Google Calendar
Recurring events, multi-device sync, and availability checks
About this session
A 60-minute live deep-dive into designing a calendar service: storing vs. expanding recurring events, the 'this and all future events' edit problem, instant multi-device sync, fast free/busy availability across many users, and timezone/DST edge cases. Great prep for collaboration/calendar interviews at Google and Meta.
Course Syllabus
Course Overview
- Format:
- Live Zoom, 90 minutes (75 min teaching + 15 min Q&A)
- Audience:
- Mid-level to Senior engineers prepping for collaboration-system interviews
- Prerequisite:
- Comfort with data modeling, caching, and basic sync concepts
What You Will Learn
- Model recurring events: store every instance vs. expand on the fly, and handle 'this and all future events' edits.
- Support multi-device sync so changes appear instantly across phone, laptop, and web.
- Check free/busy availability for a group quickly without scanning millions of events.
- Handle timezone edge cases — events spanning DST transitions and traveling users.
- Support invitations and RSVP tracking with weekly/monthly calendar views.
What This Course Is NOT
- Not a meeting-scheduling-optimization/ML course
- Not video-conferencing integration
Pre-Class Preparation (24 hours before)
Read the problem statement only (10 min):
Design a calendar service that lets users create, modify, and delete events; supports invitations and RSVP tracking; provides weekly/monthly views; and enables fast free/busy availability checking across users — handling recurring events and timezone/DST correctly.
Think about (don't research yet):
- Do you store every instance of a daily-for-a-year event, or expand them on read?
- What sync protocol makes an edit on your phone show up on your laptop in seconds?
- How do you find a free 30-minute slot for 10 busy people without scanning everything?
Come to class with a recurring-event storage approach in mind.
Lecture: author of showoffer
Jack
ShowOffer Coach
12+ years of experience in AI/ML infrastructure and distributed aggregation systems. Tech lead for fan-out architectures serving millions of product queries.
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