System Design 101
ByteByteGo seems to almost be a content generation concept for a  niche market. And the thing is, aspiring developers do, apparently eat this stuff up. Thing is though, you really don't truly assimilate these concepts from a simple diagram, not just because they are gross simplifications or crude approximations — they are — but because you need to "feel" what these systems are like in a real world scenario or at least to have broken your teeth designing one in order for any of these ideas to truly sink in a meaningful way.<p>So it's sort of like...if you have the experience of having designed these types of systems or are familiar with some of these ideas from firsthand experience, the cute diagrams hold very little value. If, on the other hand, you're a new engineer, you're gobbling up these diagrams, but they don't really hold any meaning. You can't just binge on some doc that attempts to collate all system design ideas and think you've got it. Knowledge isn't acquired by "carrying books". Now, I'm not saying there might not be value in these diagrams as a refresher or tool for someone already familiar with these concepts, but it's limited to that and I suspect newer devs are being led to believe they can just memorize these diagrams and they grok these ideas. Not so.<p>I also cannot help but feel the author sees this area and audience as fertile ground for producing a ton of content and gaining readership - it's substack, it's blog posts...and the list goes on. I really try to avoid imputing bad motive or malintent, but I can't help but feel this is cynical in the sense that the author knows this information in this format targeting this audience does very little for them and, worse, leads them astray because of how at odds it is presented vs the way real knowledge is actually acquired.<p>I guess what I'm mainly saying is: beware, young devs. This ain't it.