalabilitymvvmarchitectureHashedIn by DeloittePoshmarkMicro1
More Behavioral & Leadership questions with a free account
4
Pipelines5 questions · ~42 min
Streaming Pipeline for SpikesHard
Recently asked

Design a streaming pipeline for McKinsey & clients that absorbs unpredictable volume spikes while preserving reliability, quality, and latency.

InfrastructureStream ProcessingkafkaMcKinsey &
More Pipelines questions with a free account
5
More topics8 questions · ~67 min
Large-Scale Data Streams AlgorithmMedium
Practice

Process a numeric stream in one pass and compute each complete sliding-window average with bounded memory.

aggregationscalabilityData StructuresSnowflake
More questions with a free account

Sign up to see every question

Create a free account to unlock this list and practice real interview questions.

Get my prep plan
Hands-on SQL practiceWrite and run real queries in the editor. 3 drills · ~30 min
Nth Salary SQLMedium
Practice
Recently asked
Practice drill

Use ranking to return the nth distinct salary from an employee table.

system designnull handlingsqlBBirdeyeAkamai
Optimizing Complex SQL JoinsHard
Practice
Recently asked
Practice drill

Build an efficient PostgreSQL report that aggregates partitioned project events and costs without join multiplication.

database optimizationJoinsperformanceMcKinsey &
Optimize Slow Multi-Join QueryHard
Practice
Practice drill

Optimize a PostgreSQL query with multiple joins and aggregations over large tables while preserving correct filtered totals.

database optimizationJoinsperformanceGoogle
The finish line: interview-readyComplete all 50 questions plus 3 hands-on drills to finish this plan.