The interview process involved several rounds.

First, a round with HR focused on experience.

Second, questions assessed behavior and leadership principles.

Third, a system design question, given earlier, required designing chat systems.

The interviewer specifically wanted to focus only on the database part. They wanted to deep-dive into PostgreSQL/RDBMS databases and were not open to discussing other aspects. They showed no interest in exploring pros and cons of NoSQL vs. SQL options or engaging in a broader design conversation.

While the interviewer asked to see table schemas for NoSQL databases and was clearly explained how partitioning and read replicas work, they only wanted 100% exact queries for creating tables and columns. Their interest was solely in the SQL RDBMS aspect.

Q: Design a chat system that will be used inside a company.