SDE-II Backend Engineering Preparation Guide

This repository contains a complete, day-wise preparation plan to become a highly competent SDE-II Backend Engineer. While the guide is language-agnostic, we provide reference implementations in Node.js (TypeScript) and Go (Golang).
You will find:

• Role understanding and expectations in interviews and real teams
• Skill gap analysis template to self-assess
• A 16-week, day-wise roadmap (with 8- and 12-week compression options)
• Deep dives into TypeScript, Node.js, Databases, Redis, Queues, System Design, Machine Coding, DSA, Theory, Infra/AWS, CI/CD, and debugging
• Production-grade project ideas and interview prep playbook
• Daily / weekly schedules, milestones, and metrics
• Curated resources (videos, blogs, repos, books)

File Map (Start Here)

• Meta & Self-Assessment
  • getting-started/role-understanding.md – What an SDE-II backend engineer is expected to do.
  • getting-started/skill-gap-template.md – Self-assessment template across all key skills.
• Roadmap & Schedules
  • roadmap/roadmap-16-weeks.md – Phase-wise roadmap (JS/TS, Node, DBs, Redis/Queues, System Design, Machine Coding, DSA, Theory).
  • roadmap/schedules-and-metrics.md – Daily/weekly schedules, milestones, metrics.
• Weekly Plans
  • Week 01 through Week 16 – Day-wise plan for each week (4h & 6h variants). Each week has both Node.js and Go tracks.
• Topic Banks & Deep Dives
  • topic-banks/machine-coding-bank.md – At least 15 machine coding problems with specs.
  • topic-banks/dsa-backend-plan.md – Backend-focused DSA topics and problem plan.
  • topic-banks/theory-round.md – OS, networking, DBMS, CAP/ACID/BASE, consistency models.
  • topic-banks/projects.md – 5–8 production-ready backend project specs.
• Interview Prep & Resources
  • interview/interview-prep-playbook.md – Mock interview structure, revision plans, common mistakes.
  • resources/resources.md – Curated resources for each topic.

For quick navigation:

• Foundations (Weeks 1–3): Week 01, Week 02, Week 03 (JS/TS deep dive).
• Node.js Backend (Weeks 4–5): Week 04, Week 05.
• Databases & Redis/Queues (Weeks 6–8): Week 06, Week 07, Week 08.
• System Design (Weeks 9–11): Week 09, Week 10, Week 11.
• Machine Coding (Weeks 12–13): Week 12, Week 13.
• DSA Focus (Weeks 14–15): Week 14, Week 15.
• Theory & Polishing (Week 16): Week 16.

How to Use This Guide

• Step 1: Read getting-started/role-understanding.md and fill getting-started/skill-gap-template.md.
• Step 2: Skim roadmap/roadmap-16-weeks.md to understand the big picture.
• Step 3: Choose a track:
  • 16 weeks (recommended for deep mastery)
  • 12 weeks (compress by merging some weeks)
  • 8 weeks (aggressive, for experienced devs)
• Step 4: Follow the corresponding weekly plan files day by day, using:
  • topic-banks/machine-coding-bank.md, topic-banks/dsa-backend-plan.md, topic-banks/theory-round.md, and topic-banks/projects.md for exercises
  • resources/resources.md for videos/blogs/repos
• Step 5: In the last month, focus heavily on:
  • interview/interview-prep-playbook.md
  • Re-doing key problems from topic-banks/machine-coding-bank.md and topic-banks/dsa-backend-plan.md

Each markdown file contains checklists, examples, ASCII diagrams, tables, and actionable tasks so you can track your progress like a real project.