Foundations Index
If you’re targeting multiple company archetypes, foundations are your unfair advantage: they transfer between domains and reduce interview variance.
This folder is split into foundations that show up in most loops:
- Coding fundamentals (data structures, algorithms, complexity)
- Computer systems (OS, networking)
- Databases (modeling, indexing, transactions)
- Engineering craft (testing, debugging, maintainability)
- Cloud + reliability basics
How to study foundations efficiently
The “practice loop”
For each topic, do a weekly loop:
- Read 1–2 short references
- Implement 1–3 small exercises
- Do 1 timed interview-style prompt
- Write a post-mortem: what failed, why, what rule prevents it next time
What not to do
- Don’t binge-watch content without doing reps.
- Don’t memorize solutions; memorize problem types and decision rules.
Company archetype weighting (rough)
- FAANG/high-growth: strongest weight on coding + system design communication.
- Enterprise: weight shifts toward maintainability, migrations, and operating in constraints.
- Automotive/industrial: higher emphasis on correctness, traceability, and risk management.
Recommended order (4 weeks)
Week 1
- Coding mechanics + complexity
- OS basics (process vs thread, memory)
Week 2
- Networking (HTTP, TCP, latency)
- Databases (indexes, transactions)
Week 3
- Reliability basics (SLOs, retries, timeouts)
- Debugging + testing practices
Week 4
- Cloud primitives (compute, storage, queues)
- Combine topics in system design exercises
Next pages
- 01-DSA-and-Coding.md
- 02-Computer-Systems.md
- 03-DSA-Topic-Breakdown.md — NEW: Patterns & intuition for arrays, trees, DP, heaps, hashing, bits
- 04-Databases.md
- 05-Software-Engineering-Practices.md
- 06-Cloud-and-Reliability-Basics.md