Architecture · Beginner → Advanced

System Design Roadmap

Requirements → networking → storage → caching → queues → partitioning → reliability.

Your progress

0/9 nodes · 84h estimated

Skills

Projects

Phases

Phase 1

Core concepts

Learn distributed-systems vocabulary.

Requirements & estimation

Functional requirements, NFRs, traffic, storage and capacity.

Subtopics

• Requirements & estimation fundamentals
• Requirements & estimation core concepts
• Requirements & estimation practical patterns
• Requirements & estimation production considerations

Practice

• Build a small exercise for Requirements & estimation
• Debug or test the implementation
• Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~8hOutcome: Frame design problems.

Networking

HTTP, DNS, TLS, proxies, load balancers and CDNs.

Subtopics

• Networking fundamentals
• Networking core concepts
• Networking practical patterns
• Networking production considerations

Practice

• Build a small exercise for Networking
• Debug or test the implementation
• Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~10hOutcome: Understand request paths.

Storage

SQL, NoSQL, indexes, replication and consistency.

Subtopics

• Storage fundamentals
• Storage core concepts
• Storage practical patterns
• Storage production considerations

Practice

• Build a small exercise for Storage
• Debug or test the implementation
• Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~12hOutcome: Select storage deliberately.

Phase 2

Scaling

Learn the building blocks of large systems.

Caching

Strategies, invalidation, TTLs and distributed caches.

Subtopics

• Caching fundamentals
• Caching core concepts
• Caching practical patterns
• Caching production considerations

Practice

• Build a small exercise for Caching
• Debug or test the implementation
• Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~8hOutcome: Reduce load and latency.

Queues & streams

Async processing, retries, ordering and backpressure.

Subtopics

• Queues & streams fundamentals
• Queues & streams core concepts
• Queues & streams practical patterns
• Queues & streams production considerations

Practice

• Build a small exercise for Queues & streams
• Debug or test the implementation
• Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~10hOutcome: Decouple workloads.

Partitioning

Sharding, replication, hotspots and rebalancing.

Subtopics

• Partitioning fundamentals
• Partitioning core concepts
• Partitioning practical patterns
• Partitioning production considerations

Practice

• Build a small exercise for Partitioning
• Debug or test the implementation
• Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~10hOutcome: Scale data horizontally.

Phase 3

Reliability & practice

Design for failure and practice real architectures.

Consistency

CAP, consistency models, transactions and idempotency.

Subtopics

• Consistency fundamentals
• Consistency core concepts
• Consistency practical patterns
• Consistency production considerations

Practice

• Build a small exercise for Consistency
• Debug or test the implementation
• Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~10hOutcome: Choose correctness guarantees.

URL shortener

Project

Practice API, storage, cache and scale decisions.

Subtopics

• URL shortener fundamentals
• URL shortener core concepts
• URL shortener practical patterns
• URL shortener production considerations

Practice

• Build a small exercise for URL shortener
• Debug or test the implementation
• Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~6hOutcome: Complete a structured design.

Payment system

Project

Practice idempotency, consistency and reconciliation.

Subtopics

• Payment system fundamentals
• Payment system core concepts
• Payment system practical patterns
• Payment system production considerations

Practice

• Build a small exercise for Payment system
• Debug or test the implementation
• Explain the trade-offs in your own words

Checkpoint

You can explain the core concepts, implement them without a tutorial, and debug a small real-world example.

~10hOutcome: Design a correctness-critical system.