Most developers try to study 25+ systems and end up stuck. 💀
You only need 7–8. Pick the right ones, go deep.
Foundations — the building blocks that show up inside every bigger system:
- Rate Limiter (API throttling)
- URL Shortener (TinyURL)
- Unique ID Generator (Snowflake)
- Notification System (Email / Push / SMS)
Intermediate — where scale and real-world trade-offs start showing up:
- Chat System (WhatsApp)
- Search + Web Crawling (Google Search)
- Short Video Streaming (Instagram Reels)
Advanced — the ones that combine everything:
- File Storage (Google Drive)
- Video Platform (YouTube)
- Matching System (Uber / Ola)
This weekend, pick one and run through this loop:
- Design it yourself first — whiteboard it, no peeking
- Study how it actually works — compare your design to reality
- Find where your design breaks — at 10x traffic, at failure, at scale
System design has no perfect answer. The goal is explaining trade-offs correctly — not finding the “right” solution.
System design is fun 😅 … once you stop trying to memorise everything and start thinking in trade-offs.