Backend-first full stack: APIs, databases, auth, real-time, and DevOps. Build, ship, and scale complete web applications.
Never written code? You can still start here.
Module 0 opens with 18 lessons of programming from nothing — your first program, variables, loops, functions, reading errors, the terminal, Git and arrays — before any of the Full Stack Development material. No prior coding assumed.
AI Foundations — optional basics (free)
Week 0 · 20 lessons
Beyond the chatbox: what AI assistants really are
How the model "thinks" — and why it changes how you ask
The capability map: what AI does brilliantly
The limits: hallucination, freshness, and what never to trust it with
Your first real win: turn a 30-minute task into 3
6 senior modules · 30lessons · capstone & certificate. Upgrade your plan to unlock the advanced tier.
Advanced Database Patterns & Performance
5 lessons
Query Optimization & Execution Plans
Indexing Strategies: B-Trees, GIN, GiST & Partial Indexes
Get started
Take the free assessment to see your skill level and get a personalised learning plan.
Take AssessmentFeatured Projects
REST API with CRUD
Auth System (JWT + OAuth)
Blog Platform with CMS
About
Full Stack Development
20 questions · ~30 minutes
Context is everything: give it what it needs to know
Give it a role and a goal
Constraints and format: define what "good" looks like
Show, don't tell: examples and templates
Iterate like a pro: steer, don't restart
Documents and reports: summarise, extract, and draft better
Spreadsheets and data: Excel formulas, analysis, and charts
Presentations: from blank page to a solid deck
Long, messy input: transcripts, threads, notes, and screenshots
ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini: which to reach for, and when
Make smarter decisions: AI as your thinking partner
Chaining steps: multi-part tasks done reliably
Your prompt library: reusable templates that save hours
Staying safe: privacy, accuracy, and company data
Capstone: do a real task end-to-end (graded) → your certificate
Module 0 — Foundations: JavaScript, the Web & Your Dev Toolkit
Week 0 · 23 lessons
What a program is and how to run your first one
Storing values in variables, and why text and numbers behave differently
Making decisions with if, else and comparisons
Storing many values in a list
Looking things up by name with dictionaries
Doing something to every item with loops
Writing your own functions
Reading errors without panic
Finding the mistake in your own code
Saving your code in a file and running it
Importing code other people have written
Giving each project its own environment
Talking to your computer with the terminal
Saving your work with Git
Putting your work on GitHub
What an array is, and why a list is not enough
Picking out pieces: indexing and slicing, including two dimensions
Maths on a whole array at once, and where you go next
Your Dev Environment: Terminal, Node & npm
JavaScript Essentials: Variables, Types & Functions
Async JavaScript & JSON
How the Web Works: HTTP, Clients, Servers & APIs
Git & GitHub for Developers
Backend Foundations
Week 1 · 5 lessons
HTTP & REST Principles
Node.js & Express Setup
Routing & Middleware
Request/Response Handling
Error Handling Patterns
Databases
Week 2 · 5 lessons
SQL & PostgreSQL Basics
Schema Design
Migrations & Versioning
Indexing & Query Optimisation
Database Relationships
ORMs & Data Access
Week 3 · 5 lessons
Prisma Setup & Queries
Type-Safe Database Access
Transactions & Relations
Seeding & Migrations
Drizzle ORM Alternative
Auth & Security
Week 4 · 5 lessons
JWT Authentication
OAuth & Social Login
Session Management
Role-Based Access Control
OWASP for Full Stack
Real-time & Jobs
Week 5 · 5 lessons
WebSockets Fundamentals
Pub/Sub with Redis
Background Jobs
Cron & Scheduled Tasks
Event-Driven Architecture
APIs & Integrations
Week 6 · 5 lessons
REST API Design
GraphQL Basics
Webhooks
Stripe Payments
Email with SendGrid
DevOps & Deployment
Week 7 · 5 lessons
Docker for Full Stack
CI/CD Pipelines
Vercel Deployment
Environment Management
Monitoring & Logging
Scaling & Production
Week 8 · 5 lessons
Caching Strategies
Rate Limiting
Load Balancing
Multi-Tenant Architecture
Production Readiness Checklist
Testing & Quality Engineering
Week 9 · 6 lessons
The Testing Pyramid in Practice
Unit Testing Node Services
Integration Testing: Databases and APIs
Contract Testing and Schema Safety
End-to-End Testing Without Tears
CI Quality Gates
Connection Pooling & Read Replicas
Event Sourcing & CQRS
Database Sharding & Horizontal Scaling
Distributed Systems & Microservices
5 lessons
CAP Theorem & Consistency Models in Practice
Event-Driven Architecture & Message Queues
Saga Patterns & Distributed Transactions
gRPC & Protocol Buffers for Internal Services
Service Discovery, Health Checks & Circuit Breakers
Performance Engineering & Observability
5 lessons
Frontend Performance: Core Web Vitals & Rendering
Caching Strategies: HTTP, CDN, Redis & Application-Level
Load Testing & Capacity Planning
Structured Logging & Distributed Tracing
SLOs, Error Budgets & On-Call Culture
Infrastructure & DevOps
5 lessons
Docker in Production: Multi-Stage Builds & Security
Kubernetes Fundamentals: Pods, Services & Deployments
CI/CD Pipelines: GitHub Actions & Deployment Strategies
Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
Secrets Management & Cloud Cost Optimization
Security & Reliability Engineering
5 lessons
OWASP Top 10: Injection, XSS & CSRF Deep Dives
OAuth 2.0 & OpenID Connect Internals
Security Headers, CSP & Supply Chain Security
Chaos Engineering & Resilience Testing
Incident Response & Blameless Post-Mortems
System Design & Architecture
5 lessons
System Design Fundamentals: Load Balancers & Reverse Proxies
Designing a URL Shortener & Rate Limiter
Real-Time Notification & Chat Systems at Scale
Payment Processing & Financial System Design
Capstone: End-to-End Production System Design