System design, reliability and interviews
Part of the Technology & Software Engineering learning and recruiting path. Read the explanation and example, attempt the task, then open the self-check.
Know what to learn for your role.
From foundations to a work sample, with sources, tasks and self-checks.
Understand
Design from requirements, scale and constraints, then explain data flow, failure points and tradeoffs. Add caches, queues or sharding for specific bottlenecks rather than as a checklist.
Worked example
A notification service may retry, requiring deduplication by event ID. Request acceptance and actual user delivery are distinct states.
Examples and numbers are educational, not employer questions, live market data or hiring criteria.
Practise and keep your output
Diagram your project with three failures and recovery paths. Practise a 30-minute coding session and explain design choices.
Keep inputs and sources, assumptions, steps, results and uncertainties in your own document. Attempt independently before checking below.
After attempting: answer and self-check
State consistency, retry and permission boundaries. Show measured behaviour rather than invented performance claims.
Official channels and further reading
Pathline authors these starter lessons. These supplementary field links do not imply provider review or endorsement. Confirm Hong Kong availability and eligibility separately.
- Microsoft · Early in profession ↗
Global student programmes; filter location, function and eligibility.
- JPMorganChase · Students and graduates ↗
Global programme directory. Filter by function, location and intake.
- Python · Official tutorial ↗
Programming-language reference. Complete this line’s basic exercises alongside it.