My Transition into System Design: Building Better, Smarter Systems

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From clean code to clean systems — my journey into system design and the architectural insights that changed the way I build.

🚀 My Transition into System Design: Building Better, Smarter Systems

At the end of May, I made a conscious shift in my learning journey — I dove deep into System Design.

It became clear that writing clean, scalable, and maintainable code goes far beyond just knowing a language or framework — it starts with how your entire system is designed.

🔄 Learn — Unlearn — Relearn

I’ve always believed in the cycle of learn–unlearn–relearn. So I paused, re-evaluated, and redirected my focus toward understanding:

What is system design?
Why does it matter?
When do we need it?

This shift opened my eyes to the architectural thinking behind every successful product.

🧱 The Foundation: Architecture & PRDs

I started with:

Architecture patterns
PRD (Product Requirements Document) — understanding how clear documentation shapes the development lifecycle.

🧩 Enter Microservices — Where the Magic Began

Next came Microservices Architecture — and that’s when things got exciting.

I explored:

Architectural styles and service boundaries
API Gateway and NGINX for routing, load balancing, and security
The role of asynchronous communication in system performance

🗃️ Monorepo vs Polyrepo

Version control and project organization also matter. I studied:

Monorepo: Single repository for all services/projects
Polyrepo: Independent repositories for each service/module

Both have their strengths. Knowing when to use one can streamline collaboration and CI/CD processes.

🛡️ Security & Structure

I wrapped up with:

RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) to structure user permissions
ERD (Entity Relationship Diagrams) to visualize data models and relationships across the system