End-to-End Design
Design a photo-sharing service: users upload images, follow other users, and see a timeline of recent posts from the people they follow. It must ingest a high write volume of large binary objects, serve images at low latency worldwide, and assemble personalized feeds at scale.
In scope: uploading a photo with a caption and location so it becomes visible to followers, viewing a timeline of followed accounts, viewing a profile's grid of posts, and following or unfollowing. Comments, likes, direct messages, and search are out of scope.
What a strong answer sounds like
State the decision, connect it to a requirement, and name the tradeoff. Keep the design focused on the workload in the prompt.
The AI interviewer asks about this part of Design Instagram. The interviewer guides you through topics one by one.