Free preview lessons

Free Preview Lessons

Foundation lessons plus a few deeper ones, from both the System Design + LLD path and the AI Systems path. Same voice. Same examples. Same focus on tradeoffs. System Design + LLD is 399 rupees for 30 days, or 999 for 90 days. AI Systems is 299.

1

What System Design Actually Is

What system design actually means for backend engineers in India. Real interview expectations, not textbook definitions. Free lesson from The Desi Architect.

25 min
2

How the Internet Actually Works

How the internet works for system design interviews. DNS, TCP, HTTP, and the request path explained with Indian product examples. Free guide.

30 min
3

The 30 Must-Know Concepts

30 must-know system design concepts for backend interviews. A practical checklist before your next loop. Free lesson for engineers in India.

30 min
4

Scalability vs Availability vs Reliability

Scalability vs availability vs reliability explained with tradeoffs. When to pick which, with IRCTC and UPI-style examples. Free system design guide.

25 min
5

Latency vs Throughput vs Bandwidth

Latency, throughput, and bandwidth for system design. How to estimate and talk about them in interviews. Free lesson from The Desi Architect.

25 min
6

CAP Theorem & Consistency Models

CAP theorem explained for system design interviews. CP vs AP tradeoffs with real distributed systems examples. Free lesson in plain English.

30 min
7

Consistent Hashing

Consistent hashing explained for system design. Why caches and databases use it, with ring diagrams and tradeoffs. Free guide for backend engineers.

25 min
8

Load Balancing 101

Load balancing 101 for system design interviews. Algorithms, health checks, and when a load balancer becomes your bottleneck. Free lesson.

25 min
9

Cache Invalidation & Stampede

Cache invalidation and stampede explained with real production failures. How to protect databases during peak traffic like Big Billion Days. Advanced system design lesson.

32 min
10

Resilience Patterns

Resilience patterns for system design. Circuit breakers, bulkheads, graceful degradation. Real examples from Indian systems and the tradeoffs that come with each.

30 min
11

Circuit Breakers

Circuit breaker pattern deep dive for interviews and production. Closed, open, half-open states with failure stories from real Indian systems.

25 min
12

Interview Framework & Pattern Library

How to structure a system design interview. The patterns that come up again and again. One clear way to use your 45 minutes. From the full path.

30 min
13

Pattern: kill the inner loop

The hash lookup pattern: how to spot when a nested loop can collapse to one pass, and what memory you pay for it. A free sample of how DSA is taught in the Switch Pack.

18 min
14

Thinking in Objects, Not Boxes

Thinking in objects, not boxes. How to drop from HLD service boxes to LLD classes, with a Swiggy cart that froze a strong candidate. A free LLD sample from The Desi Architect.

17 min
15

Design a Rate Limiter (LLD)

Design a rate limiter, low-level design walkthrough. Classes, the algorithm choice, and where it breaks under concurrency. A free sample LLD write-up from The Desi Architect.

19 min
16

What a Class Is Actually For

What a class is really for: invariants, encapsulation, and abstraction, explained with a wallet that drifted from its own ledger. Free low-level design lesson.

15 min
17

Class Diagrams Without the UML Police

Read and draw class diagrams fast: association, aggregation, composition, dependency, inheritance, and multiplicity. Free LLD lesson for interviews.

16 min
18

Finding the Objects in the Prompt

Turn 'design a parking lot' into the right four or five classes: actors, use cases, nouns and verbs, then prune. Free low-level design lesson.

16 min