Career path · Backend developer

Software Pathway: Python to system design

Eight courses from your first Python script to designing a system that has to stay up: Python, Git and containers, APIs and SQL, automated testing, Kubernetes, web security, and system design. Most of the work is done in an editor on your own machine; one course includes a hosted lab.

Starting level
No experience needed
Content time
106 h 20 min
lesson time, from the published courses
Suggested pace
About 16 weeks
planning estimate, at your own pace
Weekly commitment
5–8 hours
suggested study time
Courses
8
Lessons
80
Labs
1
on real virtual machines
Certificate
On completion
Ultiblob-issued, verifiable by serial
Sign in to enrollEmployee sign-in$249.00 · Introductory pricing. Review the current price before checkout.
Three learners at a lab table with laptops and a server on a cart.

Before you start

Is this path for you?

A backend route that spends as much time on the work around the code as on the code itself. You write Python, then put it under version control and into a container, then behind an API with a database. The second half is what separates a script from a service: tests that run without you, deployment on Kubernetes, the web vulnerabilities an attacker looks for, and the design decisions that decide whether a system survives its second year. 80 lessons, about 106 hours of lesson content, with graded checks throughout.

Who it is for

  • Career changers starting with no programming background
  • Self-taught developers filling in testing, containers and system design
  • IT and operations staff moving into software
  • Analysts or scripters who want to build services rather than scripts

What you should know

  • Comfortable using a computer and a web browser
  • No prior programming experience is assumed

What you will need

  • A computer you can install software on — you will work in your own editor and terminal
  • A stable internet connection
  • One course provides a hosted lab machine; the rest run locally on your computer

Curriculum

7 stages, in the order the work happens

Stage 1

Python

  1. Python

Stage 2

Git

  1. Git

Stage 3

APIs and databases

  1. APIs and databases

Stage 4

Testing

  1. Testing

Stage 5

Containers and deployment

  1. Containers and deployment

Stage 6

Security

  1. Security

Stage 7

System design

  1. System design

Hands-on

Labs on this path

Each of these courses provisions virtual machines for you on the Ultiblob cluster and opens a console in your browser. The topology below is the published blueprint — roles and operating systems only.

Price and enrollment

$249.00

Introductory pricing. Review the current price before checkout.

  • labs included
  • certificate on completion

Before you decide

What we will not promise

  • A job, a salary, or an employer introduction. We teach and we let you practise; we do not place people.
  • Accreditation. An Ultiblob certificate records what you completed here. It is not an industry certification.
  • Statistics we have not measured. You will not find completion rates, placement rates or student counts on this site until they exist and are audited.

We would rather lose you here than mislead you.

$249.00

introductory price