Foundations → Architect
System Design
Design like the level above you.
One canonical system-design curriculum that adapts to your level — juniors learn the foundations properly, seniors live in tiered practice, staff and managers critique and evaluate designs with a tutor that draws as you talk.
- 45 units
- 24 case studies
- 40+ Hours
- 3,200+ enrolled
Pro opens all 45 units and 24 case studies here — and every other course on LearnYard.
Pro: ₹2,999 for 3 monthsUpgrade to Pro45 units across 5 tracks. Every unit is tagged, timed, and banded to a seniority level — the same order Layrs teaches it in.
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0 / 14Tutor tour
- A1Client–server model & the request lifecycleclient-server, request-lifecycle
- A2Latency, throughput & the numbers every engineer should knowlatency, throughput, key-numbersLEARN12 minNotes: A2 — Latency, throughput & the numbers every engineer should know: none yet
- A3Networking: DNS, HTTP/HTTPS, TCP/UDP, TLSdns, http, tcp-udp, tls
- A4API styles: REST, RPC/gRPC, GraphQL — when to use whichrest, grpc, graphql, api-design
- A5Data modeling: SQL vs NoSQL, schema design, normalizationsql-vs-nosql, schema-design, normalization
- A6Indexing & query performanceindexing, query-performance
- A7ACID, transactions & isolation levelsacid, transactions, isolation-levels
- A8Caching: strategies, eviction, invalidationcaching, cache-invalidation, eviction, cache-aside, write-through
- A9Load balancing: L4/L7, algorithms, health checksload-balancing, l4-l7, health-checks
- A10Replication: leader/follower, multi-leader, leaderlessreplication, leader-follower, leaderless
- A11Partitioning, sharding & consistent hashingsharding, partitioning, consistent-hashing
- A12CAP, PACELC & consistency modelscap-theorem, pacelc, consistency-models, eventual-consistency
- A13Consensus: quorums, Raft/Paxos (conceptual)consensus, quorum, raftsenior+LEARN18 minNotes: A13 — Consensus: quorums, Raft/Paxos (conceptual): none yetArticle: A13 — Consensus: quorums, Raft/Paxos (conceptual): Included with the Pro pass
- A14Back-of-the-envelope estimationestimation, capacity-planningBOTH12 minNotes: A14 — Back-of-the-envelope estimation: none yetArticle: A14 — Back-of-the-envelope estimation: Included with the Pro pass
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33 more units are included with the Pro pass
Sign in first — the Pro pass is attached to your account. The first 12 units are free to read either way.
0 / 9Tutor tour
- B1Relational workhorses: PostgreSQL / MySQLpostgres, relational-modelingLEARN12 minNotes: B1 — Relational workhorses: PostgreSQL / MySQL: none yetArticle: B1 — Relational workhorses: PostgreSQL / MySQL: Included with the Pro pass
- B2Wide-column & KV at scale: Cassandra, DynamoDBcassandra, dynamodb, wide-columnLEARN18 minNotes: B2 — Wide-column & KV at scale: Cassandra, DynamoDB: none yetArticle: B2 — Wide-column & KV at scale: Cassandra, DynamoDB: Included with the Pro pass
- B3Redis: cache, data structures, and beyondredis, in-memory-storeLEARN12 minNotes: B3 — Redis: cache, data structures, and beyond: none yetArticle: B3 — Redis: cache, data structures, and beyond: Included with the Pro pass
- B4Search: Elasticsearch & the inverted indexelasticsearch, inverted-index, full-text-searchLEARN12 minNotes: B4 — Search: Elasticsearch & the inverted index: none yetArticle: B4 — Search: Elasticsearch & the inverted index: Included with the Pro pass
- B5Streams & queues: Kafka, SQS, pub/subkafka, message-queues, pub-subLEARN18 minNotes: B5 — Streams & queues: Kafka, SQS, pub/sub: none yetArticle: B5 — Streams & queues: Kafka, SQS, pub/sub: Included with the Pro pass
- B6Object storage & CDNs: S3, CloudFrontobject-storage, cdnLEARN12 minNotes: B6 — Object storage & CDNs: S3, CloudFront: none yetArticle: B6 — Object storage & CDNs: S3, CloudFront: Included with the Pro pass
- B7Coordination services: ZooKeeper / etcdzookeeper, coordinationsenior+LEARN18 minNotes: B7 — Coordination services: ZooKeeper / etcd: none yetArticle: B7 — Coordination services: ZooKeeper / etcd: Included with the Pro pass
- B8Stream processing: Flink / Sparkflink, stream-processingsenior+LEARN18 minNotes: B8 — Stream processing: Flink / Spark: none yetArticle: B8 — Stream processing: Flink / Spark: Included with the Pro pass
- B9Specialty stores: time-series, vector, geospatialtime-series-db, vector-db, geospatial-indexsenior+LEARN18 minNotes: B9 — Specialty stores: time-series, vector, geospatial: none yetArticle: B9 — Specialty stores: time-series, vector, geospatial: Included with the Pro pass
0 / 11Tutor tour
- C1Monolith → microservices; API gateway & service meshmicroservices, api-gateway, service-meshLEARN18 minNotes: C1 — Monolith → microservices; API gateway & service mesh: none yetArticle: C1 — Monolith → microservices; API gateway & service mesh: Included with the Pro pass
- C2Event-driven architecture & fan-outevent-driven, async-messaging, fanoutLEARN18 minNotes: C2 — Event-driven architecture & fan-out: none yetArticle: C2 — Event-driven architecture & fan-out: Included with the Pro pass
- C3Idempotency & exactly-once semanticsidempotency, exactly-once, dedupsenior+BOTH18 minNotes: C3 — Idempotency & exactly-once semantics: none yetArticle: C3 — Idempotency & exactly-once semantics: Included with the Pro pass
- C4Sagas, 2PC & distributed transactionssagas, two-phase-commit, distributed-transactionssenior+LEARN18 minNotes: C4 — Sagas, 2PC & distributed transactions: none yetArticle: C4 — Sagas, 2PC & distributed transactions: Included with the Pro pass
- C5CQRS & event sourcingcqrs, event-sourcingsenior+LEARN18 minNotes: C5 — CQRS & event sourcing: none yetArticle: C5 — CQRS & event sourcing: Included with the Pro pass
- C6Rate limiting & throttlingrate-limiting, token-bucket, throttlingBOTH18 minNotes: C6 — Rate limiting & throttling: none yetArticle: C6 — Rate limiting & throttling: Included with the Pro pass
- C7Backpressure & flow controlbackpressure, flow-control, load-sheddingsenior+LEARN18 minNotes: C7 — Backpressure & flow control: none yetArticle: C7 — Backpressure & flow control: Included with the Pro pass
- C8Distributed locks & leader electiondistributed-locks, leader-electionsenior+LEARN18 minNotes: C8 — Distributed locks & leader election: none yetArticle: C8 — Distributed locks & leader election: Included with the Pro pass
- C9Observability: metrics, logs, tracesobservability, metrics, tracingLEARN12 minNotes: C9 — Observability: metrics, logs, traces: none yetArticle: C9 — Observability: metrics, logs, traces: Included with the Pro pass
- C10Deploy strategies: canary, blue-greencanary-deploy, blue-greenLEARN12 minNotes: C10 — Deploy strategies: canary, blue-green: none yetArticle: C10 — Deploy strategies: canary, blue-green: Included with the Pro pass
- C11Security: authN/authZ, encryption, DDoS defenseoauth, jwt, encryption, ddos-defense, secrets-managementLEARN12 minNotes: C11 — Security: authN/authZ, encryption, DDoS defense: none yetArticle: C11 — Security: authN/authZ, encryption, DDoS defense: Included with the Pro pass
0 / 5Tutor tour
- D1Requirements: functional vs non-functionalfunctional-requirements, non-functional-requirementsLEARN12 minNotes: D1 — Requirements: functional vs non-functional: none yetArticle: D1 — Requirements: functional vs non-functional: Included with the Pro pass
- D2The Delivery Framework: a timed 5-step walkthroughdelivery-framework, interview-pacingBOTH12 minNotes: D2 — The Delivery Framework: a timed 5-step walkthrough: none yetArticle: D2 — The Delivery Framework: a timed 5-step walkthrough: Included with the Pro pass
- D3High-level design & the API-first sketchhigh-level-design, api-firstBOTH12 minNotes: D3 — High-level design & the API-first sketch: none yetArticle: D3 — High-level design & the API-first sketch: Included with the Pro pass
- D4Deep dives & defending tradeoffsdeep-dives, tradeoff-articulationsenior+BOTH18 minNotes: D4 — Deep dives & defending tradeoffs: none yetArticle: D4 — Deep dives & defending tradeoffs: Included with the Pro pass
- D5Communicating & critiquing a designdesign-review, critiquestaff+PRACTICE25 minNotes: D5 — Communicating & critiquing a design: none yetArticle: D5 — Communicating & critiquing a design: Included with the Pro pass
0 / 6Tutor tour