Step-By-Step Guide To Build Any Large Software Project

When it comes to problems, several small ones is much better than 1 big one

A few days ago, I shared my new repo of organic, feasible, and at least somewhat original/unsolved side project ideas. Rahul Pandey and I have seen that a lot of engineers, junior ones in particular, have trouble exercising the product ideation muscle, which makes sense as they’re still learning how to code. This repo solves that problem, but I was quickly presented with another one from folks who were trying to build these ideas: “How do I build out these ideas? I don’t know where to start.”

This is a good question, and it’s a very understandable question to have when you’re a junior developer. It is especially understandable if you come from a structured educational background, which is, well, what most education is from my experience. The technique that is the answer to this question is extremely important for 2 reasons:

1. Conceptually, it is how you tackle any big problem, and this is literally a huge portion of what Rahul Pandey and I do all the time as tech leads at top tech companies like Facebook.
2. It is a vital process for truly understanding system design. At its core, system design is about knowing what components exist and how they fit together; this technique will teach you all of that.

So what’s this technique that you can use to take in any big, scary software…