Interview Q&A / System Design

INTERVIEW Q&A · 70 QUESTIONS

System Design interview questions

Caching, scaling, databases and classic design problems for beginners.

  1. What is the difference between SLI, SLO and SLA?

    An SLI is a measured number like request success rate. An SLO is the internal target for that number, such as 99.9%. An SLA is the contract with customers that promises a level and usually names a penalty if missed.

    BeginnerQuick answer1 min read
  2. Why do engineers track p95 and p99 latency instead of the average?

    Averages hide slow outliers. p99 means 99% of requests were faster than this value, so it shows what your unluckiest users feel, which is what drives complaints and timeouts.

    BeginnerQuick answer1 min read