Backend Engineering

APIs, data modelling, caching, queues and the operational reality of running services.

1. Step 01

   Language depth

   Pick one of Go, Java, Node or Python and go deep: memory model, concurrency primitives, error handling, stdlib.

   GoNode.jsPython

2. Step 02

   Databases

   Relational modelling, normalisation, indexes, transactions, isolation levels and reading query plans.

   PostgreSQLSQLIndexing

3. Step 03

   API design

   REST semantics, pagination, idempotency, versioning, validation and when GraphQL or gRPC earns its complexity.

   RESTgRPCOpenAPI

4. Step 04

   Auth & security

   Sessions vs JWT, OAuth2/OIDC, password hashing, RBAC, rate limiting and the OWASP Top 10.

   OAuth2JWTOWASP

5. Step 05

   Caching & queues

   Redis patterns, cache invalidation, background jobs, outbox pattern and exactly-once myths.

   RedisKafkaWorkers

6. Step 06

   Reliability

   Structured logging, metrics, tracing, SLOs, alerting that pages a human only when it should.

   OpenTelemetrySLOs

7. Step 07

   Scale

   Replication, sharding, consistency trade-offs, idempotent retries and designing for partial failure.

   Distributed Systems