2025 Winter Term 1
Starting in September 2025 I will be teaching this course. The previous version of this course was taught by Dr. Aliabadi. Given the continuous changes in the industry, I have decided to move to a different structure for the course that emphasizes problem solving rather than learning about tools.
This course is about thinking like an architect, not coding like a developer. The difference? Developers make things work. Architects make things work sustainably for decades. Code I wrote in 1990 is still running in production today. The “vibe coding” you might do with AI assistance probably won’t survive 5 months.
Why is this course different?
We embrace AI as a collaborator, not a crutch. You’ll use Generative AI extensively – but you’ll document every failure, critique every output, and maintain agency over every decision. You’re the architect; AI is a tool in your belt.
We make constraints visible. Every architectural decision has costs – financial, environmental, human. We’ll calculate real AWS bills, discuss actual power consumption, and understand why your choices matter for the climate reality you’ll be living through.
We learn through problems, not tools. Each week starts with a failure scenario or crisis. You’ll learn serverless vs containers not because I tell you to, but because you’ll see one costs $61/month and the other $1,200/month for the same functionality.
We value finding over searching. Searching assumes you know what you’re looking for. Finding means discovering constraints and solutions you didn’t know existed. Your capstone project will require you to identify and solve real problems, not just implement predetermined solutions.
This course follows principles of reciprocity. I’ll share my experiences including successes, failures, and insights; you’ll engage authentically rather than performatively. We’ll iterate and adjust throughout the term based on what’s working. Transparency is a feature, not a bug.
Fair warning: This is challenging material. Not because I want to make you suffer, but because the reality of distributed cloud systems is genuinely complex. The difference between 99% and 99.999% uptime isn’t just math – it’s completely different architectures, costs, and philosophies.
By December, you’ll be able to:
- Design systems that can handle viral traffic without bankruptcy
- Collaborate effectively with AI while maintaining critical thinking
- Understand the hidden costs (financial and environmental) of cloud architectures
- Build solutions that might actually survive 35 years
Welcome to CPSC 436C. Let’s make sure your future startup survives its first success.
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