Told to design a distributed system for 800 users, candidate suggests a monolith and gets rejected
kalyan_kpl · x · 2026-10-11
Developer shazcodes shared an absurd tech interview: asked to design a scalable distributed system, she asked how many users the company actually serves — around 800. She suggested starting with a monolith and scaling when needed; the interviewer looked disappointed.
The interview ended 12 minutes early and the rejection email cited her lack of experience "designing systems at scale." Her takeaway: they wanted Netflix architecture for a booking form. Quoting kalyankpl sympathized, saying interview questions should match actual requirements.
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