Daily & Weekly Schedules, Milestones, and Metrics

Goal of this file: Give you structured daily and weekly routines (4-hour and 6-hour variants) plus measurable success metrics.

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1. Daily Study Templates (4-Hour and 6-Hour)

4-Hour Day Template

• Block 1 (60–75 min) – Core Topic of the Phase

  • Example: JS/TS in Phase 1, Node in Phase 2, DBs in Phase 3, etc.
  • Mix reading, coding snippets, and 1–2 small exercises.

• Block 2 (60–75 min) – DSA / Coding

  • 2–3 medium problems on the week’s focus topic.
  • Write down patterns and common pitfalls.

• Block 3 (60–75 min) – Applied Backend

  • Implement or extend features in projects (see projects.md).
  • Or practice machine coding in later phases.

• Block 4 (30–45 min) – Review & Theory

  • Quick review of:
    • Notes from the day.
    • Theory topics (OS, networking, DBMS, CAP).
  • Update progress tracker.

6-Hour Day Template

• Block 1 (90 min) – Deep Dive on Core Topic

  • More time for hands-on coding and small experiments.

• Block 2 (90 min) – DSA / Coding

  • 3–4 problems, including at least one timed problem.

• Block 3 (90 min) – Project / Machine Coding

  • Work on a project feature or complete a small machine coding task.

• Block 4 (60–90 min) – System Design / Theory / Review

  • Early phases: more theory/system design reading + diagram practice.
  • Later phases: full system design mocks once or twice a week.

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2. Weekly Checklists by Phase

Phase 1 (Weeks 1–3): JS/TS

• Checklist
  • Language
    • I can explain closures and draw scope chains.
    • I understand prototypes and how new works.
    • I can explain event loop, microtasks, macrotasks.
  • TypeScript
    • I can use generics in functions and classes.
    • I can apply common utility types (Partial, Pick, Omit, etc.).
  • Output
    • 1–2 small Node/TS utilities or scripts committed to a repo.

Phase 2 (Weeks 4–5): Node.js Backend

• Checklist
  • Built a small REST API with at least 3–4 routes.
  • Added request validation, error handling, and logging.
  • Implemented auth (JWT/session).
  • Wrote unit tests for at least 1–2 services/controllers.

Phase 3 (Weeks 6–7): Databases

• Checklist
  • Designed schemas for at least 2 different domains.
  • Used indexes and inspected query performance.
  • Implemented transactions in MySQL or MongoDB.

Phase 4 (Week 8): Redis + Queues

• Checklist
  • Implemented Redis caching in one project.
  • Built a simple rate limiter using Redis.
  • Created a background job with BullMQ or similar.

Phase 5 (Weeks 9–11): System Design

• Checklist
  • Designed at least 3 systems end-to-end (API, DB, cache, queues, scaling).
  • Drew component diagrams and data flow diagrams.
  • Practiced trade-off discussions (e.g., SQL vs NoSQL, cache strategies).

Phase 6–8 (Weeks 12–16): Machine Coding, DSA, Theory, Polishing

• Checklist
  • Completed 5–8 machine coding problems end-to-end.
  • Solved 80–120 DSA problems across core topics.
  • Completed at least 4 system design mocks.
  • Finished 1–2 portfolio projects with READMEs.

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3. Milestones and Metrics

• Weekly Milestones

  • Knowledge
    • List 3–5 new concepts you truly understood.
  • Practice
    • Count of DSA problems solved (easy, medium).
    • Number of project features completed.
  • Output
    • Commits to GitHub.
    • Notes and diagrams written.

• Quantitative Metrics (Targets over 16 Weeks)

Area	Metric	Target Range
DSA	Total problems solved	80–150
Machine Coding	Complete problems	8–15
System Design	Full designs practiced	8–12
Projects	Production-style backends	1–3
Theory	Focused revision sessions	8–12

Use these as baselines; adjust based on your background and available time.

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4. Progress Tracking

• Maintain a simple spreadsheet or markdown log:

  • Columns:
    • Date, Hours studied, DSA problems, Backend topics, Projects, Notes.
  • Fill it briefly at the end of each day (2–3 minutes).

• Example row:

2025-01-10 | 4h | 3 DSA (arrays) | TS generics, Node Express middleware | URL shortener: shorten API | Clarify event loop again

This file should be used together with each week-XX.md to plan exact tasks per day.