Abstract Thinking Will Define Your Next Decade
This edition of the newsletter contains
one quick write-up that will help you grow faster in your career
a video I posted
a paper I read
I have also shared 3 super-interesting articles to read over the weekend. Thank you once again for reading this edition of my Newsletter. Now, without further ado, let’s jump right in.
By the way, the admissions for my System Design June cohort are open. If you are SDE-2, SDE-3, and above, and looking to build a rock-solid intuition to design any and every system, you will find my course super interesting.
Instead of drawing boxes, we go into the intricate details of every single system and build an end-to-end understanding. The learnings from the course can be applied at your workplace from day 1. So, if you are looking for some real engineering discussions or brainstorming, do check out my course.
Course curriculum and other key details: https://arpitbhayani.me/course
Abstract Thinking Will Define Your Next Decade
Stop searching for beginner-friendly content, because for hard topics, it doesn't exist.
Try to build a habit of reading, watching, and absorbing detailed information and complex concepts. This will not only help you avoid being spoon-fed but also strengthen your abstract thinking.
I believe abstract thinking will become extremely crucial in the coming decade, as the world shifts toward solving more complex and ambiguous problems that resist simplification and aren't easily visualized.
We're already seeing early signs of this drift with things like LLMs and Quantum Computing. Extrapolating from here, it's going to be increasingly vital to think beyond the obvious.
Easy content gives quick dopamine hits—but it won't expand your cognitive boundaries. The future will demand that we synthesize dense, disparate ideas without handholding. Learn to tolerate mental discomfort. That’s where growth lives.
Don't underestimate your ability to understand hard things. Struggle isn’t failure, it's the process. If you want to thrive in what’s coming, stop chasing shortcuts. Start seeking depth.
By the way,
Being hands-on is the best way for you to learn. Practice interesting programming challenges like building your own BitTorrent client, Redis, DNS server, and even SQLite from scratch on CodeCrafters.
Sign up, and become a better engineer.
Here's the video I posted
I published a video - Should You Adopt Microservices? Here’s What You Need to Know
Microservices have almost become the norm, and every single company adopts them as they scale. In this video, we dive into the key reasons companies adopt microservices and explore both the benefits and challenges of using this approach.
What are Microservices, and how do they differ from Monoliths
Benefits that make microservices so appealing.
How to properly define and fence your services, ensuring clear boundaries and efficient management.
By the end of this video, you'll have a better understanding of whether microservices are the right choice for your next project and how to implement them effectively.
Paper I read and would highly recommend
I spent some time reading Snapshot-Free, Transparent, and Robust Memory Reclamation for Lock-Free Data Structures
This paper is about an approach to reclaiming memory for lock-free data structures. It sounds fancy, but it is not difficult to comprehend; it just needs a little extra time to get absorbed.
The core idea is to tackle some problems in concurrent systems, like balancing throughput and memory efficiency. To achieve this, it introduces a clever snapshot-free, reference-counting approach that avoids overhead during regular data access, using reference counters.
If you find lock-free data structures and concurrent systems interesting, you will have a great time going through the paper. You will also be able to draw parallels with other Garbage Collector algorithms.
You can download this and other papers I recommend from my papershelf.
Three interesting articles I read
I read a few engineering blogs almost every day, and here are the three articles I would recommend you to read.
Thank you so much for reading this edition of the newsletter 🔮 If you found it interesting, you will also love my courses
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