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Advanced System Design Interview Prep: Crash Course

Name: Advanced System Design Interview Prep: Crash Course
Price: 59 USD
Rating: 4.47 (21 reviews)
Author: Fahim ul Haq

Have a System Design Interview coming up? Brush up on best practices and get interview-ready in <5 hours with a selection of hand-picked, real-world problems.

4.5

11 lessons

Created by Fahim ul Haq

Advanced System Design Interview Prep: Crash Course

What's included

11 lessons across 3 modules
9 quizzes with instant feedback
AI Tutor on every lesson

Join 3.1 million developers at

What You'll Learn

Analyze the design principles of advanced distributed systems like Google File System and Amazon DynamoDB
Apply structured problem-solving techniques to design challenges in a time-constrained interview setting
Evaluate the trade-offs involved in different architectural choices for distributed systems
Demonstrate proficiency in key concepts such as two-phase locking and state machine replication
Design scalable and reliable systems using real-world examples and case studies

Learning Roadmap

11 Lessons9 Quizzes

Introduction

In this chapter, you'll get an overview of the course and understand its approach to preparing for advanced system design interviews using real-world examples.

Prologue

Design Problems

This chapter focuses on system design topics and case studies like Google File System (GFS), Amazon DynamoDB, and Google's Bigtable, MapReduce, etc.

Design of the Google File System (GFS)

Design of Google Colossus (GFS-II)

SILT Key-Value Store

Amazon DynamoDB

Google's Bigtable

Two-Phase Locking (2PL)

Google’s MapReduce

Two-Phase Commit (2PC)

State Machine Replication (SMR)

Conclusion

In this chapter, you'll review the key takeaways and solidify your understanding of the system design principles discussed throughout the course.

Epilogue

Certificate of Completion

Showcase your accomplishment by sharing your certificate of completion.

About this course

WHY I WROTE THIS COURSE

Advanced System Design interview prep has become increasingly time-sensitive. Candidates are expected to reason through complex distributed systems quickly, often with limited time to explain their decisions. It’s no longer enough to understand concepts in isolation. You need to apply them efficiently in a real interview setting. That’s what makes focused, practical System Design interview prep essential. I built this course against that constraint. A common pattern across candidates is spending too much time on theory and not enough on structured application. Even with a solid understanding of System Design, many struggle to translate that knowledge into clear, time-bound solutions. This course is designed to help you bridge that gap by focusing on speed, clarity, and real-world thinking. The approach is simple and intentional. You’ll study real systems, like Google File System (GFS) and Amazon DynamoDB, to understand how large-scale distributed systems are designed. Then, you’ll apply those principles by working through nine carefully selected design problems, each scoped to be completed in 15–30 minutes. This helps you practice exactly how you’ll perform in an actual System Design interview, thinking clearly, structuring your response, and making trade-offs under time pressure. This format has helped engineers make better use of their prep time and approach interviews with more confidence. If you’re looking for a focused, high-impact way to improve your advanced System Design interview prep, this course gives you a practical and efficient path forward.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fahim ul Haq

Software Engineer, Distributed Storage at Meta and Microsoft, Educative (Co-founder & CEO)

Learn more about Fahim

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These are high-quality courses. Trust me the price is worth it for the content quality. Educative came at the right time in my career. I'm understanding topics better than with any book or online video tutorial I've done. Truly made for developers. Thanks

Anthony Walker

@_webarchitect_

Just finished my first full #ML course: Machine learning for Software Engineers from Educative, Inc. ... Highly recommend!

Evan Dunbar

ML Engineer

You guys are the gold standard of crash-courses... Narrow enough that it doesn't need years of study or a full blown book to get the gist, but broad enough that an afternoon of Googling doesn't cut it.

Software Developer

Carlos Matias La Borde

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Souvik Kundu

Front-end Developer

Your courses are simply awesome, the depth they go into and the breadth of coverage is so good that I don't have to refer to 10 different websites looking for interview topics and content.

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Software Developer

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