System Design for Backend Developers
System design is the discipline of deciding how software components fit together at scale — choosing the right databases, communication protocols, caching layers, and deployment topologies before a single line of application code is written. This track covers the full range, from the first principles every backend engineer needs through the cloud-native and microservices patterns used in production systems handling millions of requests.
What You Will Learn
You will work through the core vocabulary of scalable systems: data storage strategies, API design, and inter-service communication. You will study advanced caching and CDN architecture, security considerations built into the design phase, and the trade-offs behind high availability and reliability guarantees. Later courses address microservices decomposition, cloud-native design patterns, and the performance optimization techniques that separate systems that survive traffic spikes from those that do not. The track closes with real-world case studies that tie every concept to concrete, recognisable systems.
The Learning Path
Twelve courses span levels A1 through C2. The first course introduces system design principles at a beginner level; the second and third build out core backend components and scalability fundamentals. From B2 onward the focus sharpens: Advanced Data Storage Strategies, API Design and Inter-Service Communication, Advanced Caching and CDNs, and Security in System Design. The final four C1 courses cover high availability, microservices architecture, performance optimization, and cloud-native patterns. The track ends at C2 with Real-World System Design Case Studies, where you apply the full curriculum to problems drawn from actual distributed systems.
How It Works
Each course is broken into short, focused lessons built around interactive exercises and scenario-based questions. A built-in AI tutor answers questions in context so you can keep moving without switching tabs. Because system design is inherently conceptual, lessons emphasise decision reasoning — why one approach beats another under specific constraints — rather than rote memorisation.
