Why System Design Feels Overwhelming

Picture this: Someone walks up to you and says "Design Facebook." Your brain immediately starts spinning - databases, servers, users, scalability, security... It feels like trying to eat an elephant in one bite!

This overwhelming feeling is completely normal. Even senior engineers with decades of experience feel this way when first approaching a complex system design problem.

The Secret: System design is extremely practical. Instead of getting lost in abstract concepts, think like the engineer who actually has to build and code this system.

When you approach system design with a builder's mindset,

you naturally start asking the right questions: "If I had to implement this tomorrow, what would I need?"

This practical thinking cuts through the complexity.

System design isn't about drawing fancy boxes - it's about solving real problems that real engineers face when building real systems.