Backend & Systems DesignAdvanced8 modules~4.0 hours hands-on
The System Design Interview
Reason about scale and tradeoffs like a senior engineer — a repeatable framework, the core building blocks, the CAP theorem, and three worked designs you can defend live.
// What you'll be able to do- The five moves that structure every design
- Turn a product into QPS, storage, and bandwidth
- Load balancers, caches, CDNs, replication, sharding, queues
- The tradeoff behind every data decision
8 modules, built to run
Every module ships runnable code. Expand any one to see what's inside.
00IntroductionReason about scale, not memorized answers30 min
Objective — Reason about scale, not memorized answers
Start moduleFree preview
01The Interview FrameworkThe five moves that structure every design30 min
Objective — The five moves that structure every design
02Back-of-the-Envelope EstimationTurn a product into QPS, storage, and bandwidth30 min
Objective — Turn a product into QPS, storage, and bandwidth
03The Core Building BlocksLoad balancers, caches, CDNs, replication, sharding, queues30 min
Objective — Load balancers, caches, CDNs, replication, sharding, queues
04CAP Theorem & ConsistencyThe tradeoff behind every data decision30 min
Objective — The tradeoff behind every data decision
05Design a URL ShortenerRead-heavy, ID generation, cache-first30 min
Objective — Read-heavy, ID generation, cache-first
06Design a News FeedFan-out on write vs read, and the hot-key problem30 min
Objective — Fan-out on write vs read, and the hot-key problem
07Pattern SynthesisChoose the right move, then prove it30 min
Objective — Choose the right move, then prove it
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