Curriculum Map

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Visual overview of the entire curriculum: how levels connect, where expansion modules branch off, and what every project covers.

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Curriculum Dependency Diagram

graph TB
    subgraph core ["Core Path"]
        L00["Level 00<br/>Absolute Beginner<br/>(15 exercises)"]
        L0["Level 0<br/>Terminal & Files<br/>(15 projects)"]
        L1["Level 1<br/>Input & Data Formats<br/>(15 projects)"]
        L2["Level 2<br/>Data Structures & Cleaning<br/>(15 projects)"]
        L3["Level 3<br/>Packages & Testing<br/>(15 projects)"]
        L4["Level 4<br/>Schema & Pipelines<br/>(15 projects)"]
        L5["Level 5<br/>Scheduling & Resilience<br/>(15 projects)"]
        L6["Level 6<br/>SQL & ETL<br/>(15 projects)"]
        L7["Level 7<br/>API Integration<br/>(15 projects)"]
        L8["Level 8<br/>Dashboards & Concurrency<br/>(15 projects)"]
        L9["Level 9<br/>Architecture & Security<br/>(15 projects)"]
        L10["Level 10<br/>Enterprise & Production<br/>(15 projects)"]
        ET["Elite Track<br/>Staff Engineer Path<br/>(10 projects)"]

        L00 --> L0 --> L1 --> L2 --> L3 --> L4 --> L5
        L5 --> L6 --> L7 --> L8 --> L9 --> L10 --> ET
    end

    subgraph modules ["Expansion Modules"]
        M01["Module 01<br/>Web Scraping"]
        M02["Module 02<br/>CLI Tools"]
        M03["Module 03<br/>REST APIs"]
        M04["Module 04<br/>FastAPI Web"]
        M05["Module 05<br/>Async Python"]
        M06["Module 06<br/>Databases & ORM"]
        M07["Module 07<br/>Data Analysis"]
        M08["Module 08<br/>Advanced Testing"]
        M09["Module 09<br/>Docker & Deploy"]
        M10["Module 10<br/>Django Full-Stack"]
        M11["Module 11<br/>Package Publishing"]
        M12["Module 12<br/>Cloud Deploy"]
    end

    subgraph practice ["Practice Tools"]
        FC["Flashcard Decks<br/>(Levels 00-6)"]
        CH["Coding Challenges<br/>(Beginner + Intermediate)"]
    end

    L2 --> M01
    L2 --> M02
    L2 --> M03
    L2 --> M07
    L3 --> M04
    L3 --> M05
    L3 --> M06
    L3 --> M08
    L3 --> M11
    M03 --> M04
    L5 --> M09
    M04 --> M10
    M06 --> M10
    M04 --> M12
    M09 --> M12

    L00 -.-> FC
    L00 -.-> CH

How to read this diagram:

• Solid arrows = prerequisite (complete the source before starting the target).
• Dotted arrows = practice tools available alongside any level.
• Modules branch off from the core path at different points. Some modules have other modules as prerequisites (Module 04 requires Module 03; Module 10 requires Modules 04 + 06; Module 12 requires Modules 04 + 09).

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Projects at a Glance

Level 00 -- Absolute Beginner

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	first-steps	Easy	30 min	Running Python
02	hello-world	Easy	30 min	Print statements
03	your-first-script	Easy	30 min	Script files
04	variables	Easy	30 min	Variable assignment
05	numbers-and-math	Easy	30 min	Arithmetic operators
06	strings-and-text	Easy	30 min	String operations
07	user-input	Easy	30 min	Input function
08	making-decisions	Easy	30 min	If/else logic
09	lists	Easy	30 min	List basics
10	for-loops	Easy	30 min	Iteration
11	while-loops	Easy	30 min	While loops
12	dictionaries	Easy	30 min	Key-value pairs
13	functions	Easy	30 min	Defining functions
14	reading-files	Easy	30 min	File I/O
15	putting-it-together	Easy	30 min	Combining concepts

Level 0 -- Terminal and Files

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	terminal-hello-lab	Easy	1-2 hr	Terminal basics
02	calculator-basics	Easy	1-2 hr	Arithmetic logic
03	temperature-converter	Easy	1-2 hr	Unit conversion
04	yes-no-questionnaire	Easy	1-2 hr	Boolean logic
05	number-classifier	Easy	1-2 hr	Conditionals
06	word-counter-basic	Easy	1-2 hr	String splitting
07	first-file-reader	Easy	1-2 hr	File reading
08	string-cleaner-starter	Easy	1-2 hr	String methods
09	daily-checklist-writer	Easy	1-2 hr	File writing
10	duplicate-line-finder	Easy	1-2 hr	Set operations
11	simple-menu-loop	Easy	1-2 hr	Loop control
12	contact-card-builder	Easy	1-2 hr	Dict construction
13	alarm-message-generator	Easy	1-2 hr	String formatting
14	line-length-summarizer	Easy	1-2 hr	List comprehensions
15	level0-mini-toolkit	Easy	1-2 hr	Combining skills

Level 1 -- Input and Data Formats

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	input-validator-lab	Easy	1-2 hr	Input validation
02	password-strength-checker	Easy	1-2 hr	String analysis
03	unit-price-calculator	Easy	1-2 hr	Numeric parsing
04	log-line-parser	Easy	1-2 hr	Text parsing
05	csv-first-reader	Easy	1-2 hr	CSV reading
06	simple-gradebook-engine	Easy	1-2 hr	Data aggregation
07	date-difference-helper	Easy	1-2 hr	Date handling
08	path-exists-checker	Easy	1-2 hr	Path validation
09	json-settings-loader	Easy	1-2 hr	JSON parsing
10	ticket-priority-router	Easy	1-2 hr	Conditional routing
11	command-dispatcher	Easy	1-2 hr	Function dispatch
12	file-extension-counter	Easy	1-2 hr	File system traversal
13	batch-rename-simulator	Easy	1-2 hr	Path manipulation
14	basic-expense-tracker	Easy	1-2 hr	Data accumulation
15	level1-mini-automation	Easy	1-2 hr	End-to-end automation

Level 2 -- Data Structures and Cleaning

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	dictionary-lookup-service	Medium	1-2 hr	Dict operations
02	nested-data-flattener	Medium	1-2 hr	Nested structures
03	data-cleaning-pipeline	Medium	1-2 hr	Data cleaning
04	error-safe-divider	Medium	1-2 hr	Exception handling
05	text-report-generator	Medium	1-2 hr	Report formatting
06	records-deduplicator	Medium	1-2 hr	Deduplication
07	list-search-benchmark	Medium	1-2 hr	Performance testing
08	mini-inventory-engine	Medium	1-2 hr	State management
09	config-driven-calculator	Medium	1-2 hr	Config parsing
10	mock-api-response-parser	Medium	1-2 hr	JSON processing
11	retry-loop-practice	Medium	1-2 hr	Retry patterns
12	csv-to-json-converter	Medium	1-2 hr	Format conversion
13	validation-rule-engine	Medium	1-2 hr	Rule evaluation
14	anomaly-flagger	Medium	1-2 hr	Outlier detection
15	level2-mini-capstone	Medium	1-2 hr	Capstone integration

Level 3 -- Packages and Testing

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	package-layout-starter	Medium	2-3 hr	Package structure
02	cli-arguments-workbench	Medium	2-3 hr	Argument parsing
03	logging-baseline-tool	Medium	2-3 hr	Logging setup
04	test-driven-normalizer	Medium	2-3 hr	TDD workflow
05	refactor-monolith-drill	Medium	2-3 hr	Code refactoring
06	structured-error-handler	Medium	2-3 hr	Error hierarchies
07	batch-file-auditor	Medium	2-3 hr	File auditing
08	template-driven-reporter	Medium	2-3 hr	Template rendering
09	reusable-utils-library	Medium	2-3 hr	Library design
10	dependency-boundary-lab	Medium	2-3 hr	Dependency management
11	project-config-bootstrap	Medium	2-3 hr	Project setup
12	parser-with-fixtures	Medium	2-3 hr	Test fixtures
13	quality-gate-runner	Medium	2-3 hr	Quality checks
14	service-simulator	Medium	2-3 hr	Service mocking
15	level3-mini-capstone	Medium	2-3 hr	Capstone integration

Level 4 -- Schema and Pipelines

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	schema-validator-engine	Medium	2-3 hr	Schema validation
02	excel-input-health-check	Medium	2-3 hr	Excel validation
03	robust-csv-ingestor	Medium	2-3 hr	CSV ingestion
04	data-contract-enforcer	Medium	2-3 hr	Data contracts
05	path-safe-file-mover	Medium	2-3 hr	Safe file ops
06	backup-rotation-tool	Medium	2-3 hr	Backup strategies
07	duplicate-record-investigator	Medium	2-3 hr	Duplicate detection
08	malformed-row-quarantine	Medium	2-3 hr	Data quarantine
09	transformation-pipeline-v1	Medium	2-3 hr	Pipeline design
10	run-manifest-generator	Medium	2-3 hr	Manifest generation
11	audit-log-enhancer	Medium	2-3 hr	Audit logging
12	checkpoint-recovery-tool	Medium	2-3 hr	Recovery patterns
13	reconciliation-reporter	Medium	2-3 hr	Data reconciliation
14	configurable-batch-runner	Medium	2-3 hr	Batch processing
15	level4-mini-capstone	Medium	2-3 hr	Capstone integration

Level 5 -- Scheduling and Resilience

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	schedule-ready-script	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Task scheduling
02	alert-threshold-monitor	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Threshold alerts
03	multi-file-etl-runner	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Multi-file ETL
04	config-layer-priority	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Config layering
05	plugin-style-transformer	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Plugin architecture
06	metrics-summary-engine	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Metrics aggregation
07	resilient-json-loader	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Resilient loading
08	cross-file-joiner	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Data joining
09	template-report-renderer	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Report rendering
10	api-polling-simulator	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	API polling
11	retry-backoff-runner	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Backoff strategies
12	fail-safe-exporter	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Safe exports
13	operational-run-logger	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Operational logging
14	change-detection-tool	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Change detection
15	level5-mini-capstone	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Capstone integration

Level 6 -- SQL and ETL

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	sql-connection-simulator	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	SQL connections
02	staging-table-loader	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Staging tables
03	idempotency-key-builder	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Idempotent ops
04	upsert-strategy-lab	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Upsert patterns
05	transaction-rollback-drill	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Transaction safety
06	query-performance-checker	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Query optimization
07	sql-summary-publisher	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Result publishing
08	data-lineage-capture	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Data lineage
09	incremental-load-simulator	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Incremental loads
10	table-drift-detector	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Schema drift
11	dead-letter-row-handler	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Error queues
12	etl-health-dashboard-feed	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Health monitoring
13	batch-window-controller	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Batch scheduling
14	sql-runbook-generator	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Runbook automation
15	level6-mini-capstone	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Capstone integration

Level 7 -- API Integration

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	api-query-adapter	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	API adapters
02	monitoring-api-adapter	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Monitoring APIs
03	unified-cache-writer	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Cache writing
04	source-field-mapper	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Field mapping
05	polling-cadence-manager	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Polling cadence
06	token-rotation-simulator	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Token rotation
07	stale-data-detector	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Staleness detection
08	ingestion-observability-kit	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Observability
09	contract-version-checker	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	API versioning
10	multi-source-reconciler	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Source reconciliation
11	pipeline-feature-flags	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Feature flags
12	incident-mode-switch	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Incident handling
13	service-account-policy-check	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Service accounts
14	cache-backfill-runner	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Cache backfill
15	level7-mini-capstone	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Capstone integration

Level 8 -- Dashboards and Concurrency

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	dashboard-kpi-assembler	Hard	3-4 hr	KPI assembly
02	query-cache-layer	Hard	3-4 hr	Query caching
03	pagination-stress-lab	Hard	3-4 hr	Pagination
04	filter-state-manager	Hard	3-4 hr	State management
05	export-governance-check	Hard	3-4 hr	Export governance
06	response-time-profiler	Hard	3-4 hr	Performance profiling
07	concurrency-queue-simulator	Hard	3-4 hr	Queue concurrency
08	fault-injection-harness	Hard	3-4 hr	Fault injection
09	graceful-degradation-engine	Hard	3-4 hr	Graceful degradation
10	dependency-timeout-matrix	Hard	3-4 hr	Timeout handling
11	synthetic-monitor-runner	Hard	3-4 hr	Synthetic monitoring
12	release-readiness-evaluator	Hard	3-4 hr	Release readiness
13	sla-breach-detector	Hard	3-4 hr	SLA monitoring
14	user-journey-tracer	Hard	3-4 hr	Journey tracing
15	level8-mini-capstone	Hard	3-4 hr	Capstone integration

Level 9 -- Architecture and Security

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	architecture-decision-log	Hard	4-6 hr	ADR writing
02	domain-boundary-enforcer	Hard	4-6 hr	Domain modeling
03	event-driven-pipeline-lab	Hard	4-6 hr	Event-driven design
04	observability-slo-pack	Hard	4-6 hr	SLO definitions
05	capacity-planning-model	Hard	4-6 hr	Capacity planning
06	reliability-scorecard	Hard	4-6 hr	Reliability metrics
07	canary-rollout-simulator	Hard	4-6 hr	Canary deploys
08	change-impact-analyzer	Hard	4-6 hr	Impact analysis
09	security-baseline-auditor	Hard	4-6 hr	Security auditing
10	data-governance-enforcer	Hard	4-6 hr	Data governance
11	recovery-time-estimator	Hard	4-6 hr	Recovery planning
12	incident-postmortem-generator	Hard	4-6 hr	Postmortems
13	platform-cost-estimator	Hard	4-6 hr	Cost modeling
14	cross-team-handoff-kit	Hard	4-6 hr	Handoff processes
15	level9-mini-capstone	Hard	4-6 hr	Capstone integration

Level 10 -- Enterprise and Production

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	enterprise-python-blueprint	Hard	4-6 hr	Enterprise patterns
02	autonomous-run-orchestrator	Hard	4-6 hr	Orchestration
03	policy-as-code-validator	Hard	4-6 hr	Policy enforcement
04	multi-tenant-data-guard	Hard	4-6 hr	Multi-tenancy
05	compliance-evidence-builder	Hard	4-6 hr	Compliance
06	resilience-chaos-workbench	Hard	4-6 hr	Chaos engineering
07	high-risk-change-gate	Hard	4-6 hr	Change management
08	zero-downtime-migration-lab	Hard	4-6 hr	Zero-downtime ops
09	strategic-architecture-review	Hard	4-6 hr	Architecture review
10	executive-metrics-publisher	Hard	4-6 hr	Executive reporting
11	production-readiness-director	Hard	4-6 hr	Production readiness
12	onboarding-accelerator-system	Hard	4-6 hr	Developer onboarding
13	legacy-modernization-planner	Hard	4-6 hr	Modernization
14	sme-mentorship-toolkit	Hard	4-6 hr	Knowledge transfer
15	level10-grand-capstone	Hard	4-6 hr	Grand capstone

Elite Track -- Staff Engineer Path

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	algorithms-complexity-lab	Expert	6-8 hr	Algorithm analysis
02	concurrent-job-system	Expert	6-8 hr	Concurrency design
03	distributed-cache-simulator	Expert	6-8 hr	Distributed caching
04	secure-auth-gateway	Expert	6-8 hr	Auth architecture
05	performance-profiler-workbench	Expert	6-8 hr	Profiling
06	event-driven-architecture-lab	Expert	6-8 hr	Event-driven systems
07	observability-slo-platform	Expert	6-8 hr	SLO platform
08	policy-compliance-engine	Expert	6-8 hr	Compliance engine
09	open-source-maintainer-simulator	Expert	6-8 hr	OSS maintenance
10	staff-engineer-capstone	Expert	6-8 hr	Staff-level synthesis

Expansion Modules

Module 01 -- Web Scraping (Prereq: Level 2)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	fetch-a-webpage	Medium	1-2 hr	HTTP requests
02	parse-html	Medium	1-2 hr	BeautifulSoup
03	extract-structured-data	Medium	2-3 hr	CSS selectors
04	multi-page-scraper	Medium	2-3 hr	Pagination
05	save-to-csv	Medium	1-2 hr	CSV export

Module 02 -- CLI Tools (Prereq: Level 2)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	click-basics	Medium	1-2 hr	Click framework
02	multi-command-cli	Medium	2-3 hr	Subcommands
03	interactive-prompts	Medium	1-2 hr	User prompts
04	file-processor-cli	Medium	2-3 hr	File processing
05	typer-migration	Medium	2-3 hr	Typer framework

Module 03 -- REST APIs (Prereq: Level 2)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	first-api-call	Medium	1-2 hr	GET requests
02	query-parameters	Medium	1-2 hr	URL parameters
03	post-and-auth	Medium	2-3 hr	POST and auth
04	error-handling	Medium	2-3 hr	API error handling
05	api-client-class	Medium	2-3 hr	Client design

Module 04 -- FastAPI Web (Prereq: Level 3 + Module 03)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	hello-fastapi	Medium	1-2 hr	FastAPI basics
02	crud-api	Medium	2-3 hr	CRUD endpoints
03	database-backed	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	DB integration
04	authentication	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	JWT auth
05	full-app	Medium-Hard	4-6 hr	Full application

Module 05 -- Async Python (Prereq: Level 3)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	async-basics	Medium	1-2 hr	async/await
02	concurrent-requests	Medium	2-3 hr	Concurrent HTTP
03	async-file-processing	Medium	2-3 hr	Async file I/O
04	producer-consumer	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Queue patterns
05	async-web-server	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Async server

Module 06 -- Databases and ORM (Prereq: Level 3)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	sqlite-basics	Medium	1-2 hr	SQLite
02	sqlalchemy-models	Medium	2-3 hr	ORM models
03	crud-operations	Medium	2-3 hr	ORM CRUD
04	migrations-alembic	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Alembic
05	query-optimization	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Query tuning

Module 07 -- Data Analysis (Prereq: Level 2)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	pandas-basics	Medium	1-2 hr	Pandas intro
02	filtering-grouping	Medium	2-3 hr	Data filtering
03	data-cleaning	Medium	2-3 hr	Data cleaning
04	visualization	Medium	2-3 hr	Matplotlib
05	analysis-report	Medium	3-4 hr	Full analysis

Module 08 -- Advanced Testing (Prereq: Level 3)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	parametrize	Medium	1-2 hr	Parametrized tests
02	mocking	Medium	2-3 hr	Mock objects
03	fixtures-advanced	Medium	2-3 hr	Advanced fixtures
04	property-based	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Hypothesis
05	integration-testing	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Integration tests

Module 09 -- Docker and Deployment (Prereq: Level 5)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	first-dockerfile	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Dockerfiles
02	multi-stage-build	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Multi-stage builds
03	docker-compose	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Compose stacks
04	ci-github-actions	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	GitHub Actions
05	production-config	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Production setup

Module 10 -- Django Full-Stack (Prereq: Module 04 + Module 06)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	django-setup	Medium-Hard	2-3 hr	Django project
02	views-templates	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Views and templates
03	forms-auth	Hard	3-4 hr	Forms and auth
04	rest-framework	Hard	3-4 hr	DRF APIs
05	complete-app	Hard	4-6 hr	Full Django app

Module 11 -- Package Publishing (Prereq: Level 3)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	package-structure	Medium	2-3 hr	src layout
02	build-and-test	Medium	2-3 hr	Build pipeline
03	publish-to-pypi	Medium	2-3 hr	TestPyPI publish

Module 12 -- Cloud Deployment (Prereq: Module 04 + Module 09)

#	Project	Difficulty	Est. Time	Key Skill
01	deploy-to-railway	Medium-Hard	3-4 hr	Railway deploy
02	deploy-with-database	Hard	3-4 hr	Postgres deploy
03	production-checklist	Hard	3-4 hr	Production hardening

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Summary

Section	Projects	Estimated Total Time
Level 00	15	~7.5 hours
Level 0	15	~15-30 hours
Level 1	15	~15-30 hours
Level 2	15	~15-30 hours
Level 3	15	~30-45 hours
Level 4	15	~30-45 hours
Level 5	15	~30-45 hours
Level 6	15	~45-60 hours
Level 7	15	~45-60 hours
Level 8	15	~45-60 hours
Level 9	15	~60-90 hours
Level 10	15	~60-90 hours
Elite Track	10	~60-80 hours
Modules (12)	56	~120-170 hours
Total	246	~580-840 hours

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