I've got my hands burning over the last 12 years in 4-5 places like that.
From web & app, frontend, to backend, databases and server management.
Yet I still find it hard to grasp good system design.
At best I prefer things to be as simple and clear as possible, that's about all I'm certain off.
Most systems are already so established if they get going, you are mostly patching. Once you start patching all effeciency goes out the window, especially if those who build v1 are gone. Hard, and most often a bad idea, to overhaul a system to something more stable & efficient.
Now that I think of it, probably my biggest learnings are what not to do, not what to do.
From web & app, frontend, to backend, databases and server management.
Yet I still find it hard to grasp good system design.
At best I prefer things to be as simple and clear as possible, that's about all I'm certain off.
Most systems are already so established if they get going, you are mostly patching. Once you start patching all effeciency goes out the window, especially if those who build v1 are gone. Hard, and most often a bad idea, to overhaul a system to something more stable & efficient.
Now that I think of it, probably my biggest learnings are what not to do, not what to do.