The open-ended framing tripped me up more than a concrete prompt would have.
Choose a system you know deeply, ideally one relevant to Waymo's domain like autonomous vehicle data processing or simulation. Start by clarifying requirements and constraints, then walk through high-level design, diving into key components and trade-offs. Emphasize scalability, reliability, and safety, and be prepared to adapt based on interviewer feedback.
Pro tip: Proactively discuss trade-offs and failure modes, especially safety-critical ones, to demonstrate maturity. Relate your design to Waymo's mission and technologies, showing you understand their business.
Ask questions to understand functional and non-functional requirements, constraints, and scale. Define the system's boundaries and key metrics for success.
Sketch the main components, data flow, and interactions. Explain how the system meets the requirements at a high level.
Select 1-2 critical parts (e.g., data pipeline, real-time processing) and detail their design, algorithms, and data models.
Discuss alternative approaches, trade-offs (e.g., latency vs. consistency), and how you'd handle scaling, failures, and safety.
Recap the design, highlight how it meets requirements, and suggest improvements or next steps based on feedback.
AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.