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
Build a Distributed Shared Memory Layer Over RDMA for Risk Engines
Build a Distributed Shared Memory library in C++ that exposes a small region interface — allocate a shared region, read from it, write to it, and free it — starting from the pro…
- Distributed Systems
- Rdma
- Consistency Models
Open coursework - DesignBeginnerNew
Design a 90-Day Cognitive-Load Reduction Plan for Six Squads
Using the cognitive-load self-assessment instrument, the squad tool-surface inventory, and the platform stakeholder brief provided to you, design a cognitive-load reduction prop…
- Platform Engineering
- Cognitive Load
- Team Topologies
Open coursework - 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…
- API Design
- REST
- Openapi
Software Design and Design Patterns - 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 Practice your coursework on real scenarios.
Every challenge is shaped from real-world context — not generic exercises. The work mirrors what your degree prepares you for.
Why Ewance
- 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
- Saga Pattern
Software Architecture - StrategyIntermediateNew
Stand Up Contract Testing for a Logistics Microservices Backend
Using only the materials provided, choose and justify the six producer-consumer service pairs to migrate first. Read the 90-day staging breakage log to rank pairs by how much pa…
- Contract Testing
- Pact
- Microservices
Open coursework - CodeIntermediateNew
Stand Up a Backstage Developer Portal for a Frankfurt Fintech
Using the provided service inventory, ownership map, and rollout brief, build and deploy a Backstage portal on the company's existing Kubernetes platform and populate its catalo…
- Backstage
- Platform Engineering
- Service Catalog
Open coursework - 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
- Self Service
Platform Engineering - Browse challenges
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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.
- DesignSeniorNew
Design a Raft Consensus Layer for Multi-Region Active-Active Replication
Using the engineering brief, the production fault profile, and the starter Go module declared in the provided materials, design and build a Raft-based consensus layer and prove …
- Distributed Consensus
- Raft
- Fault Tolerance
Open coursework - DesignBeginnerNew
Backfill Architecture Decision Records for a Mainframe Modernization Program
Work entirely from the three provided materials: the architecture-channel chat log excerpt (architecture-channel-log), the consolidated architecture-review meeting notes (archit…
- Architecture Decision Records
- Technical Debt
- Stakeholder Communication
Open coursework - DesignBeginnerNew
Refresh a Decade of Tangled Architecture Documentation
Using the platform architecture dossier and the documentation inventory provided, propose and produce a consolidated architecture documentation set. First, audit the existing pa…
- Architecture Documentation
- C4 Model
- Arc42
Open coursework - 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…
- Spark
- Distributed Systems
- Performance Profiling
Open coursework 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
- CodeSeniorNew
Bulk Synchronous Parallel PageRank for a Web-Graph Lab
Working from the lab situation record (`lab-case-file`), implement 25 iterations of PageRank under a Bulk Synchronous Parallel (BSP) model using either Apache Spark with GraphX …
- Parallel Algorithms
- Bsp
- Graph Algorithms
Open coursework - 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
Open coursework - AnalysisBeginnerNew
Developer-Experience Audit of a Public REST API
Using only the four provided materials, audit the version 3 candidate API as if you were a first-time developer. Read the audit charter ('audit_brief') to understand the foundat…
- Developer Experience
- API Design
- Documentation
Open coursework - 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
- Terraform
Cloud Computing - 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
- Rust
Blockchain and Decentralized Systems 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 - DesignIntermediateNew
Design and Run a Platform-as-Product Quarterly Review
Using the platform product catalog (platform-product-catalog) and the Head of Platform's mandate (head-of-platform-brief), design a complete, repeatable quarterly review for the…
- Platform Engineering
- Platform As Product
- Facilitation
Open coursework - DesignBeginnerNew
Design a Golden-Path Service Template for a Scaling SaaS Platform Team
Using the current-state assessment (provided), the platform team's golden-path requirements specification (provided), and the baseline deployment-metrics dataset (provided), des…
- Platform Engineering
- Golden Paths
- Backstage
Open coursework - CodeSeniorNew
Formally Specify and Model-Check a Payment Rate-Limit Service in TLA+
Using the incident record (INCIDENT-FILE), the protocol design note (PROTOCOL-NOTE), and the representative coordinator module (COORDINATOR-MODULE) provided to you, write a TLA+…
- Tla Plus
- Formal Specification
- Model Checking
Open coursework - 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
- Docker
- Kubernetes
Big Data and Cloud Technologies - 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
Open coursework - AnalysisIntermediateNew
Diagnose a Failed Microservices Migration at a Travel Platform
Using only the four supplied materials — the interview transcript excerpts (voyalink-interview-transcripts), the decision and incident artifact corpus (voyalink-artifact-corpus)…
- Industrial Case Study
- Qualitative Research
- Software Architecture
Open coursework
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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