ok so I've been prepping for Discord for about 2.5 weeks and I'm getting mixed signals from various forums.
some people say the system design + coding is what gets you the offer or rejection and behavioral is basically a vibe check. others say Discord specifically weighs behavioral really heavily because of the "belonging" thing in their values.
I'm a new grad so system design is my weakest area by far. I'm scared I'll tank the design round and then have the best behavioral of my life and it won't matter.
does anyone have a sense of how they actually weight the rounds? or does it depend on the role/level?
3 replies
careerveteran
honest answer: for new grad roles, system design is usually graded on trajectory and reasoning, not correctness. they're not expecting you to design Discord at scale. they want to see that you can identify trade-offs and ask good questions. the behavioral round carries more weight than most people assume at junior levels because they're betting on growth potential.
returner_ren
seconding this. I interviewed at a similar scale consumer company last year and the debrief rubric (which a friend who works there showed me) had explicit weighting for "culture fit" and "communication" that was equal to the technical scores for L3-L4. the behavioral stuff really does count.
bootcamp_bri
I asked my recruiter directly and she said for new grad roles they look at the "full picture" which is a non-answer but she also said don't skip behavioral prep thinking the code alone saves you. read that how you will.