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System Design and AI Engineering, by Roni Das. 984 interactive lessons.
Start LearningFor students 12th pass to final year
Learn the way a good teacher teaches: first the everyday story, then the technical name. Start today with a free track of lessons and tools, or join a small live batch that takes you from your first line of code to campus interviews in 12 weeks.
Detail A · the road
↑ one stop at a time, in the order the programme teaches
Who it is for
Find yourself below. Each card says where you start and what you can show at the end.
You have a few free months before college starts. Use them to learn how a computer and the internet really work, and write your first programs.
You startYou have never written code. You use a phone and maybe a laptop, and you are curious how apps work.
You finishYou write programs on your own, solve beginner coding problems, and have small apps on GitHub before your first semester.
College teaches the theory. This shows you how it is used: real code, real projects on GitHub, and data structures learned the way interviews ask them.
You startYou know a little C, C++, Java or Python from class, but you freeze at a new problem and have no projects yet.
You finishYou solve common data structure problems, and you have 4 small projects online with clear README files, two years before placements.
Campus rounds test four things: aptitude, coding, computer science basics and how you explain your projects. We practise all four, with a mock interview at the end.
You startPlacements are months away. You have studied the subjects, but the coding round and the technical interview still feel scary.
You finishYou have practised timed coding tests, can answer DBMS, OS, network and OOP questions in your own words, and have a one-page resume with real projects and one mock interview done.
Two ways to start
12 steps, in the order a beginner should take them. Every one is free to open, with no payment. Read one or two a day.
12 weeks of live evening classes. Programming, data structures and algorithms, databases, Git, web APIs, real projects, and placement preparation, taught in plain words.
The live Launchpad is currently available for students in India only. The free starter track is open to you wherever you live.
The live Launchpad
Not a toy and not a giant system: a small, real app that works. A web page sends your request to a backend you wrote in Python. The backend keeps quick copies of popular answers (a cache), stores the data safely in a database, and asks an AI model to summarise a chat.
Three classes a week. Each week has a lab in class and a project you finish at home, small enough for a beginner and real enough to show.
What really happens when you press Enter?
Lab in class: Install Python and VS Code (a free code editor), then write and run 10 small programs together.
Your project: A student marks-and-attendance manager that runs in the terminal: add students, enter marks, mark attendance, and print a report. It saves everything in a file, so the data is still there tomorrow.
Tools: Python, VS Code, a CSV file (a simple table saved as text)
What you can show: A program you run that keeps a class register in a file and prints each student's grade and attendance.
How do you solve a problem you have never seen before?
Lab in class: 25 warm-up problems, solved on paper first, then in code.
Your project: Clean up the marks manager into functions, then put it on GitHub with a README: what it does, how to run it, and a screenshot.
Tools: Python, Git, GitHub
What you can show: Your first public GitHub repository, with a history of commits (saved versions) and a README anyone can follow.
Most coding-round questions are about a list of numbers or a piece of text.
Lab in class: A timed practice test in the style of a campus online test.
Your project: DSA practice set 1: 20 problems on arrays, strings and hashing, each with tests (small checks that run your code on known inputs and say pass or fail).
Tools: Python, Java or C++; pytest or simple asserts
What you can show: A repository where every solution has tests, and all of them pass.
How does a function call itself without going on forever?
Lab in class: Trace recursion and sorting by hand, then check your trace in code.
Your project: DSA practice set 2 with tests, plus a small experiment: time three sorting methods on 10, 1,000 and 100,000 numbers and draw a chart.
Tools: Python, Java or C++; a chart in Python (matplotlib) or a spreadsheet
What you can show: Your own chart that shows why some sorting methods are much faster than others.
Why does the Undo button remember your last action first?
Lab in class: Build each structure from scratch, then use the ready-made version in your language.
Your project: DSA practice set 3 with tests, plus a "recently viewed" list that keeps the last 5 items and forgets the oldest (a small LRU cache).
Tools: Python, Java or C++; tests
What you can show: A recently viewed list that behaves like the one on a shopping app, with tests that prove it.
How does your phone suggest the next word as you type?
Lab in class: Tree and heap problems of the kind asked in coding rounds, solved together.
Your project: Search suggestions for your college's course list: type "comp" and see "Computer Networks" and "Compiler Design", using a tree of letters (a trie). Plus DSA practice set 4 with tests.
Tools: Python, Java or C++; tests
What you can show: A small search box in the terminal that suggests course names as you type.
How does a maps app find the shortest way home?
Lab in class: A product-company style test: 2 problems in 90 minutes.
Your project: A campus route finder: buildings are points, paths are lines, and the program prints the shortest walk from the hostel to the library. Plus DSA practice set 5 with tests.
Tools: Python, Java or C++; tests
What you can show: A route finder for your own campus map, and 5 DSA practice sets with every test passing.
Where does an app keep your data so it is still there tomorrow?
Lab in class: 40 SQL questions of the kind asked in placement rounds, on PostgreSQL.
Your project: A college library database: books, members and loans. Write 20 real queries, such as which books are overdue, who borrows the most, and which subject is most popular. Add an index and measure how much faster a search gets.
Tools: PostgreSQL (or MySQL), SQL
What you can show: A database you designed and a file of 20 queries with their results, including joins, group by and an index.
The questions every technical interview asks, explained so you can answer in your own words.
Lab in class: Rapid-fire interview questions in pairs, with model answers.
Your project: The library from week 8 written as classes: Book, Member and Loan, with rules such as "no more than 3 books at a time", in Python or Java.
Tools: Python or Java
What you can show: A small object-oriented program you can explain in an interview, line by line.
When you register for a college fest online, where does your form go?
Lab in class: Build the API together, one endpoint (one menu item) at a time.
Your project: A REST API for college event registration: list events, register a student, stop when an event is full, and cancel a registration. Data is saved in SQLite first, then PostgreSQL.
Tools: Python, FastAPI, SQLite, PostgreSQL, pytest
What you can show: A working API online, with FastAPI's automatic documentation page where anyone can try each request.
Your app works for 10 friends. What changes when the whole college uses it?
Lab in class: A URL shortener: turn a long link into a short one, redirect people who open it, and count the clicks.
Your project: A simple notice-board app for a class: post a notice, see new ones appear, and press a button that asks an LLM to summarise this week's notices.
Tools: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, FastAPI, Redis (for the cache), an LLM API
What you can show: Two small apps you can open in a browser: a URL shortener with a click counter, and a notice board with an AI summary.
How do you show a company what you can do in one page and one hour?
Lab in class: A full-length aptitude and coding mock test, then one mock interview for every student (45 minutes, with written feedback), booked outside class hours.
Your project: Your capstone: one of your projects grown into a complete small app (for example, the event registration system with a web page and sign-in), online, with a GitHub README that explains what it does and how you built it.
Tools: Everything from weeks 1 to 11, GitHub, a free hosting service
What you can show: A live link to your capstone, a README, a one-page resume and feedback from your mock interview.
A Python program that keeps a class register in a file and prints grades and attendance.
Books, members and loans in PostgreSQL, with 20 real queries and an index you measured.
Register for college events through an API built with FastAPI, with tests, online.
Short links that redirect, with a click counter.
Post notices, see them live, and ask an LLM to summarise the week.
One project grown into a complete small app, online, with a GitHub README. The project you talk about in interviews.
Taught live on weekday evenings, with time for your questions in every class.
Every class is recorded. Missed one? Watch it the same week.
A group for doubts between classes, answered by me.
A build every week, with feedback on your code.
45 minutes, one to one, with written feedback.
A certificate of completion when you finish the programme and the capstone.
Free lifetime access to the self-paced System Design Masterclass (770 lessons).
Currently available for students in India only. The free starter track above is open to everyone.
Why learn with us
Real labs, real measured numbersYou run the code yourself and measure what happens. The lessons on this site are built the same way.
Beginner-friendly languageShort sentences and everyday examples first. Every technical word is explained the first time it appears.
Taught by Roni Das18 years of building and running enterprise systems. He wrote the 984 lessons on systemdesign.academy, 770 of them on system design.
Honest about outcomesNo placement or salary guarantee. You get a path, practice, feedback and projects that are really yours. 60+ people have already bought a course on this site.
Free videos tooWatch how he teaches before you join, on his YouTube channel.
Try before you payStart the free track today. If you like the way it explains things, the live batch goes deeper, with a teacher.
Questions
No. Week 1 starts from zero: how a computer runs a program, then your first lines of Python. If you already code a little, the first two weeks are a quick revision, and the practice problems get harder each week, so you will not be bored.
Any Windows, Mac or Linux laptop from the last five or six years, with 8 GB of memory if possible (4 GB works for most labs, just slower), a steady internet connection and earphones with a microphone. A phone alone is not enough, because you will write code. Every tool we use is free.
Every class is recorded. You can watch it the same week, and ask your doubts in the doubt group. Try to come live when you can, because you can ask questions as we go.
Yes, fully online, live on Google Meet. Classes are on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM IST, for 12 weeks. The first class is on Monday, 16 November 2026 and the last is on Wednesday, 10 February 2027. There is no class on Christmas Day or New Year's Day; those two classes are added at the end.
Python for most of the programme, because it reads almost like English. For data structures and algorithms you can use Python, Java or C++, the three languages campus coding rounds allow. Each idea is taught once, with code in Python and Java, and C++ solutions are shared too.
No. Nobody can honestly promise you a job. What you get is a clear path, real practice, projects you built yourself, a mock interview and honest feedback. The interview is still yours to pass.
We do not offer instalments or an EMI plan of our own: the full fee is paid once, in rupees, by UPI, card or net banking through Razorpay. If you pay with a credit card, Razorpay's checkout may show card EMI from your bank; your bank sets those terms and any interest.
If we cancel the batch or move its start date or class times, your full fee is refunded. In every other case the fee is not refundable, so please book the free 15-minute call first if you are unsure. Read the refund policy.
The live Launchpad is currently available for students in India only. The free starter track on this page is open to everyone, anywhere.
At most 30, so there is time for your questions in every class.
The projects you built, on your own GitHub, a certificate of completion, a mock interview with written feedback, and free lifetime access to the self-paced System Design Masterclass (770 lessons).
Still unsure? Book a free 15-minute call.