Airbnb
Hard
Software EngineerDesign API for split-stay combinations
System Design
25
0
September 6, 2025
Database Design Interview Questions
Database design questions test your ability to model data, choose storage systems, and optimize for access patterns.
Expect questions on SQL vs NoSQL trade-offs, schema normalization, indexing strategies, and consistency models.
Interviewers want to see that you can match data storage choices to actual system requirements.
615Questions
137Companies
Easy 24 • Medium 260 • Hard 327Difficulty mix
Common database design interview patterns
- SQL vs NoSQL selection criteria
- Schema normalization and denormalization trade-offs
- Index design for read-heavy vs write-heavy workloads
- CAP theorem and consistency models
- Database replication strategies
- Data modeling for time-series, graph, and document data
Database design interview questions
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Netflix
Medium
Software EngineerDesign an ads data model
System Design
24
0
September 30, 2025
Anthropic
Hard
Software EngineerDesign a scalable network I/O service
System Design
16
0
September 6, 2025
Anthropic
Medium
Software EngineerDesign a one-to-one chat system
System Design
10
0
March 28, 2026
Databricks
Hard
Software EngineerDesign a Visa-like payment processing system
System Design
11
0
February 12, 2026
Fanatics
Hard
Software EngineerDesign a retail trading platform
System Design
19
0
September 6, 2025
Airbnb
Hard
Software EngineerDesign a fast host listing metrics page
System Design
14
0
December 20, 2025
OpenAI
Hard
Software EngineerDesign a ChatGPT-like web chat UI
System Design
22
0
January 2, 2026
OpenAI
Hard
Software EngineerDesign a distributed crossword solving service
System Design
18
0
October 17, 2025
OpenAI
Hard
Software EngineerDesign reliable high-volume chatbot system
System Design
22
0
December 6, 2025
DoorDash
Hard
Software EngineerDesign review system with voting and rewards
System Design
17
0
September 6, 2025
DoorDash
Hard
Software EngineerDeep-dive a project architecture
System Design
13
0
July 31, 2025
Brex
Hard
Software EngineerDesign Points-from-Transactions Service
System Design
22
0
August 14, 2025
Shopify
Medium
Machine Learning EngineerDesign search autocomplete ML system
ML System Design
23
0
February 18, 2026
Databricks
Hard
Software EngineerDesign CRUD APIs with async jobs
System Design
14
0
January 7, 2026
Optiver
Hard
Software EngineerDesign a subscription push service
System Design
22
0
July 17, 2025
Ramp
Hard
Software EngineerDesign an in-memory cloud storage system
System Design
13
0
August 10, 2025
Anthropic
Hard
Software EngineerDesign a scalable, reliable system
System Design
17
0
September 6, 2025
Harvey AI
Hard
Software EngineerDetermine identical files ignoring metadata
System Design
22
0
September 6, 2025
Chime
Easy
Software EngineerDesign load balancing, caching, and idempotent APIs
System Design
18
0
November 13, 2025
Common mistakes with database design
- Choosing a database without understanding access patterns
- Over-normalizing when denormalization improves read performance
- Adding too many indexes without considering write overhead
- Ignoring data growth and capacity planning
- Not discussing backup and disaster recovery
How database design questions are evaluated
Justify your database choice based on the specific workload requirements.
Show awareness of trade-offs between consistency, availability, and performance.
Discuss how the schema evolves as requirements change.