Day 1
Architecture as Discipline, Not Checklist
135 min total
architectural thinkingtrade-offsdecision records
60-Day Distributed Systems & Architecture
A structured journey from core mental models to production-ready system design. Each day builds a Design Record you can defend.
L260 daysPrereqs: Foundations of System Design (14 days)
What You'll Achieve
- →Produce complete Design Records with quantified trade-offs
- →Write defensible ADRs for real architectural decisions
- →Apply C4 modelling to document and review systems
- →Estimate capacity, cost, and failure modes from first principles
- →Pass AI-assisted design reviews with improving scores
Syllabus
Level 1 — Core Mental Models
Start →
Day 2
Constraints First: Scale, Budget, Latency, Team
135 min total
constraintsnfrsquantificationteam-topology
Day 3
Non-Functional Requirements: From Vague to Quantified
135 min total
nfrsslo-slierror-budgetscapacity-planning
Day 4
Architecture Decision Records: The Unit of Judgement
135 min total
adrdecision-makingtrade-off-analysiscontext-options-decision
Day 5
C4 Modelling: Context, Containers, Components, Code
135 min total
c4modellingdiagrams-as-codeabstraction-levels
Day 6
CAP and PACELC: The Theory You Actually Need
135 min total
cap-theorempacelcconsistency-latencypartition-tolerance
Day 7
Consistency Models: Strong, Eventual, Causal, Read-Your-Writes
135 min total
consistency-modelseventual-consistencycausal-consistencysession-guarantees
Day 8
Idempotency & Delivery Guarantees: At-Least-Once, Exactly-Once, Effectively-Once
135 min total
idempotencydelivery-guaranteesmessage-queuesdistributed-transactions
Day 9
Design Brief: Payment System — Idempotency & Delivery Guarantees
150 min total
payment-systemsidempotencydistributed-transactionsreconciliation
Day 10
Review 1: Your First Design Records — AI Critique & Self-Assessment
110 min total
design-reviewai-critiqueself-assessmentlongitudinal-tracking