Shadowing Practice: System Design - Part 1 | Introduction & Career Path | Why you need to learn System Design? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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It has been quite some time since I have wanted to start my series on system design.

It is just that I never felt ready

that I have all the resources and I have talked about all of the things

that you might encounter while studying this concept.

But right now I feel that I have covered enough that I can begin to talk about system design in general.

And whenever there is a concept that needs more detailing, I will create a video on it.

So with this series, my target is that I want to present your system design in such a way

that you are able to link it correctly to real life problems.

Because I truly believe that if you are able to relate a problem with some real life examples, then it comes very naturally to you.

And that has always been the goal of my channel to simplify the process

and the concept in such a way that it sticks in your mind.

You don't have to just mug up every concept.

So that is exactly what I'm going to do.

Before even getting into, okay, this is system design and these are all the terminology involved, I first want to get into where do you actually encounter system design?

And what are some real -life scenarios where you can apply them?

And that begins with the most basic step.

Where does it come in your interview?

And why do you even need it?

So I believe that will be a good starting point and all along the journey we are going to learn together.

So let's get started over there.

Hello friends, welcome back to my channel.

First of all, when you talk about system design and where does it come in your interview process?

Technically, whenever you are applying at an organization or no matter wherever you are working,

I would broadly say that you are either in the beginner level or you are an intermediate or you are an expert.

That means you have every knowledge or you are a subject matter expert.

So for most of the scenarios, you are at the beginner level.

That means you are dealing with basic data structures, you are dealing with basic algorithms and mostly problems on just to simplify arrays, strings, trees, all of that.

Next comes the part when you are going at a senior level.

So this is where I would say you are going at an intermediate level.

and this is the point where you must have a knowledge of all the system design concepts

because think about it such a large organization like any of the fan companies you know

that you cannot just develop applications based upon all of the data structures

that you have studied right you will not be actually using an array and then making all of these huge applications Correct?

You need a very good architecture level diagram and then you want to deploy out all the several components.

Correct?

Now, when you are at a beginner level, it is not expected out of you that you make these design decisions.

What usually happens is, at the beginner level, you are just given a sub -module that, hey, this is an entire application and you have to solve this small bit.

And that is why interviewers focus more on your data structures and problem -solving abilities.

when you are applying for intermediate roles that is where you want to know

that you have a knowledge of all of the design level concepts as well

because how is a system working what is actually happening what's

the database what is caching how is the data flowing what requirements do you want

so this is where you will start to get all of these questions and for example you're applying at Google.

So Google explicitly asks you, hey, do you want a system design coding round in your interview process or not?

And for other companies like Amazon, they will add a system design round if you're applying to software engineering levels of two and above.

So that is the idea.

And when you get at an expert level, you are not asked about data structures, algorithms.

No, that doesn't happen.

What happens is then you have to talk about real life applications.

How would you deal with this bunch of customers?

How would you deal with the high traffic?

How would you scale the application all throughout?

So, I know that all of these are very high -level terms, and surely we will get into the details of all of it.

But you must understand that where does system design come into play, and it is this particular level.

So, if you want to grow in your career, and if you want to reach at an expert level, that is where you need to have this knowledge.

Because, although you have these three levels, but the pay grade, it increases exponentially as you move towards the expert level.

And everybody loves a good pay, correct?

So, that is why system design is very, very necessary.

You want to know, right?

How is Netflix working?

How is YouTube working?

How are you handling so many customers?

Think about it.

Netflix is available all throughout the world.

And on YouTube, you can live stream a YouTube video even with millions of viewers.

So how are you handling all of that traffic?

That is all behind what system design is.

How are you designing this entire application?

So that is the end goal.

But before that, we want to understand what the hell is even system design and why do you want to scale applications?

Or rather, what does scaling even mean?

I will start from the very basic and then we will go along building our way step by step.

So where do you start?

Well, why do you even need system design?

And to understand it, let us go to the ground level.

Forget everything about computers.

Just focus that, let us say you want to open a bookstore, right?

And what do you do?

Okay, you have a small bookstore you open it what happens now you can say

that okay some customers will start to come in now as more

and more customers start to come in what do you do your bookstore will start to get smaller right

so you want to accommodate more customers what is the first thing

that comes to mind okay this is a small shop what

do i do i will try to either expand my shop

or what i'm gonna do is i will shut down this store

and maybe i open an even bigger store correct now you have a bigger store

and what happens is you see more

and more customers come in your store is able to accommodate everyone

so what are you basically doing you are increasing your store capacity correct

and this process cannot just go on think about it what

if more customers starts to come in you have a lot of customers coming in correct

so what do you do now Okay, maybe I can increase my store once again.

My bookstore is even bigger now and I can accommodate more people.

But do you see the problem with this approach?

What if more and more customers start to come in?

What if you're becoming really, really popular?

Do you think that you can keep on expanding a bookstore?

You will face all of the issues, right?

You cannot have a very huge building.

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You will have all these parking problems and all of the resources problems as well.

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You cannot manage all the customers.

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It will be all of a hassle, right?

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So basically what you're currently doing right now is you are scaling your bookstore vertically.

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That means you are gonna keep on increasing the size of your bookstore.

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You will soon realize that you are running out of space, correct?

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So you already know what solutions do all of these big companies come up with right

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and what is

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that they do not open a store at only one place

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what will you do you will open different stores at different places correct

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and each of these stores they are made on the basis

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of your consumption correct you do not want to open a huge store where the footfall is very less

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and vice versa

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so basically what are you doing you are trying to expand

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your business horizontally what you can do is you can use your same store format

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and open it up in a lot of different places what did

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that do with this you can distribute all of your customers at different places correct think about it

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if you had your store open only in one region then

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you're only targeting customers from this particular region you cannot expect

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that someone will fly all the way to come at your store.

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But if you have opened your store at all of these different places, a customer can go to any of the store that is nearest to them.

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So this is how you are solving a problem.

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And this is horizontal scaling.

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So now you are understanding the two most important concepts, vertical scaling and horizontal scaling.

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You cannot expect to have vertical scaling infinitely but with horizontal scaling you have a lot more scope.

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So this was a pretty basic example when you were trying to open a bookstore and then you want to expand it.

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You want more profits right and when it comes to computer programming

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or making applications what happens is let us say you are developing an application correct

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and this application will be having a database it will have some disk usage

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and it will have some cpu as well

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and now think about it you made your application on a

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computer correct very basic let us say you have your home computer

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and you made an application on it now let's say you

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want to make this application available to someone you run your own server

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and then you deploy this application so people will start coming in

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and they will want to use your application correct but

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if you notice the more

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and more people will try to use your app what will

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happen you will need more disk you will need more cpu and you will need more database as well So, the same concept applies over here.

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Yes, you can increase your disk size and then you can even use a faster CPU.

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Right now, you are having a 2 .2 GHz CPU.

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You can switch to a 3 GHz.

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Similarly, for a disk, you can have 2 TB of RAM and then you can upgrade to 4 TB of RAM.

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Similarly, for database as well.

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But do you see the problem?

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If you have to deal with millions of users, think about Facebook, right?

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You have so many users you cannot expect that you will keep on increasing your disk, database and CPU quantity.

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You are limited, right?

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You do not have a faster CPU than a particular limit, correct?

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Another factor is that when you are dealing with such large memories, then the cost of things also start to grow.

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I am pretty sure that when you have purchased components, you might have seen this as well.

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For example, if you are taking two RAMs of 4TB each, they will cost you less than a single piece of 8TB RAM.

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So, the price required is not linear.

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So, you cannot keep on increasing your RAM continuously.

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Your cost will keep on increasing exponentially and you will never make a profit.

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In fact, if you look at the graph between your cost and memory, this graph will look something like this.

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So as you increase your memory, the cost keeps on going up, right?

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And whenever you're dealing with applications, you need more RAM, more and more fast memory.

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So at that point, your application stops scaling.

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You cannot just accommodate more and more customers to reach you.

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So this is exactly similar when you're opening a bookstore, correct?

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You cannot just keep on increasing your bookstore size.

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You will face some of the problems.

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And when you're dealing with computer applications, you get limited by all of these resources.

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To give you an example, I just took two screenshots.

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Just look at this.

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Here is a solid state drive and for 4TB, the cost is approximately $230.

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So, you would expect that, okay, for 8TB, I will get the double of cost, right?

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But that is not true for high memories.

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If you are increasing your storage size then the cost becomes greater than a multiple of two

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and that is why you cannot just keep on having a vertical scaling.

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You need to think something different and that is where horizontal scaling comes in.

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Similar to the way we were opening all of our bookstores

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what we now do is we take up our app

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and we will try to deploy it in two different regions of the world.

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So now what happens?

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All of your customers that were coming from all the way to the world only in one region.

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This was our condition, right?

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And this was causing a problem.

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What did we just do?

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We have now deployed our applications in two different regions.

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And now some customers can reach over here while the other users can reach over here.

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So what did you do?

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You partitioned your users, correct?

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And you are able to give them the same service.

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So this is a very high level overview design about what is a vertical scaling and what is a horizontal scaling.

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And this is the exact reason why you need to study system design.

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Because you cannot just keep on scaling up your application vertically.

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It is just not possible you need to have different servers all throughout the world.

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That is why you have so many services in all different regions of the world.

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That is why there is a concept of latency because it depends which server are you trying to connect to.

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If a server is hosted only in the Americas then this is the latency from all different countries.

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So these are all the concepts that we will become familiar with

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but for this video i just want to give you an overview

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that this is system design and that is why we study it

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and i really hope that this kind of peaks your interest

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and you want to know more

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and this is how i'm gonna structure my course as well

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so basically what we are gonna do is just like this

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real life example we will cover all of the basics of system design that means what are all the terminology used?

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What is caching?

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What is latency?

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What is partitioning?

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What is hashing?

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What do all of these actually mean?

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And we will go step by step over every example.

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What is the individual component doing and how can you take advantage of it?

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And once you are familiar with all of these basic concepts, we will start off with some very basic designs.

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For example, how do you implement a service that is a URL shortener?

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How do you implement a service something like Uber?

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So just a basic idea, like how do you have this map structure and how do you find the nearest cab?

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So these are some of the very basic designs and then we are going to understand each of the components as well.

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So what I want to just say is, it is a journey and it will take some time.

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Just keep letting me know if you are facing any problems and which part do you want me to expand more.

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Just tell me if it gets very verbose or

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if it starts to get boring

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but all of this feedback will help me to curate this course even more effectively

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and I promise I will try to simplify it as much as possible for you

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and if everything goes right we will also look at some complex designs and some real -life applications too.

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So that is all I had in my mind for now

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so do let me know what are you feeling about this course

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and are you looking forward to it that will surely keep me motivated.

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Also if you find this channel helpful

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and you really like these kind of explanations please do subscribe to my channel it really keeps me going

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and if you want more consider joining my channel by

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that you do get prior to reply to your comments

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and you do get early access to these new videos as well

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so stay tuned for my upcoming videos until then see ya

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “System Design - Part 1”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: design, application, customer, correct, store. This video has 227 sentences and 2833 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:04. The speaker talks at a natural 176 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 53 of its 227 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
bookstore noun	/ˈbʊkstɔː/	A store where books are bought and sold.
horizontal adjective	/ˌhoɹəˈzɑn.təl/	Perpendicular to the vertical; parallel to the plane of the horizon; level, flat.
disk noun	/dɪsk/	A thin, flat, circular plate or similar object.
beginner noun	/bəˈɡɪnɚ/	Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started.
deploy verb	/dɪˈplɔɪ/	To prepare and arrange (originally military unit or units, i.e., to array troops) for use.
accommodate verb	/əˈkɑməˌdeɪt/	To render fit, suitable, or correspondent; to adapt.
latency noun	/ˈleɪ.tən.si/	Concealment; the state of being latent; the state of being hidden.
simplify verb	/ˈsɪmplɪfaɪ/	To make simpler, either by reducing in complexity, reducing to component parts, or making easier to understand.
intermediate adjective	/ɪn.tə(ɹ)ˈmi.di.ət/	Being between two extremes, or in the middle of a range.
exponentially adverb	/ɛkspə(ʊ)ˈnɛnʃəli/	In an exponential manner.
vertically adverb	/ˈvɝ.tɪ.kəli/	In a vertical direction or position.
cache noun	/kæʃ/	Such a store of physical supplies, placed by humans or other animals for practical reasons.
partition noun	/pɑɹˈtɪ.ʃən/	An action which divides a thing into parts, or separates one thing from another.
terminology noun	/ˌtɝ.məˈnɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/	A treatise on terms, especially those used in a specialised field.
algorithm noun	/ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/	A collection of ordered steps that solve a mathematical problem. A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input…

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
come up with verb	To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
go along verb	To participate, cooperate, or conform.
go up verb	To move upwards.
look forward to verb	To anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to.
shut down verb	To close, terminate, or end; to stop operating, either permanently or temporarily.
start over verb	to begin again; to return to the beginning
step over noun	A dribbling move, or feint, in football (soccer), used to fool a defensive player into thinking the offensive player, in possession of the ball, in which the…
take up verb	To pick up.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Where does it come in your interview?
How would you deal with this bunch of customers?
How would you deal with the high traffic?
How would you scale the application all throughout?
What if you're becoming really, really popular?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has been · have talked · have covered
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is not expected · are just given · are not asked

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 17 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, gonna, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: exponentially /ɛkspə(ʊ)ˈnɛnʃəli/, cache /kæʃ/, partition /pɑɹˈtɪ.ʃən/, shortener /ˈʃɔɹtənɚ/, hash /ˈhæʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: horizontal /ˌhoɹəˈzɑn.təl/, accommodate /əˈkɑməˌdeɪt/, intermediate /ɪn.tə(ɹ)ˈmi.di.ət/, exponentially /ɛkspə(ʊ)ˈnɛnʃəli/, vertically /ˈvɝ.tɪ.kəli/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like bookstore, horizontal, disk.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: System Design - Part 1 | Introduction & Career Path | Why you need to learn System Design? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?