Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Review - Is ByteByteGo System Design Interview Course by Alex Xu Really Worth it in 2024?

Hello guys, if you are preparing for System Design Interview in 2024 then you may have most likely come across names like ByteByteGo, Alex Xu or System Design Interview - An Insider Guide by Alex Xu, and if you are wondering what they are or you know about them but thinking whether ByteByteGo is worth it or not? then you have come to the right place. Yes, ByteByteGo is indeed worth considering for your System Design Interview preparation. because its created by Alex Xu, an expert with FAANG interview experience, the platform offers in-depth coverage of system design topics. The author's use of diagrams to explain concepts in detail enhances the learning experience. 

ByteByteGo goes beyond theory by providing practical solutions to common system design problems like designing WhatsApp and YouTube. Additionally, the platform offers a structured framework to tackle System Design questions during interviews. 

This comprehensive approach, coupled with the author's industry insights, makes ByteByteGo a valuable resource for anyone aiming to excel in System Design Interviews

Now that I have answered your question on whether ByteByteGo is worth or not, let's deep dive now. In this article, I will provide my detailed review and opinion on ByteByteGo and his popular System Design Interview  - An Insider's guide book. 

Though, if you are in hurry and just need a second opinion, I suggest you to go for it. 

Also, the value ByteByteGo course provides is much more than the price you pay.

It's one of the most comprehensive, up-tp-date, and easy-to-learn System design course I have come across and I highly recommend it to every Programmer and Software Engineer, irrespective of whether you are preparing for System Design Interview or not. It will help you to become a better developer in quick time. 

I first come across Alex xu and ByteByteGo when one of his tweet on how does HTTPS works? popped me on my timeline, I really liked the way he explained the concept and his clear diagram. 

How does HTTPS works ByteByteGo


After that I started to find more about ByteByteGo and Alex and found that he is also an author of the  popular System Design book, called System Design Interview – An insider's guide Part 1 and Part 2 and since I have always been interested on System design and Software Architecture I started reading them. 

The more I read them, the more I become fan of Alex Xu and his work and then I found that he also has an online course on System Design on ByteByteGo or Byte Byte Go, whatever you called. 

His course is actually a digital version of both of his books, it covers all the material provided in System Design Interview – An insider's guide Part 1 and Part 2nullbut also more stuff as he keeps adding new stuff on this website.






What is ByteByteGo? What does ByteByteGo offer?

ByteByteGo is a text-based System Design course that contains lots of detailed illustrations to guide you through how to build complex systems step by step in a way that’s easy to understand. 

As Alex xu put, ByteByteGo or Byte Byte Go is the digital version of his popular System Design Interview – An insider's guide book. It not only cover all the materials in part 1 and part 2 but also additional material which Alex added only to online version.

It's similar to Educative's Grokking Modern System Design For Software Engineers and Managers
Course which is also text-based but it's actually a well thought-out course and covers a lot more concept. 

The first 3 of the 13 chapters are dedicated to Location Based Services(LBS).Since many of us use Location based apps like OLA, Uber, Grab, Navigation Google Maps, etc, it makes it easy to understand how they are implement and work.

ByteByteGo also covers things like Proximity Services that deals with static locations like Yelp and Nearby Friends service which deals with dynamic locations because people move. And their deep dive into Google Maps is another useful information which is really a massive Geospatial platform.

What I most like about both book and course is that they discuss various Geospatial indexes (Google S2, Quadtree, Geo Hash, etc), including their tradeoffs, this is something I haven't found covered in other popular System design courses. 

But, this is not all they cover many other popular systems like Payment Systems, Distributed Email Service, Real-time Gaming Leaderboard which will surely broaden your knowledge.


System Design Algorithms Every programmer should learn




Is ByteByteGo and System Design Interview book worth for Beginners and Experienced Developers?

Even though the book was designed with System Design Interview in mind, it revisits and explains key computer science concepts with twist of engineering that not only useful system design interviews but also for every programmer and Software engineer who want to become better at their job. 

Both System Design book and ByteByteGo website will help you to better understand why some design decisions are made over others which makes it ideal for beginners and experienced folks who wants to brush up system design concepts before interview.

One worth mentioning thing about ByteByteGo and his System design book is Case studies. I personally like to read cases studies which are diverse, engaging, and in-depth and ByteByteGo fits that bill.

I imagine it was quite a feat to cover quite a wide range of subjects in practical-details, while at the same time keeping it crispy and easy to digest, in a 400-ish page book or an online course.

What I like most about ByteByteGo System Design training course is that every single design decision consider the scale of system like small, medium or large In addition all algorithms come with a practical time/space complexity analysis, in some cases it goes really deep into the data structure used and how such Data Structure fit into a production ready environment, which is what many people like me liked to see.

You will learn to analyze like tradeoffs of packing a quadtree geo-hashed regions into 1GB memory and how it impact of server startup time), otherwise point in the right direction for those willing to deepen their understanding on the just discussed concepts in depth.

All these things makes ByteByteGo and System Design Interview – An insider's guide a must read book for every programmer. All the things you learn is nothing for the price you pay for book and course, its immensely valuable.

How does Scan to Pay works ByteByteGo
credit - ByteByteGo.com



Which System Design Problems are solved in this course?

If you are wondering which System design problems are solved in this book or course and which products are designed and explained then here is a list of them:

1. How to design YouTube?
2. How to design Ads Aggregation
3 .How to design Stock Exchange
4. How to design Newsfeed
5. How to design Gaming Leaderboard
6. How to design Mail Server
7. How to design Hotel Reservation System
8. How to design a URL Shortener like bit.ly
9. How to design Web Crawler
10.How to design Notification System?
11. How to design Payment System?
12. How to design Digital Wallet?
13. How to design Search Autocomplete and so on
14. How to design a BlockingQueue?


Apart from that they explain many key System Design concepts and algorithms like consistent hashing, distributed caching, Rate Limiter, Unique ID Generator, as well as framework for System Design Interview. 

Many of these resources are completely free in ByteByteGo platform and you can read them to get a feel of content.

How to design YouTube on System Design interview
 


What is the cost of ByteByteGo Course membership?

Alex has been kind enough to put price parity in his Byte Byte Go course, this means the course will cost you less if you are coming from India than US, which makes it really affordable to all kind of technical people coming from all sorts of countries with different purchasing power.

Here is the cost of ByteByteGo membership in major countries and currencies:
  • cost of ByteByteGo in United states (US) - 84.00 per year
  • cost of ByteByteGo in India - INR 3500  per year
  • cost of ByteByteGo in Canada - CAD 84.00 per year
  • cost of ByteByteGo in Singapore - SGD 82.97 per year

And here is what you will get for that price:
  • Everything in the books
  • Regular new content releases
  • 400+ diagrams
  • Exclusive discord community
  • Mock interview buddies
The price and value proposition of this course lean towards value because the value it provides for the price is immense, There are not many places online where you can learn about System design in so much depth and so easily then ByteByteGo and that's why I highly recommend ByteByteGo membership to every programmer.

If you have a friend you can even gift ByteByteGo membership to him and he will never forget that. 




Is ByteByteGo Really worth it for System Design Interviews in 2024?

In my honest opinion, ByteByteGo is definitely worth it for anyone who wants to learn System Design. If I have to pick what I like most is their diagram, those are really really good but depth of the knowledge Alex Xu share is also impressive. 

On top of that the language which makes those technical concept easy to understand. By considering all factors like price, value, diagrams, explanation and content quality, I am 100% convinced that both ByteByteGo and Alex's System Design Interview – An insider's guide books is worth it. 

This is actually the best money spent on learning System design.

I have gone through many great System Design Interview resources like Educative's Modern System Interview course, DesignGuru's Grokking The System Design Interview,  and Udemy's System Design course as well as Exponent's System Design Course and found that ByteByteGo is the most comprehensive, up-to-date, as well as most interesting of all of them.

 To be honest, this is one of the resource which you won't find easily. Most of the knowledge you learn by working on big scalable system like Amazon, Spotify Google etc but you learn all of them by just joining this course.  

All these makes it one of the best investment you will make in learning because system design concepts are essential for designing scalable system which can withstand test of time in production. 

 
Is Byte Byte Go worth it?





ByteByteGo or System Design Interview – An insider's guide by Alex Xu?

If you are confused between book and course and just want to join one thing then I suggest go for the ByteByteGo course. Since, its easier to update the course website rather than publishing a new version of book, it make more sense to join the ByteByteGo then reading System Design Interview – An insider's guide book by Alex Xu. 

You will always get more updated material via course then book, but if you are someone who enjoys reading books then by all means go for System Design Interview book, it's one of the best book I have read on System Design and I highly recommend it.

Even if you are not preparing for technical interview, reading and learning about System design will help you immensely technical and you will be a better developer and software architect after learning those essential System design concepts like distributed architecture, two phase commit, caching, reliability, Microservices, communication etc.

The best thing about the course is that you will not only get all the content which are taught in book but also 400+ diagrams, Exclusive discord community and Mock interview buddies which will help you cracking your System Design Interview.

Thanks to both Alex Xu and Sahn Lam for creating these wonderful books and ByteByteGo online course platform.

Here is the link to join ByteByteGo Platform -  Join ByteByteGo for 10% discount

Is ByteByteGo by Alex Xu worth it for System Design Interview?

Best ByteByteGo Alternatives for System Design interviews in 2024

If you any reasons you don't find ByteByteGo suitable for you (highly unlikely though), here are popular alternatives and resources that are commonly recommended for preparing for system design interviews:

This is a popular course offered by DesignGuru.io. It covers various aspects of system design interviews and provides a structured approach to tackle different design problems.

This is another platform where you get a chance to learn from people working on FAANG companies and how have cleared the toughest System design interviews. They also have mock test and an active community which can help  if you get stuck. 

The "System Design Primer" on GitHub is a comprehensive collection of materials, articles, and resources on system design. It covers various topics and is frequently updated by the community.

This book is a valuable resource for understanding the principles and patterns used in designing scalable and reliable systems. It is not specifically tailored for interviews but provides a solid foundation for system design concepts.

5. High Scalability Blog
The High Scalability blog features case studies and articles on the architecture of various high-scale systems. Reading these real-world examples can enhance your understanding of system design principles.

6. LeetCode System Design Questions
LeetCode, a popular coding interview platform, has a section dedicated to system design questions. Working through these problems can help you practice and improve your skills.

In addition to the specific course mentioned earlier, Educative.io offers various other system design courses that can be beneficial for interview preparation.

When preparing for system design interviews, it's important to practice designing different types of systems, understand trade-offs, and be familiar with commonly used technologies and architectural patterns. Remember to focus on both scalability and reliability aspects of system design. Always check for the latest and most recommended resources, as the landscape of interview preparation can change over time.

Other Programming and System Design Tutorials you may like

Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like my review of ByteByteGo system design course website and System Design Interview - An insider guide book then please share with your friends. It's one of the best resource you can get online to learn about System Design in depth and I highly recommend it to all level of programmers. 

Beginners can learn concept they don't know and Experienced programmers can brush up things they already know and get a fresh perspective of how a large and scalable system works. 

P. S. - If you just want to do one thing at this moment, go join ByteByteGo and start learning System Design concepts, you will thank me later. Make it a goal for new year and you will surely be a better Software Engineer. 

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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousDecember 11, 2022 at 7:18 PM

    Great review Javin, I am also big fan of Alex Wu and his work, bought both his book and got ByteByteGo subscription and the knowledge I have got from me took me very close to clearing the Amazon Interview and helped me clear many others. Before joining ByteByteGo, I have no idea about different databases like NoSQL, time series, column oriented database etc, I didn't know about horizontal and vertical scalability and advanced data structure and algorithms like consistent hashing but thanks to the book and course, I know them really well.

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