Cheat Sheet
Technical PM Interview Cheat Sheet
SQL, API design, system tradeoffs, and the depth expected at PM level — one page.
SQL Essentials
Must-know concepts
- JOINS: INNER, LEFT, RIGHT, FULL OUTER
- GROUP BY + aggregate functions
- Window functions: ROW_NUMBER, RANK, LAG, LEAD
- CTEs (WITH clauses) for readable queries
- Query optimization: indexes, execution plans
API Design
What to know
- REST vs GraphQL vs gRPC — when each fits
- Idempotency (PUT vs POST)
- Versioning strategies
- Rate limiting and quotas
- Auth: OAuth 2.0, API keys, JWT
System Design Lite
PM-level depth
- Latency vs throughput tradeoffs
- Availability zones and redundancy
- CAP theorem basics (Consistency, Availability, Partition tolerance)
- Sharding vs replication
- Caching layers (CDN, in-memory, DB cache)
Related Resources
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