I am working as a Senior Software Engineer(Backend) at Netflix. System Design interviews are part of every interview cycle, be it for a beginner role, intermediary, or senior role at every big or small company. I myself struggled with design interviews, felt I was all over the place, and could not come up with a single flow design in 45 mins. One question I always had was: “How can I solve it in 45 minutes when it took hundreds of engineers a few years to solve?” 

After reading several design interview articles and books and taking and giving several interviews, I came up with my strategy to handle this. Most of us are familiar with the technical aspect of design but lack the ability to structure or frame a complete (not right or wrong) solution in 45 mins. I will focus on how to structure the problem in time, in the most effective and efficient manner. My main focus will be on backend design.