Product catalog search
Design a search box for a small product catalog (about 5,000 items: name, category, short description). When a user types, you want to return matching products quickly, including partial matches like 'blu' matching 'blue shirt'. Reads are frequent (every keystroke can search), writes are rare (catalog updated a few times a week). Describe your data model and how you'd serve the queries.
What a strong answer looks like
Clarify scale and constraints first. Propose a clean component breakdown, then go deep on the hard parts (data model, bottlenecks, consistency, failure modes) and name the trade-offs you are making.
Clarify3:00 left
Estimate3:00 planned
Design8:30 planned
Deep dive6:30 planned
Failure4:00 planned
Which questions mattered is sealed until you submit. Telling you now would just be handing over the edge cases.
Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.