High-level System Design Bootcamp from Udemy

Why should you take this course ?

In the real-world, most of the engineers don't get to design new systems in their career. Only a handful of engineers get to work on such an opportunity. But when it comes to interviews, we suddenly expect everyone to be a master of system design. This course covers all the important concepts to get you prepared for system design rounds. The core focus of the course lies in my approach to design the most popular systems such as Google, WhatsApp, Netflix, and many more.

High-level design, also known as Architecture Design, is used in most of the software engineering hiring process as an important assessment to identify a great candidate. From freshers to Staff Software Engineers, most of the companies dedicate at least 1 such round in the entire interview process.

This course focuses on the high-level aspects of the design. The only way to get better at interviews is by understanding the base of concepts, and then practicing lots of design problems. Additionally, this course is ideal for working professionals who want to improve their knowledge of systems.

Guaranteed Takeaway

After this course completion, you will not fear any high-level system design round of an interview. You'll be asking the right questions about the problems, and will be confident to jab at any design. That is my solemn promise to you.

Reach Out .

If there are more system design interview questions you'd like me to solve or additional topics you'd like me to cover, let me know. :)

What's inside

Learning objectives

Cracking system design interviews ( faang included )
Designing the most popular systems like google, netflix, etc. from scratch
Discussing the design trade-offs with the interviewer and playing to your strengths

Most important design & scalability concepts
Communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, cap tradeoffs, load balancing, message queues, data partitioning, fault tolerance, replication strategies
Building robust systems that scale

Cracking system design interviews ( faang included )
Designing the most popular systems like google, netflix, etc. from scratch
Discussing the design trade-offs with the interviewer and playing to your strengths
Most important design & scalability concepts
Communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, cap tradeoffs, load balancing, message queues, data partitioning, fault tolerance, replication strategies
Building robust systems that scale

Syllabus

Introduction

How should you take this course ?

Architecture diagrams.

Back-of-the-envelope estimations

Traffic lights

Read about what's good

what should give you pause

and possible dealbreakers

Focuses on high-level design principles and trade-offs, which are essential for system architecture and scalability discussions during technical interviews

Covers design considerations for popular systems like Google, Netflix, and WhatsApp, providing practical examples relevant to real-world applications

Explores communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, CAP tradeoffs, and load balancing, which are fundamental concepts in distributed system design

Includes back-of-the-envelope estimations, which are useful for quickly assessing the feasibility and resource requirements of different design choices

Requires learners to understand trade-offs between performance and scalability, which are critical for designing systems that can handle increasing workloads

Teaches database evaluation, including RDBMS and NoSQL, which helps learners choose the right database for their specific needs

Reviews summary

High-level system design for interviews

Learners say this course provides a solid and practical foundation for high-level system design interviews, explicitly referencing preparation for companies like FAANG. Students appreciate the structured approach, which breaks down complex topics like latency, throughput, caching, sharding, and load balancing. The guided design sessions for popular systems like Uber, Google, and Netflix are highlighted as particularly valuable, offering concrete examples of how to apply concepts. Reviewers often mention feeling significantly more confident in tackling design questions after completing the course. While noted as focusing on high-level architecture rather than low-level implementation, it is considered effective for its stated goal of interview preparation.

Explains key design principles clearly.

"Explanations of CAP theorem, sharding, and caching were very clear."

"Understanding concepts like latency vs throughput was crucial."

"It covers all the essential building blocks you need."

Walks through real-world system examples.

"Designing systems like Netflix and Uber was the most valuable part."

"Seeing how to design popular applications makes the concepts concrete."

"The case studies were excellent and directly applicable."

Prepares well for system design interviews.

"This course really helped me prepare for system design rounds at big tech companies."

"I felt much more confident tackling interview questions after taking this."

"Focus on interviews makes it very practical and job-oriented."

Provides a broad, non-exhaustive overview.

"Keep in mind this is high-level, you might need deeper dives elsewhere."

"Doesn't go into implementation details, which is fine for interviews."

"A great overview, but not a deep dive into every single topic."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in High-level System Design Bootcamp with these activities:

Review Fundamental Data Structures and Algorithms

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Strengthen your understanding of core data structures and algorithms. This will provide a solid foundation for understanding the trade-offs involved in system design.

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Review common data structures like arrays, linked lists, trees, and graphs.
Practice implementing basic algorithms like sorting and searching.
Understand time and space complexity analysis using Big O notation.

Read 'Designing Data-Intensive Applications'

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Gain a deeper understanding of the principles behind data-intensive applications. This will help you make informed decisions about database selection, caching strategies, and sharding techniques.

View Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big... on Amazon

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Read the book cover to cover, taking notes on key concepts.
Focus on chapters related to databases, consistency, and fault tolerance.
Relate the concepts in the book to the specific system design problems discussed in the course.

Document Design Trade-offs

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Solidify your understanding of design trade-offs by creating a document that summarizes the pros and cons of different architectural choices.

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Choose a specific system design problem, such as designing a URL shortener.
Research different architectural approaches, such as using a relational database versus a NoSQL database.
Document the trade-offs of each approach, considering factors like performance, scalability, and cost.
Present your findings in a clear and concise manner.

Four other activities

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Back-of-the-Envelope Estimation Practice

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Improve your ability to perform back-of-the-envelope estimations. This is a crucial skill for system design interviews and for making informed design decisions.

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Find practice problems online or in system design books.
Estimate the resources required for different system components, such as storage, bandwidth, and CPU.
Compare your estimates to the actual resource requirements of real-world systems.

Read 'System Design Interview – An Insider's Guide'

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Prepare for system design interviews by studying common system design problems and their solutions. This will help you develop a structured approach to problem-solving and improve your communication skills.

View System Design Interview – An insider's guide on Amazon

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Read the book and understand the solutions to the common system design problems.
Practice solving system design problems on your own.
Get feedback on your solutions from other engineers or mentors.

Design a Scalable Chat Application

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Apply the concepts learned in the course by designing a scalable chat application from scratch. This will give you hands-on experience with making design decisions and evaluating trade-offs.

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Define the system requirements, including the number of users and the expected message volume.
Design the database schema, considering factors like scalability and consistency.
Choose a messaging protocol, such as WebSockets or MQTT.
Implement the core functionality of the chat application, including sending and receiving messages.
Design the system for scalability, considering factors like load balancing and sharding.

Help Others on System Design Forums

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Reinforce your understanding of system design concepts by helping others on online forums. Explaining concepts to others is a great way to identify gaps in your own knowledge.

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Find online forums or communities dedicated to system design.
Answer questions from other engineers about system design concepts.
Provide feedback on system design solutions.

Career center

Learners who complete High-level System Design Bootcamp will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Software Architect

A software architect is responsible for making high-level design choices and setting technical standards for software development, including platform, coding, and testing. This course helps one prepare for system design rounds in the interview process. With its focus on high-level aspects of design, the *High-level System Design Bootcamp* would prove invaluable, especially given its coverage of design trade-offs, communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, load balancing, message queues, data partitioning, fault tolerance, and replication strategies. A software architect needs to understand how to design systems such as Google, WhatsApp, and Netflix. This course may help one become more confident in any design.

See salaries and explore the career path for Software Architect

Solutions Architect

A solutions architect is responsible for designing and implementing solutions to complex business problems using technology. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* details how to design systems such as Google, WhatsApp, and Netflix. The course covers all the important concepts to get one prepared for system design rounds. It focuses on high-level aspects of the design that are important to understand. The course also covers design trade-offs, communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, load balancing, message queues, data partitioning, fault tolerance, and replication strategies which are some of the responsibilities of a solutions architect.

See salaries and explore the career path for Solutions Architect

Systems Engineer

A systems engineer focuses on designing, integrating, and managing complex systems over their life cycles. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* may be useful for aspiring systems engineers, as the course covers important design and scalability concepts. The course details communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, CAP tradeoffs, load balancing, message queues, data partitioning, fault tolerance, and replication strategies. Systems engineers design systems from scratch and should understand all design trade-offs. One takeaway from the course is to not fear any high-level system design round of an interview. It is helpful to ask the right questions about the problems, and to be confident in any design.

See salaries and explore the career path for Systems Engineer

Cloud Architect

Cloud architects design and oversee the implementation of cloud computing strategies for organizations. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* may be useful since the course helps in designing systems such as Google, WhatsApp, and Netflix from scratch, and discusses design trade-offs. Cloud architects must understand communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, CAP tradeoffs, load balancing, message queues, data partitioning, fault tolerance, and replication strategies. The course helps one ask the right questions about the problems, and to be confident in any design.

See salaries and explore the career path for Cloud Architect

Site Reliability Engineer

A site reliability engineer (SRE) ensures the reliability, scalability, and performance of systems. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* covers communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, CAP tradeoffs, load balancing, message queues, data partitioning, fault tolerance, and replication strategies that SREs should be aware of. SREs are interested in building robust systems that scale. The course is ideal for working professionals who want to improve their knowledge of systems. One should not fear any high-level system design round of an interview after taking this course.

See salaries and explore the career path for Site Reliability Engineer

Technical Lead

A technical lead is responsible for guiding a team of developers and making key technical decisions. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* covers high-level design and is useful for working professionals who want to improve their knowledge of systems. Technical leads should know design trade-offs, communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, load balancing, message queues, data partitioning, fault tolerance, and replication strategies. Technical leads may want to design popular systems such as Google, WhatsApp, and Netflix, from scratch, and the course can help with that.

See salaries and explore the career path for Technical Lead

Principal Engineer

A principal engineer is a high-level technical expert who provides guidance and leadership on complex engineering projects. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* may be useful in preparing for system design interviews and gives one an understanding of the base concepts, and then how to practice lots of design problems. Principal engineers will want to be masters of system design, and this course helps explain architecture diagrams, back-of-the-envelope estimations, latency versus throughput, CAP theorem, horizontal versus vertical scaling, and caching.

See salaries and explore the career path for Principal Engineer

Backend Developer

A backend developer works on the server-side logic and databases that power applications. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* may be useful for the backend developer who wants to understand the design of the systems they are building. Backend developers must know design and scalability concepts. One takeaway is that after the course, one should not fear any high-level system design round of an interview. The course also covers communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, CAP tradeoffs, load balancing, message queues, and data partitioning which backend developers should be aware of. This course gives one the background to ask the right questions about the problems, and to be confident to jab at any design.

See salaries and explore the career path for Backend Developer

Performance Engineer

A performance engineer optimizes the performance and efficiency of software systems. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* provides background into the performance aspects of systems. The course covers latency versus throughput, caching, and load balancing, all of which are responsibilities of performance engineers. Performance engineers will want to know the design of systems, and need to understand design trade-offs. Those who want to work as performance engineers will find this course helpful, and they will be able to tackle design interview questions.

See salaries and explore the career path for Performance Engineer

Data Engineer

Data engineers build and maintain the infrastructure that allows data to be used effectively within an organization. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* may be useful to the data engineer since this course covers sharding, data partitioning, and database evaluation. Data engineers must consider scalability, RDBMS and NoSQL options. The course covers the important concepts for system design. Data engineers deal with the design of systems. The course will allow one who wishes to become a data engineer to ask the right questions about the problems, and will be confident to jab at any design.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Engineer

DevOps Engineer

A DevOps engineer works to automate and streamline the software development lifecycle. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* covers scalability, horizontal versus vertical scaling, and load balancing, which are concepts DevOps engineers work with. DevOps engineers are concerned with building robust systems that scale. The course gives one an understanding of the base concepts, and then how to practice lots of design problems. The course will help in the high-level system design round of an interview, and will help one ask the right questions about the problems.

See salaries and explore the career path for DevOps Engineer

Data Architect

A data architect designs and manages an organization's data infrastructure and ensures data quality. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* may be useful in helping data architects understand scalability, sharding, and database design. Data architects must understand RDBMS and NoSQL, and must deal with the design of systems. The course covers all the important concepts for system design. By learning the concepts taught in this course, it may help one ask the right questions about the problems, and to be confident in any design.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Architect

Software Development Manager

A software development manager leads a team of software developers and oversees the software development process. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* improves knowledge of systems. Software development managers should know design trade-offs, communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, load balancing, message queues, data partitioning, fault tolerance, and replication strategies. The course may be useful in learning how to design popular systems such as Google, WhatsApp, and Netflix, from scratch, and how to discuss the design trade-offs with the interviewer.

See salaries and explore the career path for Software Development Manager

Technical Product Manager

A technical product manager blends technical knowledge with product management skills to guide the development of technology products. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* may be useful because it focuses on the high-level aspects of design and helps one understand the base of concepts. Product managers should understand back-of-the-envelope estimations, latency versus throughput, CAP theorem, and horizontal versus vertical scaling. Product managers that wish to become technical might want to be able to ask the right questions about the problems, and to be confident to jab at any design.

See salaries and explore the career path for Technical Product Manager

Chief Technology Officer

A chief technology officer (CTO) is the executive responsible for overseeing the technology strategy and technological development of a company. Note that this often requires an advanced degree. The *High-level System Design Bootcamp* may be useful to the CTO so they can design the most popular systems like Google, Netflix, and WhatsApp from scratch. CTO's should understand communication protocols, sharding strategies, caching, CAP tradeoffs, load balancing, message queues, data partitioning, fault tolerance, and replication strategies.

See salaries and explore the career path for Chief Technology Officer

Reading list

We've selected two books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in High-level System Design Bootcamp.

Designing Data-Intensive Applications

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Provides a comprehensive overview of the concepts and technologies used in building scalable and reliable data systems. It covers topics such as data models, storage engines, distributed systems, and data processing. It is highly recommended as a reference text for this course, as it provides in-depth explanations of the underlying principles behind many system design decisions. This book is commonly used by industry professionals.

Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big...

Paperback

Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big...

Kindle Edition

System Design Interview - An Insider's Guide,...

Save

Provides a practical guide to preparing for system design interviews. It covers common system design problems and provides step-by-step solutions. It is useful for understanding the expectations of interviewers and for practicing your problem-solving skills. This book is valuable as additional reading to supplement the course materials.

System Design Interview – An insider's guide

Paperback

High-level System Design Bootcamp

What's inside

Learning objectives

Syllabus

Traffic lights

Save this course

Reviews summary

High-level system design for interviews

Activities

Career center

Reading list

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