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UdemyBestseller on UdemyNetworkingPaid courseIntermediate levelCertificate

Fundamentals of Network Engineering (Udemy.com)

Understanding the first principles of networking to build low latency and high throughput backends

4.7
6,986 reviews

Created by: Hussein Nasser

Last updated May 2025

Our take

Based on the ratings of 6,986 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in May 2025. No course pays to be reviewed.

Hussein Nasser's course is aimed at backend developers who ship APIs but treat the network as a black box. The syllabus works through IP, UDP, TCP, DNS, TLS and routing, then looks at what slows requests down. It finishes with Wireshark and tcpdump work and small TCP and UDP servers in JavaScript and C. That is 66 lectures and about 18 hours. It is not exam prep, and the description says so. Some programming experience is expected, ideally a backend you have already built.

Fans say he teaches from first principles and keeps tying each concept back to why a backend behaves the way it does. A backend engineer with five years of experience called it a nice refresher, and others single out the visuals and the OSI layer explanation. The complaints are just as consistent. Reviewers call the delivery verbose and loosely structured, one dislikes the side talk, and another says an hour of video holds only a few minutes of useful material. Three of the one-star reviews are about his accent or pronunciation, and one says even the subtitles do not help.

The numbers are solid: 4.7 from 6,986 ratings, about 59,000 students, and a refresh in May 2025. One unhappy reviewer says free YouTube channels teach general networking better, and that is fair, because this is not a general networking course. It is a backend developer's view of the stack. Recommended for working developers who enjoy a chatty, conversational teacher. Anyone who wants tight, scripted lessons should watch a sample lecture first to check the accent and pace.

Best forWorking backend or full stack developers who want to know why their requests are slow, not pass a CCNA.
Skip it ifYou want exam prep for CCNA, or tight scripted lessons with no tangents and no side talk.

Pros

  • Explains TCP, UDP, DNS and TLS through why backends slow down, not packet header trivia
  • Hands-on Wireshark and tcpdump section plus TCP and UDP servers in JavaScript and C
  • Reviewers praise the visuals and the clear OSI layer explanation
  • Refreshed in May 2025, with about 59,000 students and a 4.7 average

Cons

  • Rambling delivery and side talk; one reviewer says an hour holds a few minutes of useful info
  • Several reviewers found the instructor's accent hard to follow; one says subtitles do not help
  • Not a general networking or certification course, and some find it loosely structured
Loved this course! I am working as professional backend engineer for 5 years now and after college while writing code sometimes we forget these details which are taught in college and this course was such a nice refresher.
Jayesh Karli, a student

Intermediate fits: basic programming is needed and a built backend helps. Total beginners may struggle.

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What you will learn

  • IP Protocol
  • TCP Protocol
  • UDP Protocol
  • Understand the circumstances where requests and responses are slowed down
  • Learn how DNS works
  • Learn how TLS works
  • Learn the building blocks of TCP/IP Protocol
  • Learn the OSI Model and where your application fits in it
  • Understand the performance impact of TCP/IP in Backend applications
  • Learn how Routing Works inside out
  • Make better decisions on what protocol to select for the Backend
  • Build and Design better TCP/UDP Backends
  • Use Wireshark to inspect traffic
  • Use TCPDUMP to inspect traffic
  • Build TCP and UDP Servers with multiple languages (Javascript and C)
  • Networking with Docker

Course content

12 sections · 66 lectures · 18 hours of video 2 quizzes, 5 articles

  1. 1Introduction 3 free previews4 lectures · 16 min
  2. 2Fundamentals of Networking3 lectures · 1 quiz · 1.2 hours
  3. 3Internet Protocol (IP)7 lectures · 1 quiz · 1.9 hours
  4. 4User Datagram Protocol (UDP)6 lectures · 56 min
  5. 5Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)12 lectures · 3.2 hours
  6. 6Overview of Popular Networking Protocols4 lectures · 2.2 hours
  7. 7Network Performance11 lectures · 2.6 hours
  8. 8Network Routing2 lectures · 1.9 hours
  9. 9Analyzing Protocols with Wireshark5 lectures · 1.2 hours
  10. 10Answering your Questions2 lectures · 15 min

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • Backend engineers
  • Frontend engineers who are interested to start building Backend apps
  • Full stack engineers
  • DevOps engineers
  • Site reliability engineers

What you need before you start

  • Basic programming experience
  • Recommended: Having built a backend application

How it compares

Against the other 165 rated Udemy courses in Networking on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.7 out of 5higher than 72% of them
  • Reviews6,986#9 of 166 by number of reviews
  • Length18.4 hourslonger than 72% of them
  • Last updatedMay 2025more recently than 65% of them

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Course Description

We are entering an era in software engineering where we rely on libraries and frameworks to do most of our work. While this is useful and save tremendous dev hours, it creates leaky abstractions that manifest in form of performance degradation, unexpected errors, 100% CPU , network and disk usage, hangs, latency and many other. It becomes difficult to articulate what goes wrong on the backend and how to fix it when engineers don't understand the basic building block of what they are interacting with.


Network communication is one of the most critical pieces in backend engineering. And the TCP/IP Internet suite is the basic fundemntal building block of communications that link the frontend to the backend. Any protocol we use eventually gets encapsulated into either a TCP segment or UDP datagram. That packet is wrapped in an IP packet which is placed into a frame and then sent across the network. These layers are important to understand for backend engineers in order to optimize the stack, minimize latency, and increase throughput. What matters  is the true understanding of these pieces and not just memorizing definitions and packet headers to pass an exam. If an engineer truly understood what is happening when their backend API receives an HTTP POST request for example, they will be astonished at how much is happening behind the scenes. They would completely change the way they approach backend API designs, they will try to select the best protocol for the job, and they will tune that protocol to its maximum potential. They will start asking questions about frameworks and libraries that nobody else does. It is those questions that will make them fully utilize those framework to their maximum potential.


This course is primarily designed for backend engineers who built applications, services or APIs and want to take their skillset to the next level. If you are a frontend engineer who are interested in the backend and have attempted to build backend apps before this course is also for you. If you are a network engineer who already know the basic fundamentals and want to start building backend applications effectively this course might help you bridge the gap


This course is not designed for those who want to pass network certification tests (CCNA, CCNP, CCIE etc..)
Read More Intermediate Intermediate Level product length iconTime: 18.4h

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Instructor Details

Hussein Nasser

Early in my career 20 years ago I built database applications without fully grasping their inner mechanics. Facing performance issues, racing conditions bug and even corruption often left me helpless.


I resolved to truly understand the workings of database systems, ensuring I knew every query from my app and its execution in the db and what I choose to make as a transaction and what I make into an atomic query.


From that day I have fascinated by pursuing deep understanding of what is happening behind the scenes in software. If you follow me here you would see deep dive posts about backend, databases and operating systems.


If you enjoy pursing the internals, I think you may like my courses.

Read More

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Reviews

4.7

6,986 ratings on Udemy

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Write a review

By Jayesh Karli on 5/30/2026

Loved this course! I am working as professional backend engineer for 5 years now and after college while writing code sometimes we forget these details which are taught in college and this course was such a nice refresher.

By Kimberly Ann Timbreza on 2/28/2026

I left this rating because the course exceeded my expectations, provided clear explanations, and gave practical knowledge that I can apply immediately.

By Angelique Schouten on 2/13/2026

Without realizing, this kind of information is what I've been missing for way too long! Also very nicely explained and visualized with humor. Excited to continue

By Abdulwahhab A Alzahrani on 2/10/2026

Really amazing explanation, very well done. however to be honest the only downside is the irrelevant side talk which won't hurts but sometimes it gets annoying

By Khaled Adrani on 1/6/2026

Exactly what I needed, it reduced significantly the mystery behind networking for me as a software backend engineer and also successfully made me so curious about it as it can help me optimize my work and my applications!

By Ernest G Mhilu on 12/1/2025

l am taking this course in order to sharp my knowledge l have about Networking. And l always believes in studying different methods. So, my expectations are to overcome challenges in the daily activities.

By Udemy Udemy on 10/30/2025

I really enjoy this course. For a long time, I kept asking myself questions like, how does a client’s request actually reach my web server? It used to be a mystery to me but now, through this course, I’m finally starting to get some clues.

By Matt Travis on 9/23/2025

Somewhat entertaining, somewhat educational but a bit disjointed and random. Nothing seems really planned or structured, just reading some queues and rattling off the same boiler plate stuff. To be honest you will learn alot more just watching Network Chuck, David Bombal and Professor Messer completely free on Youtube...

By Peter Duricek on 5/30/2025

I was looking for some foundational knowledge about networking - a glimpse "into the wire." But I got so much more! Before this course, the way I saw what happened to my request before getting a response felt like going through a tunnel without lights: you'd somehow come out on the other side, but have no clue what happened along the way. Now I feel like I have reflectors! Thank you, Hussein!

By Ritu Deshpande on 1/8/2024

This course talks about Networking concepts from the perspective of practical applications which I believe what makes this course special. The instructor has clearly put a lot of effort researching and making this course. Would recommend 10/10.

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Overall Score : 94 / 100

Fundamentals of Network Engineering
Visit course on Udemy Write a review
  • Video Duration: icon 18.4h
  • Price: $99.99
  • Provider: icon Udemy
  • Updated: icon May 2025
  • Level: Intermediate Intermediate
  • Language: icon English
  • Certificate: icon Yes
  • Lectures:66 in 12 sections
  • Practice:2 quizzes
  • Students:59,000
  • Subtitles:22 languages
  • Udemy badge:Bestseller
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