Grokking the Fundamentals of System Design
Fundamentals of System Design covers the core principles for creating scalable, reliable, and secure systems, providing a solid foundation for real-world architecture and System Design interviews.
- Design From First PrinciplesBreak any system into requirements, components, and trade-offs.
- Architect Fault-Tolerant SystemsKeep production services available through failures and partitions.
- Prevent Common Security FlawsCatch auth, encryption, and access gaps before they reach production.
- Lead Design ReviewsJustify storage and protocol decisions to engineers and leadership.
Fahim ul Haq is the co-founder and CEO of Educative, a hands-on learning platform for software engineers. He spent nearly a decade as a software engineer at Microsoft and Meta, where he gained deep experience building large-scale distributed systems. His work spanned Project Red Dog at Microsoft, which evolved into Microsoft Azure, and Scuba, Meta's real-time data analytics engine. In 2015, Fahim co-founded Educative to help developers get hands-on with new skills. Fahim's courses have helped hundreds of thousands of engineers learn System Design and prepare for technical interviews. Fahim earned his M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Washington in 2015.
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What You'll Learn
- Analyze the fundamentals of System Design, including scalability, reliability, and the roles involved in the design process.
- Differentiate between System Design and software architecture to enhance decision-making and communication in software projects.
- Evaluate monolithic, modular monolith, and microservices architectures to determine the best fit for various scaling needs.
- Identify functional and non-functional requirements in System Design to guide architectural decisions and balance competing needs.
- Examine coordination techniques in distributed systems, including leader election and consensus protocols, to maintain consistency and reliability.
- Apply security principles, including the CIA triad, to design robust systems that protect sensitive data and ensure system reliability.
Learning Roadmap
1.
Introduction to System Design
Introduction to System Design
2.
Distributed System Fundamentals
Distributed System Fundamentals
3.
Communication in Distributed Systems
Communication in Distributed Systems
5 Lessons
5 Lessons
4.
Storage and Data Management
Storage and Data Management
8 Lessons
8 Lessons
5.
Security in System Design
Security in System Design
5 Lessons
5 Lessons
6.
Trade-Offs and Real-World Design Principles
Trade-Offs and Real-World Design Principles
4 Lessons
4 Lessons
7.
Wrapping Up Fundamentals of System Design
Wrapping Up Fundamentals of System Design
2 Lessons
2 Lessons
Fahim ul Haq
Software Engineer, Distributed Storage at Meta and Microsoft, Educative (Co-founder & CEO)
Trusted by 3.1 million developers working at companies
Anthony Walker
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