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Master the Coding Interview: System Design + Architecture

Go from Junior to a trusted Senior Engineer by learning how to think like a Senior Engineer. This course gives you the step-by-step guide to understanding technologies, decisions, and trade-offs required to confidently design the right system to accomplish any task or project thrown your way.

4 hours 0 projects 28 + lessons

Rated 4.9 out of 5 on Trustpilot

Rated 4.9 out of 5 on Trustpilot

40 Days

Average time students take to complete this course.

instructor
Taught by: Yihua Zhang
Last updated: April 2026
Our students are getting hired by top companies. We can help you too.

What you'll learn

  • Insider tips & tricks from a Senior Engineer that has worked for big tech companies and has actually been in charge of system design
  • Learn how to think like a Senior Software Engineer
  • A mental framework to analyze your work through the lens of designing systems
  • Learn how to evaluate different components and technologies in web applications
  • Become a better problem solver and answer any system design questions companies throw at you
  • Use the right system design & architecture to arrive at the optimal solution to any problem
  • Learn the information needed to ace the system design interview at top tech companies
  • Learn exactly what is needed to build exceptional products and applications

Most of the work juniors do is low level coding. They execute the design for a small piece of the system - a system that the senior has already evaluated and designed.

Juniors will often do this work without much thought of the larger system that they're a part of, without understanding the why of their work.

Don't get us wrong, it's certainly important work but... most devs don't want to be a junior forever.

That's why we created this course. To help you think like & become a Senior Software Engineer or Senior Developer.

To do that you need to:

  • understand the technologies and components that go into designing a system
  • understand the considerations, trade-offs, and tough decisions that need to be made when building an application.

Ultimately this deeper understanding is what will allow you to use the right tools, with the right systems, to accomplish the job efficiently and effectively.

That's why this course is different from most other system design courses. The key skill you'll gain from taking this course is a mental framework to see the bigger picture and how to execute on it.

This course is part of our Master the Coding Interview series, where we give you the step-by-step guide to think like a Big Tech engineer or developer.

And the results speak for themselves.

Graduates of Zero To Mastery are now working at Google, Tesla, Amazon, Apple, IBM, Uber, Facebook, Shopify + other top tech companies.

This can be you.

By enrolling today, you’ll also get to join our exclusive live online community classroom to learn alongside thousands of students, alumni, mentors, TAs and Instructors.

Most importantly, you will learn from an industry expert (Yihua) that has actual real-world experience working for big tech companies (and aced their interviews).

Throughout this course, you will learn a problem solving framework so that you can deeply learn System Design and be prepared for any interview.

What's the bottom line?

Your instructor (Yihua) is a Senior Software Engineer who has worked and managed teams of engineers. He has made the tough calls when designing systems for enterprise-level web applications and products.

Plus he has been on both sides of system design interviews, both as an interviewee as well as the interviewer, so he knows what companies are looking for when hiring.

The primary goal of this course is to help you become a Senior Software Engineer and land your dream job that you never thought was possible.

But by the end, you'll also become a better problem solver and better programmer, which will help you level-up faster throughout your entire career.

Let's make it happen!

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Who You Will Learn With

You're getting more than just a course

Our instructors, TAs, Mentors, Alumni, and fellow students go above and beyond to help guide you and ensure you're on the right path to achieve your goals. Our private ZTM Discord server is a key factor in taking your skills, confidence and career to the next level.

Course curriculum

To make sure this course is a good fit for you, you can start learning System Design for free right now by clicking any of the PREVIEW links below.

4 sections28 lessons4 hours total length

Introduction

4 lectures · 7min
4 lectures · 7min

Master the Coding Interview: System Design + Architecture·1:47

1:47
PREVIEW

Course Introduction·5:27

5:27
PREVIEW

Exercise: Meet Your Classmates and Instructor

BEGIN

How-to's: Speed up videos, Downloading videos, Subtitles

BEGIN

Web Architecture 101

14 lectures · 1hr 43min
14 lectures · 1hr 43min

System Design 101

16 lectures · 1hr 46min
16 lectures · 1hr 46min

Where To Go From Here?

6 lectures · 1min
6 lectures · 1min

Who is Zero To Mastery for?

You'll fit right in if:

You're struggling to make progress using free tutorials that aren't giving you the structure or clear path to achieving your goals.
You don't want to learn alone. You want personalized feedback, support, and motivation from instructors and mentors and want to be part of a supportive community of like-minded individuals.
You want to learn by doing. You're excited to embrace the struggle of making mistakes that comes with building fun real-world projects you'll be proud of.
You're sick of outdated & boring tutorials. We pride ourselves on having the most up-to-date (and fun!) courses in the industry so that you're not wasting your time and only learning what matters right now.
You can't afford to spend $8,000+ on over priced bootcamps and colleges. We got you. We'll help you go from zero to hired for less than the cost of a cup of coffee a day.

We're not for you if:

You're just going to watch the lessons and take no action. Our courses are all about getting your hands dirty with exercises and putting what you're learning into action by building fun and impressive real-world projects.
You're not ready to invest in yourself or just looking for the cheapest way to learn. If that's you, no problem, use our free Learn to Code + AI & Get Hired guide.
You don't think fundamentals matter anymore because AI can do everything for you. Understanding the fundamentals and how things really work will always be important.
You think AI is going to replace you and think there's nothing you can do about it. Well... if you keep wasting time not learning AI tools & skills, you're probably right. Or you embrace them, and 2x your productivity (and probably income too!).

Meet your instructor

Your instructor isn't just an expert with years of real-world professional experience. He has been in your shoes. He makes learning fun. He makes complex topics feel simple. He will motivate you. He will push you. And he will go above and beyond to help you succeed.

Yihua Zhang

Hi, I'm Yihua Zhang!

Yihua, an instructor of Zero To Mastery Academy, has been teaching students how to code for over a decade and has worked as a Senior Software Developer for numerous years for some of the largest tech companies in the world.

SEE MY BIO & COURSES

Yihua Zhang

Senior Software Developer

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there any prerequisites for this course?

  • This course is designed for Junior Developers / Engineers that want to accelerate their career and take the next step to become a Senior Developer / Engineer. General coding knowledge is therefore required.

Who is this course for?

  • You want to work as a Senior Software Engineer or Senior Software Developer at a tech company earning $150K+
  • Any Engineer, Developer, or Programmer who wants to have the knowledge needed to ace the technical interviews at big tech companies
  • Anyone interested in improving their whiteboard coding skills
  • Anyone who wants to become a better Developer or Engineer
  • Anyone who wants to improve their decision-making and problem solving skills
  • Self-taught programmers without a Computer Science degree
  • Those with the ambition to learn and put in the effort required to become a Senior Software Developer / Engineer. We will make it achievable for you!

Do you provide a certificate of completion?

We definitely do and they are quite nice. You will also be able to add Zero To Mastery Academy to the education section of your LinkedIn profile as well.

Are there subtitles?

Yes! We have high quality subtitles in 6 different languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, and Hindi.

You can even adjust the text size, color, background and more so that the subtitles are perfect just for you!

Still have more questions about the Academy?

Still have more questions specific to the Academy membership? No problem, we answer some more here.

What students are saying

Our courses and community have helped 1,000s of Zero To Mastery students go from zero to getting hired to levelling up their skills and advancing their careers to new heights.

Rated 4.9 out of 5 on Trustpilot

Learn the skills to stand out and get hired. In the age of AI.

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