113 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
113 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
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# Interview Tracks
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## MVP Track: Backend Developer Interview
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The first interview track is backend developer preparation. This track is broad
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enough to be valuable to job seekers and narrow enough to produce testable
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diagnostic, grading, memory, and progression behavior.
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## Target User
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- Junior backend developer candidates.
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- Bootcamp graduates preparing for backend interviews.
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- Full-stack developers who need backend interview readiness.
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- Developers changing stack into backend service work.
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## Canonical Concept Seed List
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### 1. HTTP and Web Fundamentals
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- request and response lifecycle
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- headers, status codes, methods
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- idempotency and safe methods
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- cookies, sessions, tokens
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- latency, timeout, retry basics
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### 2. REST and API Design
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- resource modeling
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- endpoint shape
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- validation and error responses
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- pagination and filtering
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- versioning
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- backward compatibility
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### 3. Databases and Indexes
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- relational modeling
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- primary keys and foreign keys
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- index purpose and tradeoffs
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- query plans at a conceptual level
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- N+1 query problem
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- migrations
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### 4. Transactions and Consistency
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- ACID
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- isolation anomalies
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- transaction boundaries
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- optimistic vs pessimistic locking
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- idempotent writes
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- eventual consistency basics
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### 5. Caching
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- cache-aside
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- TTL and invalidation
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- stale data risks
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- cache stampede
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- CDN vs application cache
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- when not to cache
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### 6. Concurrency and Async Work
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- race conditions
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- locks and coordination
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- worker queues
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- retry and dead-letter basics
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- backpressure
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- Go goroutine/channel concepts for Go-oriented tracks
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### 7. Testing and Reliability
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- unit vs integration tests
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- test doubles
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- contract tests
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- observability basics
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- logging and metrics
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- failure-mode thinking
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### 8. System Design Basics
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- load balancing
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- horizontal scaling
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- stateless service design
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- database bottlenecks
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- rate limiting
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- file/object storage
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- basic architecture tradeoffs
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## Challenge Ladder
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Each concept should support five levels:
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1. Define the concept.
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2. Explain tradeoffs.
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3. Debug a realistic scenario.
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4. Design under constraints.
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5. Answer under interview pressure.
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## First Boss Question
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"Design a rate-limited backend API for submitting job applications. Cover HTTP
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API design, database transaction boundaries, duplicate submission prevention,
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cache behavior, failure handling, and test strategy."
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## MVP Exclusions
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- Advanced distributed systems theory.
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- Deep database internals.
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- Language-specific trivia-heavy questions.
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- Company-specific interview packs.
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- Frontend, mobile, AI, and DevOps tracks.
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