CoursesSystem Design Basics
Beginner 2h estimated 4 modules 12 lessons
System Design Basics
Learn how to think about building systems that scale — client-server architecture, load balancers, caching, databases, reliability, and the practical estimation and async-processing skills used in real system design.
Skills covered
System DesignScalabilityLoad BalancingCachingDatabasesAPIs
What you'll learn
Understand why systems need to be designed for scale
Explain vertical vs horizontal scaling
Understand load balancers, caching, and databases at scale
Understand monoliths vs microservices and API contracts
Identify single points of failure and basic reliability concepts
Walk through designing a simple system end to end
Do back-of-envelope estimation for system scale
Understand message queues, async processing, and rate limiting