Interviewer Checklist

Use this during a mock interview to keep feedback concrete and consistent.

Before The Candidate Starts Designing

• Did the candidate ask clarifying questions?
• Did the candidate separate must-haves from optional features?
• Did the candidate confirm scale and constraints?

During The Design

• Did the candidate present a clear high-level architecture?
• Did they define APIs and data model where relevant?
• Did they justify database and cache choices?
• Did they reason about read path and write path separately?
• Did they identify scaling bottlenecks?
• Did they address reliability and failure handling?
• Did they discuss consistency where it mattered?

Communication Quality

• Was the explanation structured?
• Did they summarize often?
• Did they handle hints well?
• Did they communicate trade-offs instead of only naming technologies?

Red Flags

• Jumped into implementation without clarifying requirements
• No estimation or obviously unrealistic scale assumptions
• Buzzword-heavy answers without system reasoning
• Ignored failure scenarios
• Ignored hot keys, skew, partitions, or cache behavior
• Could not explain why a component was needed

Strong Signals

• Structured thinking
• Good prioritization of scope
• Clear trade-off analysis
• Sensible assumptions under ambiguity
• Practical scaling decisions
• Calm, collaborative communication

Feedback Format

• 1 strength:
• 1 biggest gap:
• 1 thing to improve next: