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Database Engineering Mastery

A comprehensive curriculum designed for engineers aiming for senior/staff roles and those interested in contributing to PostgreSQL. This isn’t another SQL tutorial — it’s a deep dive into how databases really work.
Course Duration: 12-16 weeks (self-paced)
Target Outcome: Senior Database Engineer / PostgreSQL Contributor
Prerequisites: Basic programming, some SQL exposure
Primary Focus: PostgreSQL (with universal RDBMS concepts)

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Why This Course?

Senior Interview Ready

System design, deep dives, and trade-off discussions that senior roles demand

OSS Contribution Path

Understand PostgreSQL codebase structure for meaningful contributions

Production Battle-Tested

Patterns from systems handling billions of transactions

Internals-First Approach

Understand WHY things work, not just HOW to use them

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Course Structure

The curriculum is organized into 4 tracks progressing from foundations to contribution-ready expertise: Database Engineering course structure overview 
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    DATABASE ENGINEERING MASTERY                              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                              │
│  TRACK 1: FOUNDATIONS          TRACK 2: PERFORMANCE                        │
│  ─────────────────────         ──────────────────────                       │
│  □ SQL Mastery                 □ Indexing Deep Dive                         │
│  □ Database Design             □ Query Optimization                         │
│  □ Transactions & Concurrency  □ Performance Tuning                         │
│                                                                              │
│  TRACK 3: INTERNALS            TRACK 4: PRODUCTION & OSS                   │
│  ──────────────────            ─────────────────────────                    │
│  □ Storage Engine              □ Replication & HA                           │
│  □ Query Processing            □ Scaling Strategies                         │
│  □ PostgreSQL Architecture     □ Operational Excellence                     │
│                                □ PostgreSQL Source Code                     │
│                                □ Contributing to PostgreSQL                 │
│                                                                              │
│  CAPSTONE                                                                   │
│  ────────                                                                   │
│  □ Senior Interview Preparation                                             │
│  □ System Design Case Studies                                               │
│                                                                              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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Track 1: Foundations

Build unshakeable fundamentals that senior engineers rely on.
Duration: 8-10 hoursNot just syntax — understanding query semantics and execution.
  • Query execution order (FROM → WHERE → GROUP BY → SELECT → ORDER BY)
  • JOIN algorithms: Nested Loop, Hash Join, Merge Join
  • Subqueries vs CTEs vs derived tables — when to use each
  • Window functions for analytics and running calculations
  • Advanced: Recursive CTEs, LATERAL joins, JSON operations
Interview Focus: Live SQL coding, query optimization challenges
Duration: 10-12 hoursDesign schemas that scale and evolve gracefully.
  • Logical vs physical data modeling
  • Normalization theory (1NF through BCNF) — and when to break rules
  • Temporal data patterns (SCD Type 1, 2, 3)
  • Polymorphic associations and inheritance strategies
  • Schema evolution: migrations, backward compatibility, zero-downtime changes
Interview Focus: Design a schema for X, trade-off discussions
Duration: 12-14 hoursThe hardest topic in databases — master it.
  • ACID deep dive: what each property really guarantees
  • Isolation levels: Read phenomena, snapshot isolation, serializable
  • PostgreSQL’s MVCC implementation details
  • Locking: row-level, table-level, advisory locks
  • Deadlock detection and prevention strategies
  • Optimistic vs pessimistic concurrency control
Interview Focus: Concurrency bugs, isolation level selection

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Track 2: Performance

The skills that differentiate senior from mid-level engineers.
Duration: 10-12 hoursIndexes are your primary performance tool — understand them completely.
  • B-Tree internals: structure, splits, fill factor
  • Hash indexes: when they outperform B-Trees
  • GIN indexes for full-text and JSONB
  • GiST and SP-GiST for geometric and range data
  • BRIN for time-series and append-only tables
  • Index-only scans and covering indexes
  • Partial indexes and expression indexes
  • Index bloat, reindexing, and maintenance
Interview Focus: Index selection, composite index ordering
Duration: 12-14 hoursSystematic approach to making queries fast.
  • EXPLAIN ANALYZE mastery: reading every field
  • Query planner internals: cost estimation, cardinality
  • Statistics: pg_statistic, extended statistics, manual adjustment
  • Common anti-patterns: implicit casts, functions on columns, OR chains
  • Join order optimization
  • Parallel query execution
  • Query plan caching and prepared statements
Interview Focus: Given a slow query, how do you fix it?
Duration: 8-10 hoursHolistic system performance optimization.
  • Memory configuration: shared_buffers, work_mem, maintenance_work_mem
  • Checkpoint tuning and WAL configuration
  • Connection management and pooling strategies
  • Identifying bottlenecks: CPU, I/O, locks, network
  • Benchmarking methodology: pgbench, custom workloads
  • Performance regression testing
Interview Focus: Tune this database for X workload

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Track 3: Internals

Understand how PostgreSQL actually works — essential for senior roles and OSS contribution.
Duration: 10-12 hoursHow data is stored, retrieved, and managed on disk.
  • Page layout: header, line pointers, tuples
  • Heap files and TOAST (oversized attributes)
  • Tuple structure: system columns, null bitmap, alignment
  • Free Space Map (FSM) and Visibility Map (VM)
  • Tablespaces and file organization
  • Heap-only tuples (HOT) optimization
OSS Prep: Reading storage-related source code (src/backend/access/heap)
Duration: 12-14 hoursThe journey from SQL text to execution results.
  • Parser: lexical analysis, syntax tree
  • Analyzer: semantic analysis, name resolution
  • Rewriter: rule system, view expansion
  • Planner: path generation, cost estimation, plan selection
  • Executor: node types, pipeline execution
  • Expression evaluation and JIT compilation
OSS Prep: Understanding src/backend/parser, optimizer, executor
Duration: 10-12 hoursSystem architecture and component interaction.
  • Process model: postmaster, backends, auxiliary processes
  • Shared memory architecture
  • Buffer pool management and replacement algorithms
  • WAL: structure, write-ahead logging protocol
  • Checkpoint process and recovery
  • Background writer and checkpointer
  • Autovacuum subsystem
OSS Prep: Navigating src/backend directory structure

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Advanced Internals Deep Dives

For engineers targeting staff+ roles or PostgreSQL contributions, these modules provide production-grade depth:

Lock Manager Deep Dive

Spinlocks, LWLocks, heavyweight locks, deadlock detection algorithms, and lock monitoring.

Buffer Manager Deep Dive

Clock sweep algorithm, buffer descriptors, ring buffers, dirty page handling, and pg_prewarm.

Memory Management

Memory contexts, palloc/pfree, AllocSet internals, shared memory, NUMA, and huge pages.

Catalog System

pg_class, pg_attribute, pg_type, syscache, relcache, and cache invalidation.

Extension Development

Building extensions with hooks, custom types, operators, FDWs, and background workers.

Source Code Navigation

Repository structure, key data structures, coding conventions, and patch workflow.

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Track 4: Production & Open Source

Real-world operations and contribution skills.
Duration: 10-12 hoursBuild systems that survive failures.
  • Physical replication: streaming, WAL shipping
  • Replication slots and conflict handling
  • Synchronous vs asynchronous trade-offs
  • Logical replication: publications, subscriptions
  • Failover automation: Patroni, repmgr
  • Split-brain prevention
  • Connection pooling: PgBouncer, Pgpool-II
Interview Focus: Design HA architecture, RTO/RPO discussions
Duration: 12-14 hoursFrom one server to global distribution.
  • Vertical vs horizontal scaling decision framework
  • Table partitioning: range, list, hash
  • Partition pruning and constraint exclusion
  • Sharding strategies and implementation patterns
  • Citus for distributed PostgreSQL
  • Read scaling with replicas
  • Caching layers: application, Redis, pg_prewarm
  • Multi-region architectures
Interview Focus: Scale this system 100x
Duration: 10-12 hoursRun databases like a senior SRE.
  • Monitoring: pg_stat_* views, pg_stat_statements
  • Alerting strategies and runbooks
  • Backup strategies: pg_dump, pg_basebackup, pgBackRest
  • Point-in-time recovery (PITR)
  • Upgrade strategies: pg_upgrade, logical replication
  • Security: roles, RLS, SSL, audit logging
  • Disaster recovery planning and testing
Interview Focus: Incident response, DR scenarios
Duration: 14-16 hoursNavigate and understand the PostgreSQL codebase.
  • Repository structure and build system
  • Code style and conventions
  • Key data structures: List, Node, Plan, Path
  • Memory contexts and palloc
  • Error handling and elog/ereport
  • Catalog tables and system catalogs
  • Extension API and hooks
  • Reading existing patches
OSS Prep: Setting up development environment
Duration: 8-10 hoursBecome a PostgreSQL contributor.
  • Development workflow: mailing lists, commitfest
  • Finding contribution opportunities
  • Writing quality patches
  • Documentation contributions
  • Bug reporting and triage
  • Code review process
  • Community interaction etiquette
  • Building your contributor reputation
Outcome: First accepted patch or documentation contribution

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Capstone: Senior Interview Preparation

Duration: 12-14 hoursAce database questions in senior engineering interviews.Technical Deep Dives:
  • “Explain MVCC and its trade-offs”
  • “How would you debug a slow query in production?”
  • “Describe B-Tree internals”
  • “What happens when you run a SELECT query?”
System Design Integration:
  • Database selection for different use cases
  • Scaling strategies and trade-offs
  • Consistency vs availability decisions
  • Data modeling for complex domains
Behavioral with Technical Context:
  • “Tell me about a database issue you solved”
  • “How do you make decisions about denormalization?”
  • “Describe a time you optimized a critical query”
Duration: 10-12 hoursReal-world database design problems.
  • E-Commerce Platform: inventory, orders, payments
  • Social Media Feed: fan-out, timeline assembly
  • Real-Time Analytics: time-series, aggregations
  • Multi-Tenant SaaS: isolation, noisy neighbor
  • Event Sourcing System: append-only, projections
  • Global Application: multi-region, conflict resolution

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Learning Outcomes

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After Completing This Course, You Will:

1

Senior-Level Technical Skills

Deep understanding of database internals that enables you to make informed architectural decisions and debug complex production issues.
2

Interview Confidence

Ability to discuss trade-offs, explain internals, and design data systems that impress senior/staff level interviewers.
3

OSS Contribution Ready

Understanding of PostgreSQL source code structure and development workflow to make meaningful contributions.
4

Production Expertise

Skills to operate, scale, and troubleshoot PostgreSQL in high-stakes production environments.

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Who Should Take This Course?

ProfileWhat You’ll Gain
Mid-Level EngineersSkills to reach senior level
Senior EngineersDepth for staff/principal roles
Backend DevelopersDatabase expertise that stands out
Platform EngineersProduction PostgreSQL mastery
OSS EnthusiastsPath to PostgreSQL contribution
Interview CandidatesDeep dive preparation

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Course Materials

Video Lessons

60+ hours of deep technical content

Hands-On Labs

Docker-based practice environments

Source Code Walkthroughs

PostgreSQL codebase exploration

Interview Question Bank

100+ senior-level questions

Cheat Sheets

Quick reference for interviews

Community Access

Discord + office hours

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Start Your Journey

Track 1: Foundations

Begin with SQL Mastery

Track 3: Internals

Jump to internals if you’re experienced