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Start here: how the round works

Module 1 of the System Design Masterclass. Every lesson here is free to read, with no account.

  • 6 lessons
  • 2 h of reading
  1. 1What is system design?What a system design interview really judges: not one right answer, but good choices that fit the needs, with their costs said out loud.20 minCore
  2. 2How a design round runs: six steps in 45 minutesThe six steps of a design round, a clock for 45 minutes, one small design from start to end, and what each level should do.23 minCore Fast track
  3. 3Requirements: what to ask firstHow to turn a short, open question into a list of needs with numbers, and what reliability, scalability and maintainability mean in plain words.22 minCore Fast track
  4. 4How good is good enough: uptime and speedWhat 99.9 percent means in hours of downtime, what p50, p95 and p99 mean for speed, and why an average hides slow users.22 minCore Fast track
  5. 5Reading and drawing architecture diagramsWhat a box and an arrow mean, how to put numbers on them, and how to read a drawing to find the part that gets too busy first.12 minCore
  6. 6Say it clearly: trade-off sentences and spoken EnglishThe three-part trade-off sentence, simple phrases for each moment of a spoken round, and how to think aloud.21 minCore Fast track

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