The 34-Week Plan
Weeks 1 to 13
Week by week from the baseline to Logsmith, with the first applications.
These are the first thirteen weeks, from 19 October 2026 to 17 January 2027. Record your DSA starting point, build Ledgerline, then complete Logsmith or a selected project. Follow the week template for hours and the reading program for optional reading.
Track completed problems in the sheet
The DSA line is a pace target. Count completed problems in the source sheet, record what you actually did, and revise later targets if needed.
Weeks 1 to 4: baseline and the ledger core
Phase goal: log a baseline, choose your project languages, and get Ledgerline's core working with idempotency and ordered locking.
Week 1 · Oct 19 to 25
- DSA: Programming fundamentals and basic maths.
- Build: Baseline test. Create the public Ledgerline repo with a README skeleton.
- Drill: OS questions out loud (deadlock, scheduling).
- Also: Contest #1. First STAR draft.
- Read: Foundations level, 1 post per day.
- Apply: Set up the tracker. Register on LeetCode and the job portals.
Week 2 · Oct 26 to Nov 1
- DSA: Sorting and basic recursion.
- Build: P1: API skeleton, double-entry schema and basic transfer. Tests green.
- Drill: DBMS questions out loud (3NF, ACID).
- Also: Contest #2.
- Read: Stripe on idempotency keys, plus Modern Treasury on accounting for developers, part I.
- Apply: Set up a tracker and identify role types that accept 2027 graduates. No outreach target yet.
Week 3 · Nov 2 to 8
- DSA: Array fundamentals and hashing.
- Build: P1: idempotency keys, ordered locking, race tests.
- Drill: Networks questions out loud (TCP, TLS).
- Also: Contest #3.
- Read: brandur on idempotency keys, plus Modern Treasury on enforcing immutability.
- Apply: Review relevant companies and roles. Save contacts for December outreach.
Week 4 · Nov 9 to 15
- DSA: Array FAQs and strings.
- Build: P1: add the outbox worker, backoff, and signed webhook payloads if time allows.
- Drill: OOP and SOLID, plus LLD #1, the parking lot, as a sketch.
- Also: Contest #4. Draft ADR-001.
- Read: The outbox pattern, plus Modern Treasury on scaling a ledger, part I.
- Apply: No applications yet.
Weeks 5 to 7: finish and ship Ledgerline
Phase goal: finish Ledgerline core work, publish a working demo, and continue the A2Z modules in order.
Week 5 · Nov 16 to 22
- DSA: Binary search and array FAQs.
- Build: P1: reconciliation job and a drift-report CLI.
- Drill: LLD #2, Splitwise.
- Also: Contest #5. Solo mock #1.
- Read: Level 2 rotating sources (Adyen, Modern Treasury series).
- Apply: No applications yet.
Week 6 · Nov 23 to 29
- DSA: Binary search on answers and two-dimensional arrays.
- Build: P1: test service restart and retry behavior. Add property-based tests if time allows.
- Drill: Concurrency week. Three Go drills.
- Also: Contest #6. Pramp peer mock #1.
- Read: Cheney's Practical Go, plus Julia Evans on debugging tools.
- Apply: No applications yet.
Week 7 · Nov 30 to Dec 6
- DSA: Recursion.
- Build: P1 ships: README, design notes, demo, and measured benchmark.
- Drill: LLD #3, a rate limiter.
- Also: Contest #7. Mock #2. Share a project note if you have a useful result to explain.
- Read: never-charge-twice, plus the Hyperswitch introduction.
- Apply: Add the P1 one-liner to your CV. Post it on LinkedIn.
Weeks 8 to 13: Logsmith and the first applications
Phase goal: finish Logsmith or a selected project, draft the planned LLD designs, and apply to roles that fit your eligibility. If you choose an option from the project menu, replace the Logsmith tasks below with its core milestone and keep the same time limit.
Week 8 · Dec 7 to 13
- DSA: Array FAQs and catch-up.
- Build: P2: append, segments, sparse index, first reads.
- Drill: Lock the day-2 review rhythm for the revision deck.
- Also: Contest #8. Optional: find one relevant open-source issue to explore.
- Read: Uber's Go style guide, plus the Kafka file-system essay.
- Apply: Begin up to 5 relevant referral messages. Apply when an eligible role is open.
Week 9 · Dec 14 to 20
- DSA: Array FAQs and hashing FAQs.
- Build: P2: CRC32 and crash recovery.
- Drill: LLD #4, a logger.
- Also: Contest #9. Pramp mock #2.
- Read: The Kafka design doc, part 1.
- Apply: Continue relevant referrals. Apply to eligible roles when available.
Week 10 · Dec 21 to 27
- DSA: Binary search.
- Build: P2: consumer groups and offset commits.
- Drill: No new topic. Keep the deck rhythm going.
- Also: Contest #10. The you-talk drill is steady now.
- Read: Vanlightly on RabbitMQ versus Kafka, parts 1 and 2, plus Wise's Kafka posts.
- Apply: OSS PR #1 merged is the target.
Week 11 · Dec 28 to Jan 3
- DSA: Binary search FAQs and recursion implementation.
- Build: P2: retention, compaction and replay.
- Drill: LLD #5, food delivery.
- Also: Contest #11. Mock #3.
- Read: AutoMQ on page cache, plus Confluent on replication.
- Apply: Continue relevant referrals. Apply to eligible roles when available.
Week 12 · Jan 4 to 10
- DSA: Recursion FAQs and catch-up.
- Build: P2: benchmark harness and fsync tuning.
- Drill: DBMS drill part II. Run
EXPLAINon your own query. - Also: Contest #12. P2 blog draft.
- Read: ScyllaDB performance TL;DR, plus ByteByteGo on scale.
- Apply: Start a small batch of tailored applications to eligible roles. Track each outcome.
Week 13 · Jan 11 to 17
- DSA: Sliding window.
- Build: P2 ships: README, design doc and blog.
- Drill: LLD #6, ticket booking.
- Also: Contest #13. Mock #4. The P2 blog goes out.
- Read: Collections day, the Sutradhar weekly pick.
- Apply: Continue tailored applications and referrals. Include internships and graduate roles that fit your eligibility.
Next: weeks 14 to 25, where Shiplane goes live.