Data Engineer Interview System Design Template: Data Lake vs Warehouse

FAQ

Does a pure data lake ever pass a system design interview at Amazon?
No. The 2023 Amazon SDE‑2 debrief (2‑Yes, 3‑No) shows that without a latency‑focused warehouse layer, candidates receive a “No Hire” because the Advertising team’s SLA cannot be met.

Can I mention cost savings as the primary benefit of a lake?
No. The hiring committee (Amazon 4‑P rubric) treats cost as a secondary metric; the primary judgment is latency. The Stripe interview (3‑Yes, 2‑No) penalized a cost‑only argument lacking sub‑second detection.

Should I bring up data freshness in a Google Maps design?
Yes. The Google FAST debrief on 2024‑03‑15 gave a 4‑Yes, 1‑No vote to the candidate who cited a <5 minute freshness target; ignoring it resulted in a “No.”amazon.com/dp/B0GWWJQ2S3).