Part 5 — Modern & Mastery

The cutting edge + your interview toolkit.

Prerequisites: Part 4 — Case Studies (recommended but not required)

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Overview

Part 5 covers modern infrastructure topics increasingly relevant in 2026+ interviews and production systems, plus a comprehensive interview preparation framework that synthesizes everything.

By the end of Part 5, you'll be able to:

• Design cloud-native applications with containers and Kubernetes
• Architect ML pipelines and model serving infrastructure
• Apply a structured 4-step framework to any system design interview
• Use cheat sheets for quick reference during preparation

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Chapters

Chapter 23 — Cloud-Native & Serverless

12-factor apps, Docker, Kubernetes, service mesh, FaaS, cold starts, cost optimization.

Chapter 24 — ML Systems & AI Infrastructure

Training pipelines, feature stores, model serving, MLOps, RAG architecture, GPU optimization.

Chapter 25 — Interview Framework & Cheat Sheets

4-step framework, time management, component decision tree, estimation cheat sheet, practice scenarios.

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Time Estimate

~4 hours of focused reading and practice.

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$ echo "System design complete. Now go build something."
System design complete. Now go build something.