System Design Interview Prep

A structured self-study course focused on backend systems, infrastructure, and distributed systems.

Structure

interview/
├── README.md                  ← you are here
├── phase1-foundations/
│   ├── 01-cap-theorem.md
│   ├── 02-latency-numbers.md
│   └── 03-estimation.md
├── phase2-infrastructure/
│   ├── 01-databases.md
│   ├── 02-servers-and-load-balancing.md
│   └── 03-networking-and-vpn.md
├── phase3-distributed-systems/
│   ├── 01-caching.md
│   ├── 02-messaging-and-queues.md
│   ├── 03-reliability-patterns.md
│   └── 04-consistency.md
├── phase4-interview-framework/
│   ├── 00-framework.md
│   └── problems/
│       ├── url-shortener.md
│       ├── rate-limiter.md
│       ├── distributed-cache.md
│       ├── notification-system.md
│       ├── social-media-feed.md
│       └── key-value-store.md
└── phase5-security-and-ops/
    ├── 01-security.md
    └── 02-observability.md

Progress Tracker

Phase	Topic	Status
1	CAP Theorem	⬜
1	Latency Numbers	⬜
1	Back-of-Envelope Estimation	⬜
2	Databases	⬜
2	Servers & Load Balancing	⬜
2	Networking & VPN	⬜
3	Caching	⬜
3	Messaging & Queues	⬜
3	Reliability Patterns	⬜
3	Consistency	⬜
4	Interview Framework	⬜
4	Problem: URL Shortener	⬜
4	Problem: Rate Limiter	⬜
4	Problem: Distributed Cache	⬜
4	Problem: Notification System	⬜
4	Problem: Social Media Feed	⬜
4	Problem: Key-Value Store	⬜
5	Security	⬜
5	Observability	⬜

Mark complete with ✅ as you finish each topic.

Daily Routine

• 30 min — Read one concept file
• 45 min — Practice one design problem out loud / on paper
• 15 min — Review a real-world architecture (highscalability.com, eng blogs)

Key Resources

• Designing Data-Intensive Applications — Martin Kleppmann
• System Design Interview — Alex Xu (Vol 1 & 2)
• https://highscalability.com
• https://bytebytego.com