High Pagination Question 178 of 226

How do you paginate a feed of tens of millions of rows without OFFSET 1000000?

Java Specialist · Speak this in 60–90 seconds · Faridabad & Delhi NCR

PICTURE THIS: DATABASE INDEX

Without indexScan every row

With indexJump to keys

CostWrites slower

Simple meaning

OFFSET 1e6 still walks that many index entries.

WHY — Pagination instead of guessing?

Why interviewers care about Pagination:

This is a process

question about Pagination.

Panels listen for order,

trade-offs, and what you would actually do on a Backend project - not buzzwords.

Stay structured

Name the idea, why it exists, then one short example.

Close cleanly

End with when you use it and one common pitfall.

STEPS — What happens step by step?

Before you speak the answer, walk the interviewer through these steps:

1
OFFSET 1e6 still walks
that many index entries.
2
Use keyset pagination: WHERE
(created_at, id) < (:ts, :id) ORDER BY created_at DESC, id DESC LIMIT 20.
3
Index (created_at, id) and
keep the cursor opaque to clients.
4
Give an example
One tiny concrete case you can say aloud.
5
Common mistake
What juniors usually get wrong.
6
Close
When you pick this over the alternative.

EXAMPLE — See it in action

Here's a short line you can speak, broken into clear beats:

Say this line

“Use keyset pagination: WHERE (created_at, id) < (:ts, :id) ORDER BY created_at D”

Break into beats

UsekeysetpaginationWHEREcreatedat

Speaking order

2987408337471632900

Note: Adapt this scaffold to your own project — keep it under 60–90 seconds.

Key takeaway

OFFSET 1e6 still walks that many index entries. Use keyset pagination: WHERE (created_at, id) < (:ts, :id) ORDER BY created_at DESC, id DESC LIMIT 20.