The Interview Loop
Recruiter Screen (30 min)
Standard fit check, behavioral questions, and resume overview.
Technical Loop (3-4 Rounds)
Deep dive into domain knowledge, coding, and system design.
Interview Question Bank
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design a cryptocurrency exchange matching engine capable of handling millions of orders per second.
#High Throughput
#Low Latency
#Event Sourcing
#Microservices
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
medium
Design a real-time price ticker dashboard for millions of concurrent web and mobile clients.
#WebSockets
#Pub/Sub
#Redis
#Scalability
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design the infrastructure for a secure cryptocurrency wallet system, including hot and cold storage management.
#Security
#Cryptography
#Key Management
#Distributed Systems
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
medium
Design a highly available API rate limiting service for Coinbase's public API.
#Redis
#Distributed Caching
#API Gateway
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design a blockchain indexer that reads blocks from an Ethereum node and makes transaction histories searchable by user address.
#Data Pipelines
#ETL
#Databases
#Blockchain
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
medium
Design a notification system to send price alerts (Push, SMS, Email) to millions of users with low latency.
#Asynchronous Processing
#Message Queues
#Microservices
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design a system to handle a massive airdrop of a new token to 10 million eligible users at a specific time.
#Batch Processing
#Scalability
#Database Locking
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design a fiat-to-crypto payment gateway that integrates with traditional banks and blockchain networks.
#Payment Systems
#State Machines
#Third-party Integration
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design a scalable ledger database system to track user fiat and crypto balances securely.
#Databases
#ACID
#Immutability
#Double Entry Accounting
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
medium
Design a real-time fraud detection system to flag suspicious cryptocurrency withdrawals.
#Stream Processing
#Machine Learning
#Rules Engine
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design the backend architecture for a cryptocurrency exchange. Focus on the order matching engine and how it interacts with user balances.
#Microservices
#Concurrency
#Matching Engine
#ACID
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
medium
Design a real-time price ticker dashboard for Coinbase's homepage that serves millions of concurrent users.
#WebSockets
#Pub/Sub
#Caching
#Scalability
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design a reliable fiat-to-crypto payment gateway that integrates with third-party banks and handles deposits and withdrawals.
#Idempotency
#Payment Gateways
#Distributed Systems
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design Coinbase's wallet infrastructure, specifically focusing on how to securely manage hot and cold wallets.
#Security
#Cryptography
#Key Management
#Air-gapping
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
medium
Design a system to execute a token airdrop to 10 million eligible users within a 24-hour window.
#Batch Processing
#Scalability
#Message Queues
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design a distributed double-entry accounting ledger for internal user balances.
#Databases
#ACID
#Distributed Systems
#Event Sourcing
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
medium
Design a global rate-limiting service for Coinbase's public API that can handle millions of requests per second.
#Redis
#Distributed Systems
#API Gateway
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
medium
Design a notification system that allows users to set custom price alerts (e.g., 'Email me when BTC drops below $60k').
#Stream Processing
#Notifications
#Databases
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design a system to monitor multiple blockchains and alert internal systems of chain reorganizations (reorgs) or orphaned blocks.
#Blockchain
#Event Sourcing
#Monitoring
Software Engineer
•
System Design
•
hard
Design a real-time fraud detection system for users purchasing crypto with credit cards.
#Machine Learning Infrastructure
#Real-time Processing
#Data Pipelines
Difficulty Radar
Based on recent AI-sourced data.
Meet Your Interviewers
The "Standard" Interviewer
Senior EngineerFocuses on core competencies, system constraints, and clear communication.
SimulateUnwritten Rules
Think Out Loud
Always explain your thought process before writing code or drawing architecture.