DEV-103 Development

Data Structures & Algorithms for Working Engineers

Teach algorithmic reasoning as an engineering tool rather than an interview ritual: complexity applied to the code paths you actually own, the collections you actually reach for, and profiling before any optimisation. Learners diagnose and fix three realistic performance defects in a running service. They leave able to justify a data structure choice with measurements rather than folklore.

B3Practitioner

6modules

42skill atoms

1role journey

Curriculum

What this course covers.

6 modules, 42 named skill atoms. Expand any module to see them.

1Complexity You Can Use7 skill atoms

big-O on real call pathsamortized vs worst caseconstant factors and cache effectsnested loop detection in reviewN plus one query as an algorithmic buginput size assumptions that break in productionwhen O(n squared) is genuinely fine

2Lists, Maps and Sets in Practice7 skill atoms

ArrayList growth and copy costHashMap load factor and resizeTreeMap for ordered range queriesLinkedHashMap for LRU cachesArrayDeque over StackEnumMap and specialised structureschoosing by access pattern not habit

3Hashing Done Right7 skill atoms

equals and hashCode contractmutable keys corrupting a mappoor hash distribution and clusteringcollision handling and treeificationconsistent hashing for shardingBloom filters for cheap membership testshashing for dedup and idempotency keys

4Trees, Sorting and Searching7 skill atoms

binary search and its off-by-one edge casesbalanced trees vs hash lookupsheaps and PriorityQueue for top-Kcomparator stability and total orderingArrays.sort dual-pivot and TimSort behavioursorting large data with external mergetries and prefix search

5Memory Behaviour and Profiling7 skill atoms

object headers and reference overheadboxing costs in hot loopsescape analysis and short-lived objectsJMH microbenchmarks done honestlyasync-profiler flame graphsallocation profiling before CPU tuningmeasure, change one thing, measure again

6Algorithms in the AI Era7 skill atoms

the assistant recalls textbook algorithms reliablyit misjudges your data distribution and scalegenerated code that is correct but allocation heavyverifying complexity claims with a benchmarkedge cases the assistant skipped, empty and single elementoff-by-one and overflow in generated binary searchyou own the performance target, not the suggestion

Where it fits

DEV-103 in a role journey.

This course appears in 1 of our 45 role journeys. Here is what a learner takes immediately before and after it in each.

Java Developer

Practitioner stage

DEV-102→DEV-103→DEV-201

Roles this course serves

Java Developer

The capability ladder

This course is authored to band B3.

Every course we run is written to one rung of the CASI ladder, so a plan can be assembled to take a team from where they are to where they need to be.

What do B1–B6 mean?The CASI Capability Ladder — click to expand

Every course targets a band on the CASI Capability Ladder — our six-band proficiency scale, anchored to open standards (O*NET, ESCO, NICE, NIST AI RMF, Bloom's). A band tells you how deep a course goes, and what evidence proves it.

What the learner can doTypical evidence

AwareUnderstands concepts and vocabulary; uses tools with guidance

Knowledge checks

FoundationPerforms standard tasks correctly in familiar contexts

Guided labs, autograded exercises

PractitionerDelivers complete pieces of work independently

Scenario labs, proctored hands-on exams

ProfessionalHandles production-grade complexity, trade-offs and failure modes

Break-fix drills, design defenses

AdvancedEngineers systems end-to-end under constraints; leads others

Rubric-scored capstones, vivas

ExpertSets direction; recognised authority across teams

Portfolio + panel evaluation

A note on B6. Courses in this catalog target B1–B5. B6 is not taught — it is recognised, through a portfolio and a panel, once someone is setting direction for others. Every journey here is built to land a learner at B5.

Other Development courses at this level.

DEV-102

Run DEV-103 for your team.

This course runs at several lengths depending on how deep you need to go and how much of it your people already have. Tell us who is being trained and we will scope it.

Add it to a training plan Talk to our team Check your team’s level free

Data Structures & Algorithms for Working Engineers

What this course covers.

DEV-103 in a role journey.

Java Developer

Roles this course serves

This course is authored to band B3.

Other Development courses at this level.

Object-Oriented Design & Clean Code

Enterprise Java with Spring Boot

MERN Stack Development

MEAN Stack Development

Android Development with Kotlin

iOS Development with Swift

Run DEV-103 for your team.