Welcome to CatZep

Deep-dive notes, interview prep, presentations and a few small apps.

220+ pages20 slide decks5 apps
🧩System DesignScenarios and classic interview designs 🔧System InternalsKafka, Redis, Cassandra and more, inside out 🧭Leadership & PeopleManaging, partnering, interview prep 📚BooksCLRS and The Science of Programming 🐍PythonPatterns, problems, flashcards #️⃣C#Patterns, versions, cheat sheet 🔬Applied ScienceML interview questions and a prep plan 🎤PresentationsSlide decks from basics to theory and information 🎮Apps & GamesOffline tools and little games
⚙️

Engineering

System design, how real systems work inside, and the craft of writing and reviewing code.

System Internals2 pages
  1. 01System Design
  2. 02System Internals Guides
Engineering Craft & Process4 pages
  1. 01Code Smells & Refactorings
  2. 02Scrum
  3. 03Design Patterns
  4. 04Basic Algorithms & Patterns
Code Review8 pages
  1. 01Beyond Correctness — Review Philosophy
  2. 02Performance, Scalability & Reliability
  3. 03Correctness in Distributed & Concurrent Code
  4. 04API, Schema & Query Compatibility
  5. 05Observability & Operability
  6. 06Privacy & Compliance
  7. 07Pushing Back on a Design
  8. 08Reviewing a Security-Critical Change
🧭

Leadership & People

Managing people, working across teams, interview prep and book notes.

Concept Explorers2 pages
  1. 01People Management
  2. 02Cross-functional Collaboration
People Management14 pages
  1. 01Coaching Senior Engineers Who Disagree
  2. 02Managing Underperformance
  3. 03Culture of Ownership & Operational Excellence
  4. 04Managing Globally Distributed Teams
  5. 05Growing Engineers into Technical Leaders
  6. 06Scaling a Team While Holding Quality
  7. 07Technical Decision-Making Under Ambiguity
  8. 08Mediating Engineering vs. Product Friction
  9. 09Instilling Product Thinking in Engineers
  10. 10Protecting a Team from On-Call Burnout
  11. 11Managing a Toxic High-Performer
  12. 12Delivering High-Stakes Feedback & Retaining Talent
  13. 13Defining Success for a Platform Team
  14. 14Delegating Without Abdicating
Cross-functional Partnerships11 pages
  1. 01Influence Without Authority
  2. 02Driving Platform Adoption
  3. 03Navigating Conflict & Breaking Stakeholder Deadlocks
  4. 04Downstream Consumers & Standardization
  5. 05Collaborating During Major Incidents
  6. 06Leading a Cross-functional Migration
  7. 07Aligning Eng with Finance & Infra
  8. 08Delivering Under Ambiguity
  9. 09Pushing Back on a Release Under Pressure
  10. 10When a Critical Dependency or Remote Team Falls Behind
  11. 11When a Timezone or Cultural Breakdown Threatens a Release
Leadership Interview Prep4 pages
  1. 01Project / Roadmap Leadership
  2. 02Technical Design
  3. 03SRE Partnership
  4. 04Operational Leadership
Interview Playbooks2 pages
  1. 01Interview Story Bank
  2. 02Leadership Interview Playbook
Leadership · Book Notes9 pages
  1. 01Crucial Conversations
  2. 02Mindset (Carol Dweck)
  3. 03Leaders Eat Last (Simon Sinek)
  4. 04The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Lencioni)
  5. 05Radical Candor (Kim Scott)
  6. 06The Manager's Path (Camille Fournier)
  7. 07An Elegant Puzzle (Will Larson)
  8. 08Staff Engineer (Will Larson)
  9. 09Thinking, Fast and Slow (Kahneman)
🔬

Applied Science Interview Questions and Preparation Guide

The full Applied Scientist loop: ML theory, statistics, deep learning, ML coding, system design, experiments and stories.

Applied Science Interview8 pages
  1. 01The Applied Science Loop and an 8-Week Plan
  2. 02ML Fundamentals
  3. 03Statistics and Probability
  4. 04Deep Learning and LLMs
  5. 05ML Coding from Scratch
  6. 06ML System Design
  7. 07Experimentation and Causal Inference
  8. 08Research Depth and Behavioral
Applied Science Theory6 pages
  1. 01Learning Theory
  2. 02Statistical Inference
  3. 03Probability and Information Theory
  4. 04Optimization
  5. 05Linear Algebra and Matrix Calculus
  6. 06The Practitioner's Toolkit
Leading Applied Science2 pages
  1. 01Being a Successful Applied Science Manager
  2. 02Running Science: Portfolio, Process and Impact
📚

Books & Learning

Book recaps, Python interview practice and slide decks.

Introduction to Algorithms · CLRS1 page
  1. 01Chapter-by-chapter recaps
The Science of Programming · Gries17 pages
  1. 00Overview & Hub
  2. 01Foundations — Correctness & Propositions
  3. 02Predicates, States & Quantification
  4. 03The Predicate Transformer wp
  5. 04Basic Commands & the Assignment Axiom
  6. 05The Alternative Command (IF)
  7. 06The Iterative Command (DO) & Invariants
  8. 07Developing Programs & Invariants
  9. 08Worked Examples
  10. 09A Natural Deduction Proof System
  11. 10The Procedure Call
  12. 11Bound Functions & Termination
  13. 12Iteration instead of Recursion
  14. 13Efficiency — Strengthening Invariants
  15. 14Two Larger Developments
  16. 15Inverting Programs
  17. 16Documentation & Historical Notes
Python4 pages
  1. 01Python Coding Interview — 23 patterns, 92 worked problems, 7 guides
  2. 02Python Interview Flashcards — drill all 92 worked problems
  3. 03Coding Interview Cheat Sheet — one printable page
  4. 04Python Built-in Functions — all 71, grouped by job
C#3 pages
  1. 01C# Coding Interview — 23 patterns, 92 problems, 6 guides, 11 advanced pages
  2. 02C# 7 to C# 14 — every language version, with samples
  3. 03C# Interview Cheat Sheet — one printable page
Presentations20 pages
  1. 01The Science of Programming (Gries) — Guided Tour
  2. 02The Science of Programming — A Practical Python Playbook
  3. 03Weakest Preconditions (Dijkstra)
  4. 04LLM Tech Talk
  5. 05PyTorch 101
  6. 06Adaptive Neural Infrastructure
  7. 07Neural Networks & CNNs — From First Principles (no background needed)
  8. 08Python 101 — Basics for a New Bee
  9. 09Monads in Python — With the Math
  10. 10Automata Theory — DFA, NFA & Regular Expressions
  11. 11Context-Free Grammars & Pushdown Automata
  12. 12Turing Machines & Undecidability
  13. 13P vs NP & NP-Completeness
  14. 14Lambda Calculus — Computation from Functions Alone
  15. 15Randomized Algorithms — Probability as a Tool
  16. 16Entropy & Shannon’s Source Coding Theorem
  17. 17Channel Capacity & Error-Correcting Codes
  18. 18KL Divergence, Cross-Entropy & Machine Learning
  19. 19Kolmogorov Complexity — The Information in One Object
  20. 20Compression in Practice — Arithmetic Coding, LZ & Beyond
🎮

Apps & Games

Small apps that run in your browser and work offline.

Apps & Games5 pages
  1. 01JPad — Markdown notebook with on-device AI
  2. 02Spad — Offline plain-text editor with Markdown highlighting
  3. 03GPL — Daily calorie log that stays on your phone
  4. 04Drop — Merge orbs, chain combos, don't overflow
  5. 05Ashwalk — Roll, leap, fight; never look back

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