MathWorks·Software Engineer·Onsite - System Design / Architecture·Intermediate

IntermediatePrefer not to say

May 2026

Summary

MathWorks system design round for a software engineer role. The whole interview was one big design problem about an online course platform with a pretty involved hierarchy and some tricky constraints around prerequisites and ID generation. Felt like a lot to cover in one session.

Questions Asked (1)

Design an online course purchase and distribution system where companies contain organizations which contain members, courses have prerequisite dependencies (structured as a DAG), companies have their own pricing plans, and companies can buy courses for their members. Cover the data model, key APIs, member ID generation, and scaling approach.

System DesignData ModelingAPI & Integrations

Author's notes

This was a lot to unpack.

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AI HintsAI Generated

Suggested Approach

Start by clarifying requirements and scale, then design a normalized data model that captures the company-organization-member hierarchy, course DAG, and pricing plans. Outline key APIs for course management, purchases, and prerequisite validation, and discuss member ID generation and scaling strategies like sharding and caching.

Pro tip: Emphasize how you would handle the DAG for prerequisites efficiently, such as using topological sorting for validation and caching results, to show depth in algorithm design. Also, mention that member IDs should be globally unique and consider using a combination of company ID and a sequence to avoid collisions in a distributed system.

1. Clarify Requirements and Scale

Ask questions to understand expected number of companies, organizations, members, courses, and purchase volume. Clarify read/write patterns, consistency needs, and any compliance requirements.

2. Design Data Model

Define entities: Company, Organization, Member, Course, Prerequisite (DAG edges), PricingPlan, Purchase, and Enrollment. Specify relationships and key attributes, ensuring normalization and indexing for efficient queries.

3. Define Key APIs

Outline RESTful endpoints for CRUD on courses, managing prerequisites, purchasing courses (company buys for members), and checking course eligibility based on prerequisites. Include authentication and authorization.

4. Member ID Generation

Propose a scheme for generating unique member IDs, such as using a composite of company ID and a local sequence, or a distributed ID generator like Snowflake. Discuss trade-offs and collision avoidance.

5. Scaling Approach

Discuss horizontal scaling of services, database sharding (e.g., by company ID), caching frequently accessed data (course catalog, prerequisites), and asynchronous processing for purchase fulfillment and prerequisite validation.

Key Points to Mention

Data model normalization and indexing for efficient queries on company-organization-member hierarchy and course prerequisites.
Efficient DAG traversal for prerequisite validation, using topological sort or DFS with memoization, and caching results.
API design for purchasing courses in bulk for members, including idempotency and transaction handling.
Member ID generation strategy that ensures global uniqueness and scalability, such as Snowflake or composite keys.
Scaling via sharding by company ID, read replicas, and caching layers to handle high read throughput.
Handling pricing plans per company, including custom discounts and bulk purchase logic.

AI-generated suggestions, not part of the candidate's original notes. May be inaccurate — verify before relying on them.