Week 17 — DSPy + Raft + free-threaded Python¶

At a glance

Phase 5: Scale & Depth · Starts: Mon 18 Jan 2027 · Planned: 16h 45m

Build: Capstone: DSPy/GEPA-optimised triage classifier vs hand prompt, measured with the eval harness

By day¶

System Design · 45 min · Raft: leader election, log replication, safety — Raft visualisation + paper sections 5.1-5.4 → Consensus: Raft, leases, fencing · resource w17-sd-1
DSA · 25 min · Coin Change II revisit + Unique Paths → Dynamic programming 2-D · resource w17-dsa-1
Python · 20 min · Rep: threads vs processes vs asyncio decision table; run a CPU-bound benchmark on 3.14 vs 3.14t → Concurrency models: threads, processes, free-threaded 3.14t · resource w17-py-1
Communication · 30 min · Grammar: Participle clauses and concise modification → Week 17 drills · day 1 w17-comm-1

Agentic AI · 60 min · DSPy 3.x: signatures, modules, metrics, optimizers — work through The Data Quarry 'Learning DSPy' optimizers post → DSPy & prompt optimization (GEPA) · resource w17-ai-1
DSA · 30 min · Longest Common Subsequence → Dynamic programming 2-D · resource w17-dsa-2
Communication · 30 min · Vocabulary: Intensifiers and nuance: considerably, notably, arguably → Week 17 drills · day 2 w17-comm-2

DSA · 25 min · Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock with Cooldown → Dynamic programming 2-D · resource w17-dsa-3
Architecture · 45 min · Legacy modernization & strangler fig (Architecture Modernization, Nick Tune) — plan inserting agents into a legacy ops tool → Legacy modernization & strangler fig · resource w17-arch-1
Python · 20 min · Rep: free-threaded 3.14t — thread-safety of your code, extension compatibility checks → Concurrency models: threads, processes, free-threaded 3.14t · resource w17-py-2
Communication · 30 min · Speaking drill: Rhythm and stress in long sentences → Week 17 drills · day 3 w17-comm-3

Agentic AI · 60 min · GEPA reflective optimizer (dspy.GEPA) — run the HF cookbook on a small task and read the traces → DSPy & prompt optimization (GEPA) · resource w17-ai-2
Java/Spring AI · 30 min · Virtual threads: fan out 20 LLM calls with Executors.newVirtualThreadPerTaskExecutor; pinning pitfalls → Virtual threads, structured concurrency & scoped values · resource w17-java-1
Communication · 30 min · Idioms & phrasal verbs: Growth idioms: raise the bar, stretch goal → Week 17 drills · day 4 w17-comm-4

System Design · 45 min · Fly.io Gossip Glomers challenges 1-3 (echo, unique IDs, broadcast) in Go or Python Maelstrom → Consensus: Raft, leases, fencing · resource w17-sd-2
DSA · 25 min · Target Sum → Dynamic programming 2-D · resource w17-dsa-4
Python · 20 min · Rep: dis module — read bytecode of a hot function; specialising adaptive interpreter → CPython internals: bytecode, GIL, memory · resource w17-py-3
Communication · 30 min · Writing: Blog post outline → Week 17 drills · day 5 w17-comm-5

Agentic AI · 120 min · Capstone build: DSPy program for incident classification + GEPA optimisation; compare to hand-tuned prompt on the golden set (accuracy, cost) → DSPy & prompt optimization (GEPA) · resource w17-ai-3
DSA · 30 min · Interleaving String → Dynamic programming 2-D · resource w17-dsa-5
Java/Spring AI · 30 min · Structured concurrency (preview in 25): StructuredTaskScope for parallel tool calls with cancellation → Virtual threads, structured concurrency & scoped values · resource w17-java-2
Communication · 30 min · Record & shadow: Rhythm and stress in long sentences → Week 17 drills · day 6 w17-comm-6

System Design · 45 min · Written design: LLM inference/serving platform — batching, KV cache, autoscaling on GPUs, multi-model routing, SLOs → Design an LLM inference/serving platform · resource w17-sd-3
Architecture · 30 min · Write ADR 017 for capstone: introduce agents via strangler fig behind existing ticketing UI → Legacy modernization & strangler fig · resource w17-arch-2
Staff+ · 30 min · Decision-making under ambiguity: write a one-way vs two-way door analysis for a real pending decision → Decision-making under ambiguity w17-staff-1
Communication · 30 min · Soft skills + weekly review: Mentoring conversations → Week 17 drills · day 7 w17-comm-7
Review · 60 min · Explain-it-back: Raft election + log matching; flashcards on DSPy concepts and 2-D DP recurrences → Consensus: Raft, leases, fencing w17-rev-1