❌ It mentions sharding but doesn’t explain how to choose a shard key, or how secondary indexes work in distributed databases (e.g., Cassandra’s limitations).
✅ The PDF phrases answers in the way interviewers expect: “We’ll use consistent hashing to minimize rebalancing on node failures.” 4. Weaknesses & Limitations ❌ Outdated / Overly Simplified Some problems (e.g., TinyURL) are too easy. Advanced topics like Kafka exactly-once semantics , vector clocks , CRDTs , gossip protocols , or kubernetes auto-scaling are barely covered—yet appear in senior-level interviews. grokking modern system design interview pdf
✅ Each solution includes clear architecture diagrams (CDN → Load Balancer → App Servers → DB/Redis). Great for learning to sketch on a whiteboard. ❌ It mentions sharding but doesn’t explain how