System Design, Visually Explained
Learn to design systems the way senior engineers do, from a blank whiteboard to a design you can defend
Nine animated, whiteboard-style video modules that take you from clients and APIs to sharding, consistency and real case studies. Every concept is animated step by step, so you understand why a design works, not just what it looks like.
All-Access Lifetime Best value
$299This course + AI Engineering + all 7 upcoming courses + every future course, one payment.2 courses separately: $238 · Lifetime covers all 9 current and coming courses.
Founding prices: Lifetime goes to $399 and single courses to $149 when Case Studies + DSA launch.
30-day money-back guarantee* Not for you? Contact us within 30 days for a refund.
*Subject to our refund policy
By the end of this course you'll be able to…
- ✓Use a repeatable framework to approach any design question in 45 minutes
- ✓Reason about load balancing, caching and CDNs with real numbers
- ✓Choose the right database, and know when to replicate or shard
- ✓Explain consistency, CAP and message queues without hand-waving
- ✓Work through full case studies the way senior engineers do
Curriculum
9 modules · ~3.0 hours of animated whiteboard-style video
01Free lesson ▶~21 min · no card needed
How to Approach Any Design
A repeatable framework: requirements, estimates, APIs, high-level design, and deep dives.
- ~27 min
Clients, Servers, and APIs
Included with the courseHTTP, REST vs RPC, statelessness, and how requests actually flow.
- ~24 min
Scaling and Load Balancing
Included with the courseVertical vs horizontal scaling, L4 vs L7 balancers, and health checks.
- ~17 min
Databases
Included with the courseSQL vs NoSQL, indexes, and how to pick a database in an interview.
- ~18 min
Caching and CDNs
Included with the courseCache-aside, write-through, eviction, invalidation, and edge caching.
- ~17 min
Replication and Sharding
Included with the courseLeaders, followers, partitioning strategies and hot keys.
- ~16 min
Consistency and CAP
Included with the courseStrong vs eventual consistency, quorums, and what CAP really says.
- ~16 min
Message Queues
Included with the courseAsync processing, delivery guarantees, Kafka-style logs and back-pressure.
- ~21 min
Case Studies
Included with the coursePutting it together on classic interview problems, end to end.
What's included
- ✓9 animated video modules (~3.0 hours)
- ✓9 module quizzes (54 questions), every answer explained, wrong ones too
- ✓9 printable cheat sheets: each module's key ideas and numbers on one page
- ✓Certificate of completion with a shareable link and Add to LinkedIn, when you finish every lesson and pass every quiz (70%+)
- ✓Lifetime access, on any device
Not sure yet?
Take the free 8-question skill check
About 2 minutes. Instant score, explanations for every answer, and which modules cover what you missed. No email needed.
Start the skill check →Prefer paper? Get a free 10-page sample of The System Design Visual Guide.
Who it's for
- ✓Anyone who wants to understand how real systems work, and why they're built that way
- ✓Engineers at any stage, from first job to senior and staff, leveling up their design thinking
- ✓Career switchers and self-taught developers who want the big picture, not just syntax
- ✓Anyone preparing for a system design interview who wants a repeatable framework
Taught by
The Coding Gopher
I make animated, whiteboard-style explainers on The Coding Gopher YouTube channel. These courses are the long-form, structured version: every concept animated step by step, no slides full of bullet points.
Pricing
Choose your plan
Single course
One course, yours forever
One-time payment
Goes to $149 when Case Studies + DSA launch.
- Lifetime access to one course
- All 9 modules + future updates
- 30-day money-back guarantee*
- Not included: Upcoming courses not included
All-Access Annual
Every course, billed yearly
$12.42/mo, billed yearly
Goes to $199/yr for new members when Case Studies + DSA launch.
Both courses for $89 less than buying them separately (first year)
- Both live courses (18 modules)
- The 7 upcoming courses as they launch, while subscribed
- Bonus: The System Design Visual Guide (98-page PDF)
- Cancel renewal anytime from the billing portal
- 30-day money-back guarantee*
All-Access Lifetime
Everything, forever. Pay once.
One-time payment · founding price, locked in for life
Goes to $399 when Case Studies + DSA launch.
Both live courses + all 7 upcoming courses + every course after that.
2 courses · $238 if bought separately, + every future course. Costs less than Annual from year 3.
- Both live courses (18 modules)
- All 7 upcoming courses the day each launches
- Every course we release after that, too
- Bonus: The System Design Visual Guide (98-page PDF)
- Pay once. No subscription, no renewals
- 30-day money-back guarantee*
All prices in USD · Secure checkout by Stripe (cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay) · Promo codes accepted · 30-day money-back guarantee*
*Subject to our refund policy
Included with All-Access
All 7 upcoming courses, and every one after them, at no extra cost.
Lifetime: pay once and every future course unlocks automatically the day it launches. Annual: included while subscribed. Single-course purchases don't include future courses.
30-day money-back guarantee*
Not for you? Send a refund request through our contact form within 30 days. No hard feelings.
*Subject to our refund policyFAQ
Questions, answered
What exactly do I get?
Each course is 9 animated, whiteboard-style video modules (Module 1 is free to watch), with lifetime access and every future update to that course. All-Access Lifetime gives you System Design and AI Engineering today plus all 7 upcoming courses as they launch, for one payment. Watch in any modern browser on your laptop, tablet or phone.
Who is this for?
Anyone who wants to understand how real systems work and level up: from your first job to senior and staff, career switchers and self-taught developers, and anyone preparing for a system design interview. Everything is built up visually, step by step, and interview prep is built in.
How is this different from your free YouTube videos?
The YouTube videos are standalone explainers on one topic each. The courses are a structured path: Module 1 gives you a framework and every later module plugs into it, each topic goes deeper than a short video can, and each course ends with worked case studies, designed end to end. You get an ordered curriculum instead of a recommendation feed, and your progress is saved across devices.
How long does it take?
System Design is 9 modules, about 3 hours of video; AI Engineering is 9 modules, about 2.5 hours of video. Go at your own pace: there are no deadlines, and single courses and All-Access Lifetime never expire.
Will it help with interviews?
It's built around interview frameworks: Module 1 of each course is a repeatable approach for the design round, later modules cover the trade-offs interviewers probe, and each course finishes with full case studies. We can't promise an outcome. You still need to practise out loud, and the courses show you what to practise.
What if it's not for me?
You're covered by our 30-day money-back guarantee*: if it's not for you, send a refund request through the contact form within 30 days. *Subject to our refund policy.
Read the refund policy →Can my company pay?
Yes. Buy 3 or more team seats on the pricing page (3–9 seats are 20% off per seat, 10+ are 30% off) and you get one invite link per teammate. Every purchase comes with a Stripe receipt in USD, and your dashboard's Billing & receipts page keeps them. If your finance team needs anything else, use the contact form.
See team pricing →How do I sign in, and what if I lose access?
There's no password. Sign in with the email you used at checkout and your access code, which is shown on your order confirmation page and your dashboard. Your order number (CG-…) or the receipt number from your Stripe receipt email work too. Lost them? Message us from your purchase email and we'll get you back in.
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