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# Introduction
While AI has advanced to generate vast amounts of code, system design remains a crucial skill that can’t be easily replicated. Coding is just one aspect of developing real products. Creating systems that are scalable, dependable, and efficient still demands expertise, careful trade-offs, collaboration with stakeholders, and sharp engineering decision-making.
Precisely for this reason, system design holds significant importance in technical interviews. It goes beyond simply knowing the correct answers. It’s about your thought process, your ability to deconstruct complex problems, and how you defend your choices. For numerous engineers, this proves to be among the most challenging areas of interview preparation, requiring both technical knowledge and clear, organized communication.
Fortunately, several outstanding open-source resources are already available to help. Ranging from comprehensive guides and interview question banks to visual tutorials and specialized materials for mobile and frontend system design, these GitHub repositories have enabled countless candidates to prepare more effectively and secure positions faster.
In this article, we’ve compiled 10 valuable system design resources designed to help you solidify your foundation, practice frequently asked interview questions, and develop a stronger approach to tackling system design interviews with confidence.
Image created with ChatGPT, based on the original image from AWS
# GitHub Repositories for System Design Interview Questions
// 1. A Thorough System Design Primer
If you’re looking for just one repository to kick off your system design interview preparation, donnemartin/system-design-primer remains one of the best starting points, as it offers much more than a simple list of concepts.
It provides a structured methodology for tackling open-ended interview questions, covers essential system design principles, and features practical examples that demonstrate how to analyze trade-offs rather than simply memorizing solutions.
// 2. Practical Interview Questions and Solutions
If you’re seeking a repository that closely mirrors actual interview scenarios, checkcheckzz/system-design-interview is an excellent option, as it’s specifically designed to handle system design interviews using a streamlined, systematic approach.
Rather than functioning as an in-depth textbook, it compiles interview tips, fundamental system design concepts, sample products and systems, references to engineering blogs, and question-centered resources, making it particularly valuable for candidates seeking practical study materials they can review before interviews.
// 3. Visual Breakdowns of Complex Systems
If visual learning suits you best, ByteByteGoHq/system-design-101 excels at explaining intricate systems through diagrams and clear, straightforward language rather than burying you in theoretical content.
This repository is tailored to support system design interview preparation while also simplifying core topics such as protocols, APIs, databases, and architectural patterns, making it especially helpful for newcomers or anyone seeking a more intuitive way to build system design expertise.
// 4. Sequential System Design Learning
If you prefer a repository that functions more like a structured learning journey, karanpratapsingh/system-design is an excellent option, as it’s organized around building the ability to design systems at scale while simultaneously preparing for interviews.
Instead of presenting random questions, it helps develop your grasp of distributed systems, scalability, architecture, and interview problem-solving in a progressive, step-by-step manner, making it particularly valuable for learners who want to establish strong fundamentals before diving into mock interview exercises.
// 5. Hand-Picked System Design Resources
If you’d rather explore a diverse collection of freely available materials, ashishps1/awesome-system-design-resources is beneficial, as it gathers free resources specifically focused on mastering system design concepts and interview preparation.
It works well as a supplementary repository since it doesn’t limit itself to a single teaching approach—instead offering a curated selection of articles, videos, and learning paths that help you address knowledge gaps, quickly revisit topics, and expand beyond foundational concepts.
// 6. Interview Problem-Solving Strategies
If you’re after a repository that goes beyond basic interview preparation, DreamOfTheRedChamber/system-design-interviews is valuable, as it blends system design interview preparation with more in-depth technical exploration across domains like protocols, infrastructure, and architecture.
The repository is structured around detailed discussions and includes focused topic notes that help sharpen your problem-solving abilities, making it ideal for candidates who want to grasp how systems function beneath the surface rather than simply memorizing standard responses.
// 7. Quick Reference Links and Notes
If you favor a lightweight resource that’s easy to skim through before interviews, shashank88/system_design is practical, as it’s essentially a curated set of preparation links and documentation for system design and open-ended interview rounds.
It’s particularly handy for last-minute revisions since it brings together resources focused on both interview readiness and comprehending how large-scale systems operate, making it a useful quick-reference collection instead of a traditional linear course.
// 8. A Framework for Mobile System Design Interviews
If you’re gearing up for mobile-specific interviews, weeeBox/mobile-system-design is especially valuable, as it centers on a structured framework for addressing mobile system design questions for iOS and Android positions, rather than treating mobile as an afterthought.
The repository prioritizes reasoning and communication skills and includes hands-on exercises based on real-world app design challenges, making it an outstanding resource for candidates seeking a targeted approach to mobile system design interview preparation.
// 9. In-Depth Distributed Systems Resources
If you want to delve deeper into the distributed systems aspects of system design, madd86/awesome-system-design is a solid choice, as it’s assembled as a curated set of articles, videos, and learning materials centered on system design and distributed computing.
It’s especially useful for those who wish to move past basic interview preparation and strengthen their understanding of architectural overviews, microservices, and large-scale distributed systems through a comprehensive range of resources.
// 10. Frontend System Design Interview Resources
If you’re targeting frontend-focused interviews, greatfrontend/awesome-front-end-system-design is worth exploring, as frontend system design resources remain relatively scarce, and this repository is purposefully curated to fill that gap.
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These repositories are valuable for both interview preparation and general learning, offering a solid starting point for engineers looking to improve their ability to discuss scalability, architecture, and trade-offs from a frontend systems perspective rather than solely a backend one.
# Wrapping Up
To simplify things, here’s a quick reference table of all 10 repositories so you can easily determine which one matches your learning style, interview requirements, and current skill level.
| Repository | Best For | Why You Might Like It |
|---|---|---|
| donnemartin/system-design-primer | Beginners to intermediate learners | A well-organized, comprehensive primer covering fundamentals, examples, and interview preparation |
| checkcheckzz/system-design-interview | Interview-focused preparation | More directly focused on system design interview questions, answers, and study materials |
| ByteByteGoHq/system-design-101 | Visual learners | Breaks down complex systems using diagrams and straightforward language |
| karanpratapsingh/system-design | Step-by-step learners | Feels more like a structured learning path for scaling systems and interview preparation |
| ashishps1/awesome-system-design-resources | People who prefer curated resource lists | Provides a broad collection of free articles, videos, and references all in one place |
| DreamOfTheRedChamber/system-design-interviews | Candidates seeking deeper technical insight | Combines interview preparation with broader technical discussions on systems and architecture |
| shashank88/system_design | Quick review before interviews | A handy collection of preparation links and notes that’s easy to navigate |
| weeeBox/mobile-system-design | Mobile engineers | Designed specifically for iOS and Android system design interview preparation |
| madd86/awesome-system-design | Advanced learners and distributed systems enthusiasts | An excellent curated collection for diving deeper into distributed systems topics |
| greatfrontend/awesome-front-end-system-design | Frontend engineers | Dedicated to frontend system design, an area that is still less commonly addressed elsewhere |
Abid Ali Awan (@1abidaliawan) is a certified data science professional who enjoys building machine learning models. He is currently focused on content creation and writing technical blogs about machine learning and data science technologies. Abid holds a Master’s degree in Technology Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Telecommunication Engineering. His goal is to develop an AI product using a graph neural network to help students dealing with mental health challenges.
