Build a Scalable-System-Design Spec for a Streaming-Ingest Pipeline
Overview
What this challenge is about.
Build a capacity model for a streaming-ingest pipeline, prototype the bottleneck, and benchmark at 200k events/sec to earn your verifiable certificate.
The scenario
The IoT startup (customers in 6 countries, planning a US expansion in Q3) needs a scaling plan that doesn't require a complete rewrite mid-flight.
The Brief
What you'll do, and what you'll demonstrate.
Produce a scalable-system-design spec to grow a streaming-ingest pipeline from 80k to 1M events/sec, with a prototype that validates the capacity model on the bottleneck component.
Earning criteria — what you'll demonstrate
- Build a defensible capacity model for a streaming pipeline
- Pick partitioning and hot-key strategies under real skew
- Define operational SLOs that map to customer impact
- Validate a capacity model with a focused prototype, not a full rebuild
Program Fit
Where this fits in your program.
Sharpens the same skills your degree expects you to demonstrate.
Aligned coursework coming soon.
Skills
Skills you'll demonstrate.
Each one shows up on your verified credential.
- Scalable System Design
Apply scalable system design to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Kafka
Apply kafka to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Flink
Apply flink to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Capacity Planning
Apply capacity planning to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Performance Optimization
Apply performance optimization to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Documentation
Apply documentation to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
Careers
Career paths this challenge builds toward
Completing this challenge demonstrates skills that transfer directly to these roles: