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Overview When designing an Instagram-like system, two of the most critical components are: Media uploading pipeline Feed generation strategy This post summarizes key design decisions and tradeoffs. 1. Media Uploading Pipeline High-level flow Client requests a pre-signed URL from backend Backend returns S3 pre-signed URL Client uploads media directly to S3 (chunked upload) S3 triggers an event (e.g., via notification / event bridge) Backend processes the upload asynchronously Key design decisions 1. Create post record early Before upload starts: ...

Both the first- and second-level leaders were laid off on the same day. The team suddenly lost its sense of direction, moving like a group of headless flies. The external market offers little comfort. Every round of layoffs pushes another wave of strong candidates into the job pool. Hundreds of people compete for a single role, and even getting a call from HR now feels like a stroke of luck. ...