Recommendation & Search System Design

System DesignOpenAILast reported November 2025Low Frequency

Reported: 3× across candidate reports
First seen: November 2025
Last reported: November 2025
Reported outcome: mixed

Problem Overview

ML system design question covering one or both of: (1) Design a recommendation system (e.g., content/video feed ranking), and/or (2) Design a search system or search query autocomplete feature. At OpenAI, the question appears as a combined 'Recommendation & Search' ML design problem. At TikTok, it is…

3 candidate-reported follow-ups — the exact probes interviewers asked, with the trigger for each
The rest of the problem statement — full requirements, constraints, and edge cases
Approach and trade-offs — what passing candidates did, and the mistakes that sink people

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Verified Source

Every question is reconstructed from multiple independent candidate reports. Verbatim follow-ups, not invented ones.

Codex Fact-Checked

Technical claims, formulas, and scale numbers are reviewed against primary sources.

Interviewer Follow-ups

The exact follow-ups reported by candidates, with the trigger that prompts each one — plus the mistakes that sink people.