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Operating Systems Mastery

A comprehensive curriculum designed for engineers targeting senior/staff roles at top tech companies. This course goes beyond textbook theory — it covers real-world OS internals, Linux kernel concepts, modern OS features, and the deep technical knowledge expected in FAANG interviews.
Course Duration: 14-18 weeks (self-paced)
Target Outcome: Senior Software Engineer / Systems Engineer / SRE
Prerequisites: C/C++ familiarity, basic systems programming
Primary Focus: Linux (with universal OS concepts)
Total Modules: 20 comprehensive modules

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Why This Course?

Senior Interview Ready

Deep system design discussions, OS internals, and trade-off analysis expected at L5+

Linux Kernel Focus

Real implementation details from the world’s most deployed OS kernel

Production Systems

Understand how OS concepts impact application performance at scale

Modern Tech Coverage

Containers, io_uring, eBPF, modern schedulers — what’s actually used today

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Course Structure

The curriculum is organized into 7 tracks progressing from foundational concepts to production expertise: 
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    OPERATING SYSTEMS MASTERY                                 │
│                    ═════════════════════════                                 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                              │
│  TRACK 0: FOUNDATIONS       TRACK 1: SYSTEM STARTUP                         │
│  ──────────────────────     ─────────────────────                           │
│  ■ OS Architecture          ■ Boot Process                                  │
│  ■ Core Purposes            (BIOS/UEFI → Kernel)                            │
│  ■ Kernel Subsystems                                                        │
│                                                                              │
│  TRACK 2: FUNDAMENTALS      TRACK 3: MEMORY & STORAGE                       │
│  ─────────────────────      ────────────────────────                        │
│  ■ Process Management       ■ Memory Management                             │
│  ■ Threads & Concurrency    ■ Virtual Memory                                │
│  ■ CPU Scheduling                                                           │
│                                                                              │
│  TRACK 4: CONCURRENCY & I/O TRACK 5: NETWORKING                             │
│  ─────────────────────────  ─────────────────────                           │
│  ■ Synchronization          ■ Network Stack Internals                       │
│  ■ Deadlocks                                                                │
│  ■ Inter-Process Comm.                                                      │
│  ■ File Systems                                                             │
│  ■ I/O Systems                                                              │
│                                                                              │
│  TRACK 6: ADVANCED & PRODUCTION                                             │
│  ───────────────────────────                                                │
│  ■ Containers & Virtualization                                              │
│  ■ Linux Kernel Architecture                                                │
│  ■ Modern OS Features                                                       │
│  ■ Debugging & Performance                                                  │
│  ■ OS Security                                                              │
│                                                                              │
│  CAPSTONE                                                                   │
│  ────────                                                                   │
│  ■ Senior Interview Preparation                                             │
│  ■ Real-World Case Studies                                                  │
│                                                                              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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Track 0: Foundations

Understanding the big picture before diving into details.
Duration: 4-6 hours | New ModuleThe essential foundation for understanding operating systems.
  • Operating System Architecture (Layered Model)
  • User Space vs Kernel Space
  • Core Purposes: Abstraction, Multiplexing, Isolation
  • Controlled Sharing and Security
  • Inside the Kernel: Major Subsystems
  • System Call Interface
  • Why Operating Systems Exist
Interview Focus: Explain OS architecture, system call flow, kernel responsibilitiesStart Module →
Duration: 4-6 hours | New ModuleUnderstanding the hardware foundation of operating systems.
  • Instruction Set Architectures (ISAs)
  • x86-64: CISC architecture, privilege rings, system calls
  • ARM: RISC architecture, exception levels, mobile dominance
  • RISC-V: Open-source ISA, modular design, future potential
  • Architecture-specific OS considerations
  • Context switching and calling conventions
  • Memory ordering models
Interview Focus: Compare architectures, explain why OS needs architecture-specific codeStart Module →
Duration: 8-12 hours | New ModuleLearn OS internals by studying and modifying a real, simple operating system.
  • What is xv6 and why it’s perfect for learning
  • Complete boot sequence walkthrough
  • System call mechanism (fork, exec, open, etc.)
  • Process management and scheduling
  • Virtual memory implementation
  • File system internals
  • Hands-on labs and debugging with GDB
  • xv6 + RISC-V + QEMU integration
Interview Focus: Trace system calls, explain kernel mechanisms, discuss OS design trade-offsStart Module →

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Track 1: System Startup

Understanding how a computer boots — from power-on to user space.
Duration: 6-8 hours | New ModuleThe complete boot sequence from firmware to user space.
  • BIOS vs UEFI: Legacy and modern firmware
  • POST (Power-On Self-Test) and hardware initialization
  • MBR vs GPT partitioning schemes
  • Bootloaders: GRUB2 deep dive
  • Kernel loading and decompression
  • initramfs and early userspace
  • Init systems: systemd architecture
  • Boot security: Secure Boot, measured boot
Interview Focus: Explain complete boot sequence, debug boot issuesStart Module →

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Track 2: Fundamentals

Master the core abstractions that every senior engineer must understand deeply.
Duration: 8-10 hoursUnderstanding how programs become processes.
  • Process lifecycle: creation, execution, termination
  • Process Control Block (PCB) — what the kernel tracks
  • fork(), exec(), wait() — the Unix process model
  • Context switching — what really happens under the hood
  • Process states and transitions
  • Orphan and zombie processes — causes and handling
Interview Focus: Explain context switch overhead, fork() vs vfork() vs clone()Start Module →
Duration: 10-12 hoursMulti-threading models and implementation.
  • User threads vs kernel threads
  • Threading models: 1:1, M:N, M:1
  • Thread lifecycle and thread-local storage
  • POSIX threads (pthreads) deep dive
  • Thread pools and work stealing
  • Green threads and coroutines (Go, Rust models)
Interview Focus: Compare threading models, explain thread pool sizingStart Module →
Duration: 8-10 hoursHow the OS decides what runs and when.
  • Scheduling criteria: throughput, latency, fairness
  • FCFS, SJF, Priority, Round Robin algorithms
  • Multi-level Feedback Queues (MLFQ)
  • Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS) in Linux
  • Real-time scheduling: Rate Monotonic, EDF
  • CPU affinity and NUMA considerations
Interview Focus: Design a scheduler for specific workload, explain CFSStart Module →

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Track 3: Memory & Storage

The two most critical resources that define system performance.
Duration: 10-12 hoursPhysical memory allocation and management.
  • Memory hierarchy and access patterns
  • Contiguous allocation and fragmentation
  • Buddy system allocator
  • Slab allocator for kernel objects
  • Memory protection mechanisms
  • OOM killer and memory pressure
Interview Focus: Implement allocator, explain fragmentation trade-offsStart Module →
Duration: 12-14 hoursThe abstraction that makes modern computing possible.
  • Address spaces and memory mapping
  • Paging: page tables, multi-level page tables
  • Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) — crucial for performance
  • Page replacement: LRU, Clock, Second Chance, Working Set
  • Demand paging and copy-on-write (COW)
  • Memory-mapped files and shared memory
  • Huge pages and their impact on performance
Interview Focus: Design memory allocator, explain TLB shootdownStart Module →

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Track 4: Concurrency & I/O

Critical topics that separate senior from junior engineers.
Duration: 12-14 hoursBuilding correct concurrent programs.
  • Race conditions and critical sections
  • Mutual exclusion: Peterson’s, Dekker’s algorithms
  • Hardware support: test-and-set, compare-and-swap
  • Spinlocks: when to use, implementation details
  • Mutexes and condition variables
  • Semaphores: binary and counting
  • Read-write locks and their variants
  • Lock-free data structures introduction
Interview Focus: Implement mutex, explain spinlock vs mutex choiceStart Module →
Duration: 6-8 hoursDetection, prevention, and recovery.
  • Deadlock conditions: mutual exclusion, hold-and-wait, no preemption, circular wait
  • Resource allocation graphs
  • Deadlock prevention strategies
  • Deadlock avoidance: Banker’s algorithm
  • Deadlock detection algorithms
  • Recovery strategies
  • Livelock and starvation
  • Priority inversion and priority inheritance
Interview Focus: Identify deadlock in code, explain prevention strategiesStart Module →
Duration: 10-12 hoursHow processes share data and coordinate.
  • Pipes: anonymous and named (FIFOs)
  • Message queues: POSIX and System V
  • Shared memory: mmap, shmget
  • Signals: synchronous vs asynchronous
  • Sockets: Unix domain and network
  • Memory-mapped files for IPC
  • D-Bus and modern IPC
  • Performance comparison of IPC mechanisms
Interview Focus: Choose IPC mechanism for scenario, implement producer-consumerStart Module →
Duration: 10-12 hoursHow data is organized and persisted.
  • File system layout: superblock, inodes, data blocks
  • Directory implementation: linear, hash, B-tree
  • Allocation strategies: contiguous, linked, indexed
  • ext4 deep dive: extents, journaling, delayed allocation
  • VFS (Virtual File System) layer in Linux
  • Journaling and crash recovery
  • Modern file systems: XFS, Btrfs, ZFS
Interview Focus: Compare file systems, explain journaling modesStart Module →
Duration: 8-10 hoursBridging hardware and software.
  • I/O hardware: controllers, buses, DMA
  • Programmed I/O vs interrupt-driven vs DMA
  • Block and character devices
  • I/O scheduling: NOOP, CFQ, Deadline, BFQ
  • Buffer cache and page cache
  • Device driver architecture
  • Modern storage: NVMe, io_uring
Interview Focus: Explain DMA benefits, I/O scheduling trade-offsStart Module →

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Track 5: Networking

Understanding the kernel network stack — essential for distributed systems.
Duration: 10-12 hours | New ModuleHow the kernel handles network I/O.
  • Socket API internals and socket buffers (sk_buff)
  • TCP/IP stack implementation in Linux
  • Packet flow: from NIC to application
  • Network namespaces and virtual networking
  • Connection handling and backlog
  • Zero-copy networking techniques
  • XDP (eXpress Data Path) for high performance
  • Network performance tuning
Interview Focus: Explain TCP connection lifecycle, socket buffer managementStart Module →

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Track 6: Advanced & Production

Real-world OS knowledge for production systems.
Duration: 10-12 hours | New ModuleThe foundation of modern cloud infrastructure.
  • Linux namespaces: all 8 types explained
  • Control groups (cgroups) v1 and v2
  • Container runtimes: containerd, runc
  • Docker internals: layered filesystem, networking
  • Hypervisors: Type 1 vs Type 2
  • KVM and hardware virtualization (VT-x/AMD-V)
  • Paravirtualization vs full virtualization
  • Container security and isolation
Interview Focus: Explain how Docker works, namespaces vs VMsStart Module →
Duration: 12-14 hoursUnderstanding the world’s most important OS kernel.
  • Kernel architecture: monolithic with modules
  • Kernel address space layout
  • Process management in Linux: task_struct
  • Kernel threading: kthreads, workqueues
  • Memory management: slab allocator, buddy system
  • Kernel synchronization: spinlocks, RCU, seqlocks
  • Kernel modules: writing and loading
  • System calls and the syscall table
Interview Focus: Explain how containers work, kernel memory allocationStart Module →
Duration: 8-10 hours | New ModuleCutting-edge kernel features you need to know.
  • io_uring: modern async I/O interface
  • eBPF: programmable kernel extensions
  • Modern schedulers: CFS, EEVDF
  • Pressure Stall Information (PSI)
  • Transparent Huge Pages (THP)
  • Memory tiering and NUMA balancing
  • Kernel bypass techniques
  • Future directions in OS design
Interview Focus: When to use io_uring, eBPF use casesStart Module →
Duration: 10-12 hours | New ModuleTools and techniques for production systems.
  • GDB: advanced debugging techniques
  • strace/ltrace for system call tracing
  • perf: CPU profiling and analysis
  • Flame graphs and performance visualization
  • ftrace and function tracing
  • bpftrace for dynamic tracing
  • Memory debugging: valgrind, ASan
  • Kernel debugging techniques
Interview Focus: Debug production issues, explain profiling approachesStart Module →
Duration: 8-10 hoursSecurity from the OS perspective.
  • Protection rings and privilege levels
  • Access control: DAC, MAC, RBAC
  • Capabilities and least privilege
  • Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)
  • Stack canaries and buffer overflow prevention
  • Secure boot and chain of trust
  • SELinux and AppArmor
  • Spectre, Meltdown, and hardware vulnerabilities
Interview Focus: Explain security mechanisms, vulnerability mitigationStart Module →

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Capstone

Duration: 6-8 hoursPutting it all together for interviews.
  • Common OS interview question patterns
  • System design with OS considerations
  • Debugging scenarios and walkthroughs
  • Trade-off discussions framework
  • Real interview experiences and solutions
  • Mock interview problems with solutions
  • Study plan and prioritization guide
Interview Focus: Comprehensive preparation for senior rolesStart Module →
Duration: 4-6 hoursLearning from production systems.
  • Linux kernel evolution case studies
  • Container orchestration internals
  • Database OS interactions
  • High-performance networking
  • Production debugging stories
Start Module →

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Learning Path Recommendations

Quick Prep (3-4 weeks)

Focus on Processes, Threads, Memory, Synchronization, and Deadlocks — core concepts for most interviews.

Comprehensive (8-10 weeks)

Complete Tracks 2-4 plus Security for solid theoretical and practical understanding.

Expert Track (14-18 weeks)

Full course including boot process, containers, networking, modern features, and debugging.

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Interview Topics by Company Type

Company TypeKey Focus Areas
FAANGVirtual memory, scheduling, concurrency, containers, system calls
Systems/InfraLinux internals, file systems, I/O, networking, performance
Cloud/ContainerNamespaces, cgroups, virtualization, networking, security
Database CompaniesBuffer management, I/O, concurrency control, file systems
EmbeddedBoot process, real-time scheduling, memory constraints, drivers
SecurityOS security, isolation, Secure Boot, vulnerability mitigation

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New in This Course

Boot Process Deep Dive

From BIOS/UEFI to systemd — understand the complete boot sequence

Containers & Virtualization

Namespaces, cgroups, Docker internals, KVM — foundation of cloud

Network Stack Internals

Socket buffers, TCP/IP in kernel, XDP — essential for distributed systems

Modern OS Features

io_uring, eBPF, modern schedulers — cutting-edge kernel features

Debugging & Performance

GDB, perf, bpftrace, flame graphs — production debugging skills

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Prerequisites & Setup

1

Programming Background

Comfortable with C/C++, basic understanding of pointers and memory
2

Development Environment

Linux system (VM, WSL2, or native) for hands-on exercises
3

Tools

GCC/Clang, GDB, strace, perf — all covered in the course
4

Recommended Reading

“Operating System Concepts” (Silberschatz) or “Linux Kernel Development” (Love) as reference

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What Makes This Course Different

This isn’t a rehash of OS textbooks. We focus on:
  • Interview-relevant depth: What senior engineers actually get asked
  • Linux-specific implementation: Real code, not abstract theory
  • Production perspective: How these concepts impact real systems
  • Modern coverage: Containers, eBPF, io_uring — not just legacy concepts
  • Trade-off discussions: The nuanced thinking senior roles require
Ready to master operating systems? Start with OS Architecture & Fundamentals, then move to Boot Process or jump to Process Management