You're Entering Engineering at a Unique Moment
The Challenge You Face
Senior engineers spent 3-5 years gradually developing system thinking through experience. AI changed the timeline—teams now expect architectural thinking much earlier in your career. The old gradual path doesn't match today's pace.
Your Path Forward
This course gives you the pattern recognition and architectural decision-making framework that makes you valuable from day one. Learn the seven building blocks that power every system, so you can contribute to architectural discussions immediately—not years from now.
The Critical Question: AI-Safe or AI-Replaceable?
Every engineer must choose which path they're on
AI-Replaceable Engineer
- Learns specific technologies (React, Node.js, MongoDB)
- Memorizes implementations and syntax
- Waits 3-5 years for system thinking to develop
- Skills become obsolete as frameworks change
- Competes with AI on code implementation
AI-Safe Engineer (You)
- Learns universal interface patterns
- Masters architectural pattern recognition
- Develops system thinking in 5 weeks
- Skills remain timeless across technology changes
- Makes architectural decisions AI cannot make
You're not learning to compete with AI. You're learning to make the architectural decisions that AI cannot make.
The Universal Framework You'll Master to become AI-Safe
These 7 building blocks compose Instagram, Netflix, Uber, Gmail, and every other system you've ever used
Task Building Blocks
Service - Request/response processing
Worker - Background processing
Storage Building Blocks
Key Value Store - Caching and fast lookups
File Store - Media and large file storage
Queue - Message processing and task management
Relational Database - Structured data with relationships
Vector Database - AI integration and similarity search
The Power of Universal Building Block Abstraction
What takes senior engineers years to intuitively understand, you'll learn systematically in weeks
From Intuition to Empirical Knowledge
Senior engineers have spent 3-5 years building intuitive connections—recognizing that Instagram's feed system shares fundamental patterns with Netflix's recommendation engine, or that Uber's dispatch system uses the same building blocks as Slack's messaging infrastructure. They've made these connections through trial, error, and countless architectural decisions.
This course codifies that intuition into empirical, studyable patterns. Instead of waiting years to stumble upon these connections through experience, you learn them systematically. The seven building blocks aren't just categories—they're the universal interface patterns that power every system, from Instagram to Gmail to Uber.
You'll study exactly when to use a Queue versus a Relational Database, why Instagram needs both a Key-Value Store and a File Store, and how Netflix combines these patterns to deliver video at scale. This is senior-level pattern recognition, taught empirically instead of discovered slowly through experience.
The Traditional Path: 3-5 Years
- Learn by trial and error across multiple projects
- Build intuition slowly through repeated exposure
- Make connections organically over time
- Develop pattern recognition through experience
- Hope you encounter the right architectural problems
This Course: Weeks of Focused Study
- Learn universal patterns systematically and empirically
- Study proven architectural decisions from real systems
- Master interface pattern thinking through structured lessons
- Develop immediate pattern recognition capabilities
- Understand the complete architectural landscape in weeks
Why This Matters Now More Than Ever
The AI era changed everything. AI tools like Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf, and GitHub Copilot can write code, implement features, and even debug basic issues. Teams now expect junior engineers to contribute at higher levels from day one—not just writing code, but understanding why architectural decisions matter and when to use which patterns.
You can't wait 3-5 years to develop architectural thinking anymore. The timeline compressed. Teams need engineers who can make system-level decisions and explain trade-offs immediately. This course gives you that capability in weeks instead of years.
Learn the universal building blocks. Master the patterns that AI can't replicate. Become the engineer teams need in the AI era—one who makes architectural decisions, not just writes code.
See How Universal These Patterns Really Are
Watch our free 20-minute preview where we solve the Instagram Story Problem systematically. You'll see exactly how system thinkers map requirements to building blocks—no guessing, no random technology choices. Watch the transformation from "Should I use MongoDB or PostgreSQL?" to "Here's the systematic approach that works for any system."
Watch Free PreviewAbout Your Instructor
Kay Ashaolu
Continuing Lecturer, School of Information | Engineering Manager
Elite Academic & Industry Background
B.S.E. Electrical Engineering (Computer Systems) from Princeton University. M.I.M.S. (Master of Information Management & Systems) from UC Berkeley. 10+ years teaching at UC Berkeley School of Information. 15+ years engineering experience and 5+ years engineering management experience. Research focus on accelerated professional growth for early-career software engineers. Industry experience at Pinterest, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, AncestryDNA, and Morgan Stanley.
Kay brings a unique combination of elite academic training and real-world engineering leadership. With over a decade teaching full-stack web architecture at UC Berkeley and managing engineering teams at Pinterest, he understands exactly what skills separate code writers from system thinkers.
His research focuses specifically on accelerating professional growth for early-career software engineers—the exact challenge this course addresses. After working as a software engineer at Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, AncestryDNA, and Morgan Stanley, and later leading engineering teams at Pinterest, Kay recognized that junior engineers need systematic frameworks, not just years of experience.
This course series represents his proven framework for transforming engineers from code writers into AI-safe system thinkers. Through years of teaching and mentoring at UC Berkeley, Kay distilled complex system design into universal building block patterns that work across every platform from Instagram to Netflix to Uber.
Complete Course Series
Master system thinking across all domains through progressive specialization
Systems Thinking in the AI Era I: The Seven Building Blocks
Master the 7 building blocks + 3 external entities that compose every system. Learn pattern recognition and architectural decision-making through interactive labs and real-world challenges.
Systems Thinking in the AI Era II: Content Systems
Apply building blocks to Instagram, Netflix, YouTube patterns. Master read-heavy workloads, caching strategies, and CDN patterns for global content delivery.
Systems Thinking in the AI Era III: Real-Time Systems
Learn Slack, Discord, WhatsApp patterns. Master real-time messaging, WebSocket patterns, presence systems, and message delivery guarantees.
Systems Thinking in the AI Era IV: Business Integration Systems
Master Stripe, Shopify, Salesforce patterns. Learn payment processing, transaction handling, compliance automation, and enterprise integration.
This Isn't Just Another Video Course
Experience a revolutionary learning system that combines interactive labs, real-world case studies, AI-powered assessment, and hands-on design challenges
Unprecedented value at $50 - No other course offers this depth of interactive learning at this price
Interactive Discovery Labs
Don't just watch—experience the power of building block combinations. Run real Python labs where you experiment with:
+
patterns
+
optimizations
+ CDN strategies
Feel the difference when a synchronous process blocks users versus when a + handles it asynchronously. See response times change from seconds to milliseconds with caching.
Real-World Case Studies
Deconstruct Instagram, Netflix, Uber, and Gmail using building blocks. See exactly which patterns power each feature, why engineers chose specific combinations, and when to use each approach.
Instagram Feed:
API
+
posts
+
feed cache
+
images
Learn the systematic thinking that powers billion-user systems—not through memorization, but through empirical pattern analysis.
AI-Powered Personalized Assessment
This changes everything about online learning. Your short-answer responses aren't just graded—they're analyzed by AI that provides personalized, detailed feedback on your architectural reasoning.
Example: Explain why you'd choose Queue + Worker for email notifications. AI evaluates your reasoning about asynchronicity, failure handling, retry logic, and scalability—then provides targeted feedback to strengthen your architectural thinking.
The Three-Part Design Challenge: Your Capstone Experience
The most valuable learning experience—design real systems, get AI feedback, iterate, and improve
How It Works:
Design the MVP. Select building blocks, explain trade-offs, create your architectural diagram.
System goes viral! Address performance bottlenecks, add caching, scale your initial design.
Platform stable. Add advanced features: AI recommendations, real-time analytics, premium tiers.
📝 Write Complete Technical Design Documents
This isn't a quiz—it's professional system design work. For each part, you'll:
- Select building blocks and explain why each one belongs in your architecture
- Describe data flows through your system using building block interfaces
- Analyze trade-offs between competing approaches (Queue vs Database, Key-Value Store vs Relational)
- Address scalability and performance considerations at every layer
- Justify every decision with systematic reasoning, not guesswork
🔄 AI Feedback + Iteration Loop
Here's where it gets revolutionary: Submit your design. AI analyzes your architecture, evaluates your building block choices, assesses your trade-off reasoning, and provides detailed, actionable feedback.
Example Feedback: "Your Queue + Worker pattern for image processing is solid, but consider what happens if Worker crashes mid-processing. How do you handle retry logic? Also, your Key-Value Store cache doesn't account for cache invalidation when posts are edited. Think about cache consistency strategies."
Then improve your design based on feedback. Resubmit. Get more feedback. Iterate. This is how senior engineers learn—through critique, revision, and systematic improvement.
No Other Course at This Price Offers This
For $50, you get interactive labs with real code, case study deconstructions of billion-user systems, AI-powered feedback on your architectural reasoning, and hands-on design challenges with iterative improvement loops. This is enterprise-level training at an accessible price.
Why the Building Blocks Approach Makes You AI-Safe
Traditional Approach (AI-Replaceable)
- Learn specific technologies (React, Node.js, MongoDB)
- Memorize implementations and syntax
- Wait 3-5 years for system thinking to develop
- Skills become obsolete as frameworks change
- Compete with AI on code implementation
Building Blocks Approach (AI-Safe)
- Learn universal interface patterns
- Master architectural pattern recognition
- Develop system thinking in 5 weeks
- Skills remain timeless across technology changes
- Make architectural decisions AI cannot make
You're not learning to compete with AI. You're learning to make the architectural decisions that AI cannot make.
Frequently Asked Questions
The 7 universal building blocks are:
Task Blocks
Request/response
Background processing
Storage Blocks
Caching & fast lookups
Media storage
Messaging
Structured data
AI/similarity search
These interface patterns power Instagram, Netflix, Uber, Gmail, and every system you use daily.
Build the Skills That Make You AI-Empowered
The engineers who thrive in the AI era aren't competing with AI—they're using it. They understand architectural patterns, make systematic design decisions, and think in terms of universal building blocks that compose every system.
This course series gives you that foundation, starting with the 7 universal building blocks + 3 external entities that you'll use throughout your career.
Course I: Universal Building Blocks
Launching December 22nd, 2025!
15 components • Interactive labs • Assessment • Challenge • $50
Be the first to know when we launch