--- title: I Gave 2 Hours Daily to DSA & System Design, Best... description: A backend developer with 1.5 years of experience shares their journey of dedicating 2 hours daily for 31 days to studying data structures and algorithms (1... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/oivciktjb twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I Gave 2 Hours Daily to DSA & System Design, Best Decision Ever | daily.dev og:description: A backend developer with 1.5 years of experience shares their journey of dedicating 2 hours daily for 31 days to studying data structures and algorithms (1... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/oivciktjb og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/oIVciktjB.png og:image:alt: Post cover image og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I Gave 2 Hours Daily to DSA & System Design, Best Decision Ever **[Owali Ullah Shawon](https://daily.dev/sources/egcucnjqsljaoppvehbeg)** · [@owalishawon](https://daily.dev/owalishawon) · 1053 upvotes · 46 comments ## Summary A backend developer with 1.5 years of experience shares their journey of dedicating 2 hours daily for 31 days to studying data structures and algorithms (1 hour) and system design (1 hour). The consistent practice transformed their technical understanding, interview performance, and workplace confidence. They progressed from struggling with basic concepts to recognizing DSA patterns and explaining system design topics like message queues, caching, and load balancing. The approach emphasizes discipline over motivation, with a simple routine of solving LeetCode problems and studying one system design concept daily through videos and diagrams. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@israchido** · 20 upvotes > I wanna try this out but I'm unsure if LeetCode is my type of thing it's always extremely frustrating and feel like I'm not really learning other than recognizing problems and then mix them up until I notice patterns. > > Is there another way to actually learn DSA? Also the author doesn't really explain how to pick actually relevant topics to learn SD, can someone suggest some channels? **@neoscripter** · 9 upvotes > I like the idea, but getting such results in 4 weeks only? I'm sincerely surprised. I started a similar challenge (at least 2 leetcode problems every morning, oftentimes more than 2 every single morning) about 5 months ago (149 days ago, to be specific). > > Yeah, the progress is huge, but it was not even close to what you describe after one month only. It does help a lot, though, I noticed, that my thinking got to a new level when I write code. > > I definitely recommend that, but don't expect huge results in 4 weeks only. **@adampagano** · 3 upvotes > I honestly found leetcode and hackerrank incredibly poor resources for learning the fundamentals, but if that's what worked for this person, great. I think I got more from going back to my old college text books if I want to review the basics and Udemy, Microsoft Learn and other resources if I want dabble in particular technologies. > > Knowing the fundamentals is important. It is key to writing good code and making good design choices. That said, I'll call you out on a PR if I catch you reinventing the wheel. **@zeeshansafdar** · 3 upvotes > Oh man... You nailed it. I was thinking of starting it next week, and that next week never comes. You are right, we don't need 10 hours a day, we need consistency, and we have to do the imperfect actions each day. > > Improvement is not about doing it all at once; it is about improving 1% each day. **@manuelceppi** · 3 upvotes > Totally agree with the spirit, every software engineer that actually want to upgrade himself and his career should do it. Consistency is the key! ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#backend](https://daily.dev/tags/backend), [#interview](https://daily.dev/tags/interview) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/oivciktjb) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/oivciktjb","headline":"I Gave 2 Hours Daily to DSA & System Design, Best Decision Ever","text":"Shared: I Gave 2 Hours Daily to DSA & System Design, Best Decision Ever","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/oivciktjb","datePublished":"2025-10-05T04:56:40.736Z","dateModified":"2025-10-05T04:57:21.516Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Owali Ullah Shawon","url":"https://daily.dev/owalishawon","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--5AnZM-__--/f_auto/v1762663308/avatars/avatar_eGcUCNJqsljAoPpvehbEg?_a=BAMAK+ZW0","description":"Software Engineer | Full Stack Web Dev","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":1050}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--CxzD6vbw--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2005","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1053},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":46}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/McUc7fuNZ"},"comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"I wanna try this out but I’m unsure if LeetCode is my type of thing it’s always extremely frustrating and feel like I’m not really learning other than recognizing problems and then mix them up until I notice patterns.\nIs there another way to actually learn DSA? Also the author doesn’t really explain how to pick actually relevant topics to learn SD, can someone suggest some channels?","datePublished":"2025-10-08T21:16:56.440Z","dateModified":"2025-10-08T21:18:58.405Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/oIVciktjB#c-RsEfxUwSX","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Jesús de Israel Jiménez Tostado","url":"https://daily.dev/israchido","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--tbYCQGZl--/f_auto/v1757715708/avatars/avatar_N6eiQrt9937VKy885SzXb?_a=BAMClqZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":20}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I like the idea, but getting such results in 4 weeks only? I’m sincerely surprised. I started a similar challenge (at least 2 leetcode problems every morning, oftentimes more than 2 every single morning) about 5 months ago (149 days ago, to be specific).\nYeah, the progress is huge, but it was not even close to what you describe after one month only. It does help a lot, though, I noticed, that my thinking got to a new level when I write code.\nI definitely recommend that, but don’t expect huge results in 4 weeks only.","datePublished":"2025-10-10T09:06:04.752Z","dateModified":"2025-10-10T09:06:38.041Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/oIVciktjB#c-aeHAf0HHE","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Ilya Andreev","url":"https://daily.dev/neoscripter","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/140309026?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":9}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I honestly found leetcode and hackerrank incredibly poor resources for learning the fundamentals, but if that’s what worked for this person, great. I think I got more from going back to my old college text books if I want to review the basics and Udemy, Microsoft Learn and other resources if I want dabble in particular technologies.\nKnowing the fundamentals is important. It is key to writing good code and making good design choices. That said, I’ll call you out on a PR if I catch you reinventing the wheel.","datePublished":"2025-10-15T00:18:50.638Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/oIVciktjB#c-Xz6t510oa","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Adam Pagano","url":"https://daily.dev/adampagano","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Oh man… You nailed it. I was thinking of starting it next week, and that next week never comes. You are right, we don’t need 10 hours a day, we need consistency, and we have to do the imperfect actions each day.\nImprovement is not about doing it all at once; it is about improving 1% each day.","datePublished":"2025-10-14T05:52:13.286Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/oIVciktjB#c-PuuV7JbL8","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeeshan Safdar","url":"https://daily.dev/zeeshansafdar","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocL-TiDuSvN6o3ql-olNmmRbEvopZcWdFBhM-4pHTIus2sY79Q=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Totally agree with the spirit, every software engineer that actually want to upgrade himself and his career should do it. Consistency is the key!","datePublished":"2025-10-09T12:45:12.389Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/oIVciktjB#c-KMA1I1V6V","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Manuel Ceppi","url":"https://daily.dev/manuelceppi","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/25196511?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/egcucnjqsljaoppvehbeg","name":"Owali Ullah Shawon"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Owali Ullah Shawon","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/egcucnjqsljaoppvehbeg"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"I Gave 2 Hours Daily to DSA & System Design, Best Decision Ever"}]} ```