Level 4: Scale
Purpose
Scale to millions of users across AWS and Google Cloud. Master global deployments, high-concurrency patterns, and multi-cloud architecture.
Simple Explanation
What it is
This level focuses on making serverless systems work at massive scale: more users, more traffic, more regions.
Why we need it
Architectures that work for 1,000 users often break at 1,000,000. Scaling requires specific patterns and safeguards.
Benefits
- Better reliability under heavy load.
- Lower latency for global users.
- Safer growth with predictable scaling behavior.
Tradeoffs
- More complexity across regions and services.
- Higher costs if you over-provision.
Real-world examples (architecture only)
- Global API -> Multi-region routing -> Local database replicas.
- Bursty traffic -> Queue buffering -> Smooth processing.
Who It's For
- Experienced serverless developers
- Solution Architects
- Teams handling massive scale
- Prerequisites: Completed Level 3: Operate
What You Will Build
- Systems handling 1M+ requests daily
- Multi-region global deployments
- High-concurrency patterns (AWS & GCP)
- Cost-optimized architecture
- Multi-cloud reference architecture
Lesson Agenda
- Concurrency & Cold Starts — Scaling limits across clouds
- Performance Tuning — Optimization on AWS and GCP
- Multi-Region Deployments — Global low-latency architecture
- Bursty Workloads — Handling traffic spikes
- Serverless Patterns — Proven multi-cloud architectures
- Production-Ready Systems — Enterprise reliability
AWS ↔ GCP Service Map
| Scaling Layer | AWS | Google Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Function Scaling | Lambda Auto-scaling | Cloud Functions Auto-scaling |
| Reserved Capacity | Reserved Concurrency | Min Instances (Gen 2) |
| Warm Instances | Provisioned Concurrency | Min Instances |
| Global Load Balancing | Route 53 (geo-routing) | Cloud Load Balancing + Cloud DNS |
| Multi-Region DB | DynamoDB Global Tables | Cloud Datastore / Firestore (multi-region) |
| Object Replication | S3 Cross-Region Replication | Cloud Storage Cross-Region copies |
| CDN | CloudFront | Cloud CDN |
| Edge Computing | Lambda@Edge | Cloud Run (multi-region) |
| Connection Pooling | RDS Proxy | Cloud SQL Proxy |
| Rate Limiting | API Gateway Throttling | Cloud Armor / API Gateway |
Duration: 3 weeks
Time per lesson: 45–60 minutes
Focus: Global scale, multi-cloud, architecture
After Level 4: Ready to architect enterprise serverless initiatives
Capstone: Design 1M DAU system (AWS & GCP)