6 ms·

98% of what you'd be inclined to diagram out and explain for a system design interview isn't remotely proprietary. People are generally looking for a high-level

98% of what you'd be inclined to diagram out and explain for a system design interview isn't remotely proprietary. People are generally looking for a high-level overview of a system you've worked on to see a) that you've really worked on it and b) you can explain it such that it makes sense. Sure, folks will ask you to drill down here and there for more detailed info, but if someone pokes on something where the details really _ARE_ proprietary, it's fine to just say that and offer to drill down somewhere else.

toolz 4y ago
I'm not a lawyer, but wouldn't anything you or anyone else developed on company time at another company be owned by that company and thus proprietary? In practice I can't imagine the spirit of any law would be violated by doing an architecture diagram, but it seems likely (to me, at least) the word of the law would be violated.
- jfarina 4y ago
  How could you ever interview anywhere if you couldn't provide details of the projects that you worked on?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - lelandfe 4y ago
    I have a relative who works on very secretive stuff for big companies as a chemist. His interviews are humorous. Those leading the interviews can't tell him what he'll be working on, and he can't tell them what he's done in the past. The questions tend to be very theoretical, instead.
  - hirvi74 4y ago
    Leetcode questions? (Don't kill me, you all. I'm joking).
- eschneider 4y ago
  Sure. But the level of description that you're giving in an interview can be pretty generic/non-proprietary. If that wasn't the case, then you really can't reuse any knowledge from job to job and that's just not so. Sure, every company is going to have their 'special sauce' components, that ARE proprietary, but nobody's going to expect you to unpack those.
  - bcrosby95 4y ago
    I doubt it's common, but my friend had an experience where they kept trying to direct him towards specific technical topics of particular interest to the business. He worked for their competitor, but not in the capacity the interviewer was trying to delve into, so in addition to scummy, it was pointless and annoying. At some point my friend cut the interview off.
    - eschneider 4y ago
      Which is the proper thing to do.
- Swizec 4y ago
  > I'm not a lawyer, but wouldn't anything you or anyone else developed on company time at another company be owned by that company and thus proprietary? In theory yes, in practice ... if that's true, why would anyone ever hire you for your experience? You wouldn't be allowed to use it.
  - Naracion 4y ago
    (coming from the standpoint of a historically non-technical individual contributor who is leaning towards technical now, and asking because I want to learn): But isn't that exactly why you as an interviewer would pose a problem, set up the context that is potentially similar to the work your project would require, and see how the interviewee navigates that?
    - Swizec 4y ago
      Yes, it is. I would want to know how a person solves my problems. And I sure would hope they bring all their experience to bear! Just because they learned about CDNs at their previous job and “everything is proprietary”, I don’t want them to suddenly forget how CDNs work. Very little is actually unique between software businesses. We’re mostly just doing data bureaucracy.
- ozim 4y ago
  So no one else can never build todo app or blogging system? There is term called prior art an for me if you write bunch of props to database like text/numbers it is basically done in every other system. Unless you build novel db system of course.
- icedchai 4y ago
  Most people barely consider this. In the old days, before leet code interviews, I had people give me code samples. One guy gave me a code sample from some telecom carrier's billing system. It wasn't good. It was also bad that he gave us a proprietary code sample, so he got no points for that either.
- angelbar 4y ago
  So, nobody can never do again anything that he/her do to become a expert?
rco8786 4y ago
> 98% of what you'd be inclined to diagram out and explain for a system design interview isn't remotely proprietary Maybe we're just on different wavelengths, but literally every single thing I work on that would be a good candidate for this sort of interview is extremely proprietary...and I'm just working on regular ol' backend services at [generic big tech].
- stale2002 4y ago
  If the entirety of your web development knowledge is NDA'ed, then what good are you as a potential employee anyway? You wouldn't be able to build anything, as all your knowledge is NDAed!
  - Retric 4y ago
    What you learned isn’t the same as what was built.
    - heyoni 4y ago
      But you learned how to build things so….
      - Retric 4y ago
        Well yes, I hope someone learned how to build many things not just recreate an architecture they’ve seen before.
  - djs070 4y ago
    The flaw in this argument is assuming that you could do a good job of diagramming a system without describing the use cases of the system. My web dev skills are not proprietary, but the processes and systems I have worked on are.
  - projectazorian 4y ago
    The engineering knowledge isn’t under NDA but there’s no way I could fill an hour long interview about the systems I work on without getting into enough specifics about our business processes to violate NDA. If I were asked a question like this I’d wonder if I were being tested to see how loose-lipped I am with sensitive information.

toolz 4y ago

I'm not a lawyer, but wouldn't anything you or anyone else developed on company time at another company be owned by that company and thus proprietary? In practice I can't imagine the spirit of any law would be violated by doing an architecture diagram, but it seems likely (to me, at least) the word of the law would be violated.

jfarina 4y ago
How could you ever interview anywhere if you couldn't provide details of the projects that you worked on?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- lelandfe 4y ago
  I have a relative who works on very secretive stuff for big companies as a chemist. His interviews are humorous. Those leading the interviews can't tell him what he'll be working on, and he can't tell them what he's done in the past. The questions tend to be very theoretical, instead.
- hirvi74 4y ago
  Leetcode questions? (Don't kill me, you all. I'm joking).
eschneider 4y ago
Sure. But the level of description that you're giving in an interview can be pretty generic/non-proprietary. If that wasn't the case, then you really can't reuse any knowledge from job to job and that's just not so. Sure, every company is going to have their 'special sauce' components, that ARE proprietary, but nobody's going to expect you to unpack those.
- bcrosby95 4y ago
  I doubt it's common, but my friend had an experience where they kept trying to direct him towards specific technical topics of particular interest to the business. He worked for their competitor, but not in the capacity the interviewer was trying to delve into, so in addition to scummy, it was pointless and annoying. At some point my friend cut the interview off.
  - eschneider 4y ago
    Which is the proper thing to do.
Swizec 4y ago
> I'm not a lawyer, but wouldn't anything you or anyone else developed on company time at another company be owned by that company and thus proprietary? In theory yes, in practice ... if that's true, why would anyone ever hire you for your experience? You wouldn't be allowed to use it.
- Naracion 4y ago
  (coming from the standpoint of a historically non-technical individual contributor who is leaning towards technical now, and asking because I want to learn): But isn't that exactly why you as an interviewer would pose a problem, set up the context that is potentially similar to the work your project would require, and see how the interviewee navigates that?
  - Swizec 4y ago
    Yes, it is. I would want to know how a person solves my problems. And I sure would hope they bring all their experience to bear! Just because they learned about CDNs at their previous job and “everything is proprietary”, I don’t want them to suddenly forget how CDNs work. Very little is actually unique between software businesses. We’re mostly just doing data bureaucracy.
ozim 4y ago
So no one else can never build todo app or blogging system? There is term called prior art an for me if you write bunch of props to database like text/numbers it is basically done in every other system. Unless you build novel db system of course.
icedchai 4y ago
Most people barely consider this. In the old days, before leet code interviews, I had people give me code samples. One guy gave me a code sample from some telecom carrier's billing system. It wasn't good. It was also bad that he gave us a proprietary code sample, so he got no points for that either.
angelbar 4y ago
So, nobody can never do again anything that he/her do to become a expert?

rco8786 4y ago

> 98% of what you'd be inclined to diagram out and explain for a system design interview isn't remotely proprietary Maybe we're just on different wavelengths, but literally every single thing I work on that would be a good candidate for this sort of interview is extremely proprietary...and I'm just working on regular ol' backend services at [generic big tech].

stale2002 4y ago
If the entirety of your web development knowledge is NDA'ed, then what good are you as a potential employee anyway? You wouldn't be able to build anything, as all your knowledge is NDAed!
- Retric 4y ago
  What you learned isn’t the same as what was built.
  - heyoni 4y ago
    But you learned how to build things so….
    - Retric 4y ago
      Well yes, I hope someone learned how to build many things not just recreate an architecture they’ve seen before.
- djs070 4y ago
  The flaw in this argument is assuming that you could do a good job of diagramming a system without describing the use cases of the system. My web dev skills are not proprietary, but the processes and systems I have worked on are.
- projectazorian 4y ago
  The engineering knowledge isn’t under NDA but there’s no way I could fill an hour long interview about the systems I work on without getting into enough specifics about our business processes to violate NDA. If I were asked a question like this I’d wonder if I were being tested to see how loose-lipped I am with sensitive information.