I have a Meta IC4 product architecture design interview coming up and I'm incredibly confused about how to actually approach the interview. I've read from a few sources (and from meta's own video breakdown) that the product architecture interview is not focused on backend components very much and more focued on data model, API, handling user-experience, bad actors, and even UI wireframing. ()
On the other hand, I've read that I shouldn't be doing any wireframing of the UI, but I should just approach the problem like a regular System Design interview, but maybe with a little more emphasis on UX, API design, and data model. (https://www.hellointerview.com/blog/meta-system-vs-product-design?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=product-vs-system, https://leetcode.com/discuss/interview-experience/4296808/Meta-Onsite%3A-Don't-get-confused-with-Meta-Product-Architecture-vs-System-Design-Interview, https://www.hellointerview.com/blog/how-to-prepare-meta-pa)
I'm honestly very confused. You can be asked to "Design Instagram Feed" for both types of interviews, but is it true that if I took the same approach/answer/details for both that I could pass both. Or if I focus too much on backend will this count against me in the PA interview?
I've seen some videos on YouTube, where the guy is wireframing Leetcode or IG for PA Interview, but this seems really unproductive to me. It seems like I would be giving a lot of time to just build some crappy UI WireFrame in Excalidraw, when I think the Backend components lead to far more interesting deep dives and shows of technical excellence. IMO, for something like API design I should talk about HTTPS, TLS, versioning, and the specific format of each call, but not necessarily anything more. It also seems more intuitive to me to mention some things about UX but not totally wireframe. (i.e. talk about TicketMaster booking being really crappy for popular events so put in a virtual waiting queue to improve the UX).
Appreciate any guidance the community can provide here, as I've already done a lot of system design interview practice, but don't know how much I should be changing my approach.
