Grokking System Design Fundamentals vs. Grokking the System Design Interview: Which Should You Take First?
Take Grokking System Design Fundamentals first if you cannot yet explain what a cache, a database replica, or a message queue does. Start with Grokking the System Design Interview if you know those parts but cannot yet turn them into a complete interview answer.
The two courses do different jobs. Fundamentals teaches the parts of a large system, one topic at a time. The interview course teaches you to use those parts to answer a design question in about 45 minutes.
This answer compares what each course covers and gives an order for four common situations.
Quick Overview
| System Design Fundamentals | Grokking the System Design Interview | |
|---|---|---|
| Main goal | Learn the building blocks | Answer a system design interview question |
| Best for | Engineers new to distributed systems | Engineers who know the basics |
| Teaching order | One building block per chapter | Interview method, trade-offs, 15 designs, glossary |
| Practice | Flashcards and an assessment after each topic chapter, then a final quiz | A quiz after each design, and chapter quizzes |
| Format | Text and diagrams | Text, diagrams, and videos for 10 of the 15 designs |
| Price, as of this writing | 49 (list price 123) | 59 (list price 148) |
What System Design Fundamentals covers
The course page lists this course as System Design Fundamentals. Its web address still uses the Grokking name.
Each chapter teaches one building block of a large system. The topics include:
- Core ideas: scalability, availability, latency, and fault tolerance.
- Estimation: quick math for traffic, storage, and bandwidth.
- Networking: HTTP, TCP vs. UDP, DNS, and real-time options like WebSockets.
- Traffic: proxies, load balancing, API gateways, and rate limiting.
- Data: caching, CDNs, partitioning, replication, SQL vs. NoSQL, and indexes.
- Distributed systems ideas: the CAP and PACELC theorems, quorum, leader and follower, and heartbeats.
- Messaging and security: message queues like Kafka, authentication, and encryption.
Each topic chapter ends with flashcards, which are short question-and-answer cards. An assessment follows the flashcards, so you check your understanding before the next topic. The course ends with a final quiz.
What Grokking the System Design Interview covers
This is the original system design interview course by Design Gurus. It has four chapters.
- How to approach the interview. What the interviewer tests, a step-by-step method, requirements, estimates, and a master template.
- System design trade-offs. Short lessons on common choices, like SQL vs. NoSQL and strong vs. eventual consistency.
- System design problems. Fifteen full designs, like a URL shortener, Instagram, Dropbox, YouTube, Uber, and Ticketmaster.
- Glossary of system design basics. One short lesson each on load balancing, caching, partitioning, replication, quorum, and similar topics.
The glossary is a refresher, not a first course. It covers many Fundamentals topics in one short lesson each. If those lessons feel too fast, take Fundamentals first.
Which course to take first
Your starting point decides the order.
You are new to distributed systems. Take Fundamentals first. Then take the interview course, and skim its glossary chapter, since you already know that material.
You use these parts at work but have never had a design interview. Start with the interview course. Use its glossary to fill small gaps.
Your interview is in two weeks. Start with the interview course. Read its first two chapters, then work through five of the designs.
You are a senior engineer. Start with the interview course. Then move to Advanced System Design Interview, Volume II, which is written for more senior levels.
Should you take both courses?
Take both if you are starting from zero. Fundamentals gives you the parts, and the interview course shows you how to use them under time limits.
The overlap is small. It is mostly the interview course's glossary chapter, which you can skim after Fundamentals.
If you already know the basics, one course is enough. Pick the interview course.
How to Prepare
- Test yourself first. Explain four things out loud in two sentences each: a cache miss, database replication, a message queue, and a load balancer. If two or more are unclear, start with System Design Fundamentals.
- Read a free lesson from each course. Both courses let you open free lessons before you buy. Compare the pace with your current level.
- Practice out loud after every design. Close the lesson, redraw the design from memory, and explain one trade-off. Reading alone does not build that skill.
- Follow one order. Fundamentals if you need it, then Grokking the System Design Interview, then Advanced System Design Interview, Volume II if you interview at a senior level.
- Compare other courses if you are unsure. Which System Design Interview Course Should I Take? covers the wider choice, and Best System Design Courses for Beginners lists starting points.
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