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Preparing for staff/principal engineer system design rounds: what changes?

Ahmed Liu
Ahmed Liu
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I'm starting to prepare for staff and principal engineer system design rounds, and it feels like the expectations shift significantly compared to senior-level interviews. There's less focus on just building a correct system and more on ambiguity, long-term evolution, and organizational impact. What are the key changes in expectations for these higher-level interviews? How do you demonstrate leadership, foresight, and a deeper understanding of trade-offs beyond technical performance? Are the questions more open-ended, focusing on designing entire platforms or complex migrations rather than a single service? Any specific resources or practice strategies for this level would be really helpful.
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