The latest articles on DEV Community by Saurabh (@saurabhd01). https://dev.to/saurabhd01 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4144023%2F4594bef8-98c9-4ff9-86d1-58845e33561e.png https://dev.to/saurabhd01 en Saurabh Sat, 26 Sep 2026 18:23:01 +0000 https://dev.to/saurabhd01/i-built-an-interactive-system-design-simulator-learn-by-breaking-things-4d06 https://dev.to/saurabhd01/i-built-an-interactive-system-design-simulator-learn-by-breaking-things-4d06 <h2> The Problem </h2> <p>Every system design resource teaches the same way: here's a <br> concept, here's a diagram, memorize it. But in real interviews, <br> you need to APPLY these concepts under pressure.</p> <h2> What I Built </h2> <p>A free interactive simulator where your architecture breaks <br> under increasing traffic, and you learn system design concepts <br> by fixing it.</p> <h3> How It Works </h3> <ol> <li>You start with 1 server + 1 database (100 users — all green)</li> <li>Traffic increases to 1,000 → DB slows down → Learn: Indexing</li> <li>Traffic hits 10,000 → Server CPU 96% → Learn: Load Balancing</li> <li>100,000 users → DB overwhelmed → Learn: Caching (Redis)</li> <li>1,000,000 → Orders take 8s → Learn: Kafka (async processing)</li> <li>10,000,000 → Cascade failure → Learn: Circuit Breakers</li> </ol> <p>By the end, you've built a production-grade distributed system <br> and understand WHY every component exists.</p> <h2> Try It (Free, No Signup) </h2> <p><a href="https://clinquant-figolla-de3a06.netlify.app/" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://clinquant-figolla-de3a06.netlify.app/</a></p> <h2> What's Coming Next </h2> <ul> <li>10 different crisis scenarios (Black Friday, DDoS, Cache Stampede)</li> <li>Interview Lab: your system breaks → you diagnose → fix → discover you answered a real interview question</li> <li>150+ incident scenarios covering databases, caching, messaging, resilience</li> </ul> <h2> Tech Stack </h2> <p>Built with vanilla HTML/JS for the POC. Full product is <br> React + TypeScript + Vite + Supabase.</p> <p>I'd love your feedback — what concepts would you want to <br> learn this way?</p> systemdesign learning javascript webdev