// System Design Mastery

Zero to Master

The complete roadmap for software engineers

Levels

15+

Real Systems

∞

Scale

01
Foundations
Beginner
 How the internet works — DNS, HTTP, proxies, CDN, load balancing. 
DNS ResolutionHTTP/HTTPSCDNLoad BalancerForward ProxyReverse Proxy
02
Scalability
Beginner
 From 100 users to 100M — scaling strategies and distributed systems theory. 
Vertical vs HorizontalCAP TheoremConsistency ModelsRate LimitingBack-of-envelope
03
Databases
Intermediate
 SQL vs NoSQL, replication, sharding, and picking the right storage layer. 
SQL vs NoSQLReplicationShardingConsistent HashingIndexingACID vs BASE
04
Caching
Intermediate
 The fastest code is no code — cache everything possible at every layer. 
Cache-AsideWrite-ThroughWrite-BackLRU / LFURedisCache Stampede
05
Messaging & Events
Intermediate
 Decouple services with async messaging, queues, and event streaming. 
Message QueuesApache KafkaPub/SubSaga PatternCQRSEvent Sourcing
06
Microservices
Advanced
 Break the monolith into services — and handle the distributed systems complexity that follows. 
API GatewayService DiscoveryCircuit BreakerService MeshgRPCSidecar Pattern
07
Real-World Systems
Advanced
 Design Twitter, Uber, WhatsApp, Netflix from scratch using everything above. 
URL ShortenerTwitter FeedUber MatchingWhatsApp ChatNetflix StreamingDropbox
08
Interview Mastery
Advanced
 Structured interview approach, templates, common mistakes, and trade-off language. 
8-Step FrameworkAPI DesignTrade-off LanguageCommon MistakesMock Interviews