work
blog
guides
experiments
ask me
contact

Course

System Design: Beyond the Prompt

Phase 1 — Thinking in Systems

01What Is System Design? (The Big Picture)
02Functional vs Non-Functional Requirements
03Back-of-Envelope Estimation
04Trade-offs: The Architect's Core Skill
05Chapter 1 Quiz: Thinking in Systems
06Chapter 1 Interview Questions: Thinking in Systems

Phase 2 — How the Internet Works

07DNS: The Internet's Phone Book
08HTTP/HTTPS: The Language of the Web
09TCP vs UDP: Choosing Your Transport
10How a Web Request Travels (End-to-End)
11Chapter 2 Quiz: How the Internet Works
12Chapter 2 Interview Questions: How the Internet Works

Phase 3 — Web Architecture Patterns

13Single Server Architecture
14Separating Application & Database Tiers
15Stateless vs Stateful Architecture
16Horizontal vs Vertical Scaling
17Chapter 3 Quiz: Web Architecture Patterns
18Chapter 3 Interview Questions: Web Architecture Patterns

Phase 4 — Databases & Storage

19SQL Databases: When Structure Matters
20NoSQL Databases: Flexibility at Scale
21Database Indexing: Making Queries Fast
22Replication: Keeping Data Safe
23Sharding: Splitting Data Across Machines
24Choosing the Right Database
25Chapter 4 Quiz: Databases & Storage
26Chapter 4 Interview Questions: Databases & Storage

Phase 5 — Caching

27Why Cache? The Memory Hierarchy
28Caching Strategies (Write-Through, Write-Behind, Cache-Aside)
29Cache Invalidation: The Hard Problem
30CDNs: Caching at the Edge
31Chapter 5 Quiz: Caching
32Chapter 5 Interview Questions: Caching

Phase 6 — Load Balancing & Reverse Proxies

33What Is a Load Balancer? (Layer 4 vs Layer 7)
34Load Balancing Algorithms
35Reverse Proxies: The Gatekeeper
36Health Checks & Failover
37Chapter 6 Quiz: Load Balancing & Reverse Proxies
38Chapter 6 Interview Questions: Load Balancing & Reverse Proxies

Phase 7 — Scalability Patterns

39The Scalability Cube (X, Y, Z Axis Scaling)
40Database Scaling Patterns in Practice
41Stateless Services & Session Management
42Rate Limiting & Throttling
43Chapter 7 Quiz: Scalability Patterns
44Chapter 7 Interview Questions: Scalability Patterns

Phase 8 — Asynchronous Processing

45Synchronous vs Asynchronous: When to Decouple
46Message Queues: The Post Office Pattern
47Event-Driven Architecture
48Task Queues & Background Workers
49Chapter 8 Quiz: Asynchronous Processing
50Chapter 8 Interview Questions: Asynchronous Processing

Phase 9 — Consistency & Distributed Consensus

51CAP Theorem: The Fundamental Trade-off
52Consistency Models (Strong, Eventual, Causal)
53Distributed Transactions & Saga Pattern
54Consensus Algorithms (Raft Simplified)
55Conflict Resolution Strategies
56Chapter 9 Quiz: Consistency & Distributed Consensus
57Chapter 9 Interview Questions: Consistency & Distributed Consensus

Phase 10 — Microservices & Service Architecture

58Monolith vs Microservices: The Real Trade-offs
59Domain-Driven Design & Service Boundaries
60Inter-Service Communication (Sync vs Async)
61Service Discovery & Service Mesh
62The Strangler Fig Pattern
63Chapter 10 Quiz: Microservices & Service Architecture
64Chapter 10 Interview Questions: Microservices & Service Architecture

Phase 11 — API Design

65REST API Design Principles
66GraphQL: When REST Isn't Enough
67gRPC & Protocol Buffers
68API Versioning & Backward Compatibility
69Chapter 11 Quiz: API Design
70Chapter 11 Interview Questions: API Design

Phase 12 — Observability & Reliability

71Monitoring: Metrics, Logs, Traces
72SLOs, SLIs, and Error Budgets
73Distributed Tracing
74Circuit Breakers & Graceful Degradation
75Chaos Engineering Principles
76Chapter 12 Quiz: Observability & Reliability
77Chapter 12 Interview Questions: Observability & Reliability

Phase 13 — Security Architecture

78Authentication & Authorization (OAuth2, JWT)
79Network Security (TLS, Firewalls, VPCs)
80Data Security (Encryption at Rest & in Transit)
81Common Attack Vectors & Defenses
82Chapter 13 Quiz: Security Architecture
83Chapter 13 Interview Questions: Security Architecture

Phase 14 — Data Pipelines & Stream Processing

84Batch vs Stream Processing
85Event Sourcing & CQRS
86Data Lakes & Warehouses
87Real-Time Analytics Architecture
88Chapter 14 Quiz: Data Pipelines & Stream Processing
89Chapter 14 Interview Questions: Data Pipelines & Stream Processing

Phase 15 — Putting It All Together

90Design a URL Shortener (End-to-End)
91Design a Chat System (End-to-End)
92Design a News Feed (End-to-End)
93How to Present a System Design
94Chapter 15 Quiz: Putting It All Together
95Chapter 15 Interview Questions: Putting It All Together
96System Design Glossary

✉Stuck? Ask me→

15 of 15 phases · 96 lessons

📝 Chapter 12 Quiz: Observability & Reliability

📘 Chapter 12: Observability & Reliability 🧪 10 Questions

Lesson 49 • Lesson 50 • Lesson 51 • Lesson 52 • Lesson 53

← PreviousChaos Engineering Principles Next →Chapter 12 Interview Questions: Observability & Reliability

Backend & DevOps · Building systems that survive reality.

GitHub ↗LinkedIn ↗Twitter ↗Memories ↗

© 2026 Kanishka. All rights reserved.Built with Next.js · Tailwind · Framer Motion