Computer Science
Architecture & System Design Challenges
Architecture & System Design challenges put you inside the work of shaping how large software systems fit together. You'll build skills in systems design fundamentals, architecture diagrams, and the C4 model, capturing decisions in Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) the way engineering teams keep their reasoning legible.
From there you'll take on the harder edges — distributed systems design, event-driven architecture, and microservices patterns — driving alignment through RFC authorship and cross-team architecture stewardship while keeping developer experience front of mind. Each challenge you solve earns a verified credential you can share with recruiters.
- CodeSeniorNew
Implement a Proof-of-Stake Consensus Mechanism in Rust
Read the Casper FFG paper (Buterin + Griffith, 2017) and design a simplified PoS implementation in Rust: 21 validators, 32-slot epochs, two-phase finality (justify, then finaliz…
- Consensus Algorithms
- Blockchain Protocols
- Systems Language Proficiency (Go, Rust, C++)
Blockchain and Decentralized Systems Engineering - DesignSeniorNew
Multi-Region Active-Active Architecture for a Gaming Backend
Read the current architecture (single-region: ECS + RDS Aurora + Redis + S3) and traffic mix (around 60 percent APAC, 25 percent NA, 15 percent EU). Design a 3-region active-act…
- Multi Region Architecture
- AWS Or Azure
- Terraform
Cloud Computing - CodeSeniorNew
Implement Distributed Shared Memory Over RDMA for a Trading Firm
Build a DSM library in C++ exposing a region API (allocate, read, write, free). Use ibverbs for RDMA primitives (one-sided read/write, atomics for the directory). Implement dire…
- Distributed Systems Design
- Rdma
- Consistency Models
Advanced Operating Systems - DesignBeginnerNew
Architecture Documentation Refresh for a 10-Year-Old Platform
Audit existing docs: tag each page as keep / kill / refresh. Apply the C4 model (Context, Container, Component, Code) — produce 1 Context diagram, 4 Container diagrams (per majo…
- Architecture Documentation
- C4 Model
- Arc42
Software Architecture Practice your coursework on real scenarios.
Every challenge is shaped from real industry context — not generic exercises. The work mirrors what your degree prepares you for.
Why Ewance
- CodeIntermediateNew
Implement Bulk Synchronous Parallel PageRank on a 1.5B-Edge Graph
Choose either Apache Spark + GraphX (Pregel API) or a vanilla MPI + C++ implementation. Run 25 iterations of PageRank on the 1.5B-edge graph (graph file format provided: CSR par…
- Parallel Algorithms
- Bsp
- Graph Algorithms
Parallel and Distributed Algorithms - DesignBeginnerNew
Design the Architecture for a Library Management System
Read the 30-page replacement RFP. Author a 15-page architecture document covering the C4 model levels 1-3 (context, container, component) for the new system: web app, mobile app…
- Software Architecture
- C4 Model
- Data Modeling
Software Engineering Foundations - DesignSeniorNew
Formal Specification of a Rate-Limit Service in TLA+
Specify the rate-limit service's lease-renewal protocol in TLA+ (PlusCal acceptable for readability). Model 3 invariants: (1) at most one node holds a lease for a tenant at any …
- Tla Plus
- Formal Specification
- Model Checking
Requirements Engineering - PresentationIntermediateNew
Run a Platform-as-Product Quarterly Review for a 40-Squad Org
Define the platform's 8 products (CI service, golden-path templates, observability stack, secret management, namespace provisioning, on-call tooling, internal portal, paved-road…
- Platform Engineering
- Platform As Product
- Facilitation
Platform Engineering - Browse challenges
Explore role
Product Manager
Ship product that solves real user problems. Combine user research, prototyping, and stakeholder alignment to turn ambiguous briefs into measurable wins — the role at the centre of modern software teams.
- CodeIntermediateNew
Scale Feature Pipelines for a Hyperscaler Search-Ranking Team
You receive a synthetic-but-realistic 80 GB sample of the ranking events plus the existing Spark pipeline (PySpark) and a Spark UI snapshot from a recent production run. Profile…
- Apache Spark
- Distributed Systems Design
- Performance Profiling
Machine Learning at Scale - StrategyIntermediateNew
Migrating a 40-Person SaaS Scale-Up to Cloud-Native Architecture
You are to create a detailed migration plan for TaskFlow. The plan must include breaking the monolith into at least 4 microservices, containerizing them with Docker, orchestrati…
- Microservices Patterns
- Docker
- Kubernetes Orchestration
Big Data and Cloud Technologies - DesignIntermediateNew
Design an Idiomatic REST + Webhooks API for a Logistics SaaS
Read the team's draft + the public APIs of 3 reference logistics platforms (anonymized, briefing pack provided). Author a 5-page API design guideline covering URL structure (nou…
- REST API Design
- REST API Design
- Openapi
Software Design and Design Patterns - AnalysisBeginnerNew
Measure and Reduce Developer Cognitive Load Across 6 Squads
Run the Team Topologies team self-assessment (cognitive-load survey, 12 questions) with 5 representatives per squad (30 total). Inventory each squad's tool surface: services own…
- Platform Engineering
- Cognitive Load
- Team Topologies
Platform Engineering Build a verifiable portfolio.
Submissions become evidence. Reviewers with shipping experience score against a rubric; the result becomes a credential anyone can verify.
Why Ewance
- CodeIntermediateNew
Stand Up Contract Testing for a Microservices Backend
Inventory the 18 services and pick the 6 producer-consumer pairs with the most staging breakages in the last 90 days. Stand up a Pact broker (self-hosted or PactFlow trial). For…
- Contract Testing
- Pact
- Microservices Patterns
Software Testing and Quality Assurance - CodeIntermediateNew
Build a Federated Learning Prototype Across Two Hospitals
Simulate two sites with non-IID data splits (one site skews older, the other younger). Implement FedAvg using Flower (or PySyft). Run for at least 50 communication rounds; repor…
- Federated Learning
- Fedavg
- Secure Aggregation
Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning - DesignIntermediateNew
IT Architecture Overhaul for a 40-Person SaaS Scale-Up
Design a microservices-based architecture with multi-tenancy, API gateway, and compliance features. Propose a migration strategy (strangler fig pattern) over 12 months. Deliver …
- Microservices Patterns
- Multi Tenancy Architecture
- Multi Cloud Architecture
Information Systems and IT Management - ResearchIntermediateNew
Industrial Case Study: Why a Microservices Migration Failed
Conduct 8 1-hour interviews across CTO, 3 tech leads, 2 platform engineers, 1 SRE, and the product VP. Analyze 24 months of artifacts (ADRs, RFCs, incident reports, deployment d…
- Industrial Case Study
- Qualitative Research
- Software Architecture
Advanced Software Engineering - CodeIntermediateNew
Design a Multi-Tenant Kubernetes Namespace-Provisioning Self-Service
Design and build a Backstage scaffolder that lets a squad request a namespace (specifying environment, owners, expected scale). The scaffolder generates a pull request to a GitO…
- Platform Engineering
- Kubernetes Orchestration
- Self Service
Platform Engineering - StrategyIntermediateNew
Choose Between Microservices and Modular Monolith for a Scale-Up
Audit the codebase: lines of code per Rails engine, deploy frequency, change-coupling between engines (using git co-change analysis), per-engine on-call burden. Survey the 4 squ…
- Architecture Decision
- Team Topologies
- Modular Monolith
Software Architecture - StrategyBeginnerNew
REST API Versioning Strategy for a 4-Year-Old Public API
Pick a versioning scheme (URI path vs header-based) and justify it against integrator behavior. Define the deprecation lifecycle: announce → deprecate → sunset, with concrete ti…
- REST API Design
- API Versioning
- Openapi
Engineering Software as a Service - AnalysisBeginnerNew
Developer-Experience Audit of a Public API
Walk through the existing public API as a first-time developer using only the public docs, OpenAPI spec, SDKs (Python + JavaScript), and example repos. Run the first-hour test 3…
- Developer Experience
- REST API Design
- Audit Grade Documentation
API Design and GraphQL - DesignIntermediateNew
Event-Driven Architecture for an Order-to-Cash Pipeline
Design an event-driven architecture using a Kafka-like message bus (anonymized: assume a Kafka-compatible event log). Define: 9 event types with Avro schemas, partition strategy…
- Event Driven Architecture
- Kafka Event Streaming
- Saga Pattern
Software Architecture - DesignBeginnerNew
Design a Golden-Path Service Template for a Series-D Scale-Up
Design a golden-path template producing a Go (or Node) microservice with: REST + gRPC scaffolding, structured logging (slog or pino), OpenTelemetry tracing, Prometheus metrics, …
- Platform Engineering
- Golden Paths
- Backstage
Platform Engineering - DesignBeginnerNew
Architecture Decision Records for a Modernization Program
Read 18 weeks of architecture-channel Slack history and 6 architecture-review meeting notes to inventory decisions already made. Backfill 12 ADRs using Michael Nygard's template…
- Architecture Decision Records (Adrs)
- Technical Debt
- Stakeholder Communication
Technical Debt Management - CodeSeniorNew
Design a Raft-Based Consensus Layer for a Multi-Region Database
Implement Raft in Go per the original Ongaro-Ousterhout paper: leader election, log replication with the safety property, snapshotting at 10K-entry granularity, and joint-consen…
- Distributed Consensus
- Raft
- Fault Tolerance
Parallel and Distributed Algorithms
How it works
From brief to credential, in six steps.
Step 01
Browse challenges aligned to your studies.
Step 02
Accept the one that fits your goals.
Step 03
Work through it with AI Copilot guidance.
Step 04
Submit for structured evaluation.
Step 05
Earn a verified credential.
Step 06
Add it to LinkedIn with one click.
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