--- 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/zhzkwwndj 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/zhzkwwndj og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/zhZkWwnDJ.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 **[Dev World](https://daily.dev/sources/dev_world)** · [@hadilbenabdallah](https://daily.dev/hadilbenabdallah) · 423 upvotes · 23 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. **@creativewarlock** · 35 upvotes > For me this "forced" learning never worked! Look at his face - he's in the "angry-learning-mode" ;-) > > The only way I would spend 2 hours per evening (or every second evening) would be with an ambitious project that I'd be proud of having completed after 1.5 years! > > If you don't know where to start, pick up a technology you always wanted to master and get yourself an online course and work along the examples. After a while your own ideas popup and you'll have a healthy fundament you can start building on. > > And never forget: The ONLY KEY to success is patience, patience, patience! > The rest... **@bits\_and\_bytes** · 3 upvotes > its helpful for some scenarios but realworld PM's TL's prefer how fast feature deliver and satisfy the end user or not. **@naingaunglinn** · 2 upvotes > Can you please share which resources you studied? What is the best for the beginner? **@gbubemijohn** · 0 upvotes > Facts **@deentap** · 0 upvotes > Nice ## 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 - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 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/zhzkwwndj) ```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/zhzkwwndj","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/zhzkwwndj","datePublished":"2025-10-07T12:31:50.295Z","dateModified":"2025-10-07T12:31:50.299Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Hadil Ben Abdallah","url":"https://daily.dev/hadilbenabdallah","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--npVXQBAk--/f_auto/v1726134205/avatars/avatar_9pqnrpoJdg1CfgqIBuMCl","description":"An Amazing Software Engineer & Technical Writer","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":31310}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--HRgLpUt6--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2003","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":423},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":23}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/McUc7fuNZ"},"comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"For me this “forced” learning never worked! Look at his face - he’s in the “angry-learning-mode” ;-)\nThe only way I would spend 2 hours per evening (or every second evening) would be with an ambitious project that I’d be proud of having completed after 1.5 years!\nIf you don’t know where to start, pick up a technology you always wanted to master and get yourself an online course and work along the examples. After a while your own ideas popup and you’ll have a healthy fundament you can start building on.\nAnd never forget: The ONLY KEY to success is patience, patience, patience!\nThe rest will magically fall into place!","datePublished":"2025-10-13T16:46:37.611Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/zhZkWwnDJ#c-XHan3IxCk","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Marcel Fitzner","url":"https://daily.dev/creativewarlock","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/4894323?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":35}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"its helpful for some scenarios but realworld PM’s TL’s prefer how fast feature deliver and satisfy the end user or not.","datePublished":"2025-10-14T14:54:47.806Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/zhZkWwnDJ#c-Bl24L2Nve","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"bits_007","url":"https://daily.dev/bits_and_bytes","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/182549945?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Can you please share which resources you studied? What is the best for the beginner?","datePublished":"2025-10-15T02:13:54.885Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/zhZkWwnDJ#c-sOOojalcZ","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Naing Aung Linn","url":"https://daily.dev/naingaunglinn","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/AAcHTteB6VLzIj0A-QHQeDf0EQzOrLGZ-G-ZxlHBCKsn1LQqux0=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Facts","datePublished":"2025-10-30T08:03:24.801Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/zhZkWwnDJ#c-36NtqaF82","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Gbubemi John","url":"https://daily.dev/gbubemijohn","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocK-nHEZ8-ZFf9sQklmFgF9JPrxGdVPvwkdFtdmEghpIMHBHO0sn=s96-c"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Nice","datePublished":"2025-10-16T21:56:22.815Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/zhZkWwnDJ#c-QLBpqHKJA","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Dennis E. 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