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System Design Fundamentals
A practical 4.5 hour course covering the essential building blocks of distributed systems. Learn to think in trade-offs, perform back-of-the-envelope calculations, and master core concepts like load balancing, caching, databases, and data partitioning. Perfect for interview prep and real-world engineering—no prior system design experience required.
20 lessons4.5 hoursBeginner to Mid
Course Available
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What You'll Learn
Think in trade-offs and scale from 100 to 100M users
Master back-of-the-envelope calculations for capacity planning
Core building blocks: load balancing, caching, databases, CDN
Data partitioning, replication, and CAP theorem trade-offs
Message queues, API design, and handling failures gracefully
Security, monitoring, and cost optimization strategies
Ace system design interviews with proven frameworks
Course Syllabus
1
Introduction to System Design25 min
2
Understanding Scale: 100 to 100M Users29 min
3
Reading Architecture Diagrams16 min
4
Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations20 min
5
Scalability Fundamentals12 min
6
Networking Fundamentals12 min
7
Load Balancing Deep Dive8 min
8
Caching Strategies11 min
9
Database Fundamentals13 min
10
Data Partitioning & Replication9 min
11
CAP Theorem & Consistency Trade-offs10 min
12
Message Queues & Event Streaming9 min
13
API Design Best Practices10 min
14
CDN and Edge Computing9 min
15
Handling Failures10 min
16
Monitoring and Observability13 min
17
Security Basics11 min
18
Cost Optimization10 min
19
Putting It All Together17 min
20
Interview Strategy & Frameworks12 min
Prerequisites
- •Basic programming knowledge
- •Familiarity with web applications
- •No prior system design experience required
About the Author
PB
Pranay Bathini
Senior Software Engineer @ Booking.com
Building streaming systems at scale by day, writing about them by night. Forever learner, occasional blogger, and firm believer that the best way to understand something is to teach it.