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Concurrency safety: Threads, locks and race conditions

A ready-made course you customise for your organisation, with a live session deck and two surveys. You only add the 6 details that are specific to your organisation.

See the live deckSee the full outline
Try the coursePreview the survey
Length
40 min
Lessons
6 lessons
Frequency
At onboarding of back-end engineers
Last reviewed
21 Oct 2026
Locks, mutexes and semaphores
What would you do?

Five workers may use only three database connections

Try it: this is one of 15 interactive activities in the course.

What's included

Three pieces that work together

Copy once, get everything. Learners prepare on their own, you answer questions live, and the surveys tell you what stuck.

Self-paced course

Short lessons with real workplace scenarios, not walls of text.

  • 6 lessons, about 40 minutes
  • Timeline, scenario, sorting activity, flashcards and quizzes

Live session deck

An AhaSlides presentation to run after the course, in person or online.

  • 10 slides
  • Quiz, poll, ranking, word cloud slides
  • A closing slide for your contacts

Two surveys

Find out what landed, and whether people use it on the job.

  • Post-course feedback, about 2 minutes
  • 30-day check-in
  • Anonymous by default
  • Results feed your next refresher

Learning objectives

At the end of this course, learners can

Each objective and the lesson that covers it.

IDObjectiveSourceWhere it's covered
TO 353.0Achieve ≥ 80% on the final assessment-Whole course
SO 353.1Distinguish threads, processes and async tasksBest practiceWhole course
SO 353.2Choose between a mutex, a semaphore and a lock-free approach for a stated useBest practiceWhole course
SO 353.3Explain how a race condition arises and fix itCWE-362 (reference) [check before build]Whole course
SO 353.4Spot a deadlock and break it by ordering locksBest practiceWhole course
SO 353.5Review concurrent code against your team's rules + your infoSEI CERT concurrency rules (reference) [check before build]Whole course

Your part: what a template can't do for you

  • Your workplace details: fill in the 6 highlighted fields so the course describes your own policies, contacts and locations.
  • Records: record completion in your own LMS or record system.

Course outline

6 lessons, about 40 minutes

Minutes per lesson are an estimate, shared out by page count.

ContentInteractiveVideoYou customise
1

A counter that was wrong every tenth run

3 pages

8 min
Before you beginNoteList
The bugTextImage
What went wrongTimelineQuiz
2

Threads, processes and async

3 pages

8 min
CompareTable
Which model?Sorting activity
CheckFlashcardsMatching quiz
3

Locks, mutexes and semaphores

3 pages

8 min
ToolsTabs
Pick the toolScenarioQuiz
CheckMulti-select quiz
4

Race conditions and deadlock

2 pages

6 min
DeadlockTimeline
Break itScenarioQuiz
5

Concurrency patterns by language

2 pages

5 min
PatternsAccordionYour info
CheckQuiz
6

Reviewing concurrent code and final assessment

2 pages

5 min
Review checklistChecklistKey fact
PracticeQuizKey factNoteButtonYour info

Live deck and surveys

10 slides to run live, two surveys to close the loop

Pink slides are interactive. Both surveys are anonymous; pink questions are written for this course.

ContentTitle, agenda, "bring a concurrency bug
PollWhich have you met?
QuizTwo workers read 41 and each write 42. This is… (Race condition ✔ · Deadlock · Leak)
Content · customiseMutex, semaphore, lock order; the checklist {{ENGINEERING_STANDARDS_LINK}}
RankingRank by risk: unprotected counter, lock held over a network call, opposite lock order, unused lock
QuizThree connections for five workers. Best tool? (Semaphore of three ✔)
Word cloudThe hardest bug to reproduce
ScaleHow confident are you reviewing concurrent code?
Q&AAsk the trainer anything
Content · customiseClosing {{HELP_CONTACT}}, {{COURSE_URL}}, {{SURVEY_2_URL}}
Post-course feedback: 11 questions, about 2 min
  1. Overall rating 5 stars
  2. Relevant, realistic, right length, helpful activities agree/disagree grid
  3. What was most useful? multi-select
  4. Confidence before this course, and now 1-5 scale
  5. Confidence in threads · locks · races · deadlock · async grid
  6. Does your code share state between threads? multiple choice
  7. Which concurrency bug was hardest to find? short text
  8. I can say ‘I am not sure this is thread safe’ without feeling judged. 1-5 scale
  9. One thing we should change or add open text
  10. Would you recommend this course? NPS
30-day check-in
  1. Have you used what you learned since the course? multiple choice
  2. How confident are you today? Compare with day 1 1-5 scale
  3. Do you know where to find the concurrency review checklist? yes / no / not sure
  4. A moment where the training helped, or where you weren't sure open text
  5. Which topics should the next refresher focus on? ranking

Results show whether people use the training on the job, not just whether they finished it.

Make it yours

6 fields to fill in, and you're ready

Everything else is done. These are the details only your organisation knows; each one is highlighted inside the course.

  • Link to the engineering standards or style guide{{ENGINEERING_STANDARDS_LINK}}
  • Where completion is recorded{{LMS_OR_RECORD_SYSTEM}}
  • Link to the post-course and 30-day survey{{SURVEY_2_URL}}
  • Who to ask for help or to report a concern{{HELP_CONTACT}}
  • Link to the self-paced course{{COURSE_URL}}
  • Link to the baseline survey{{SURVEY_1_URL}}

FAQ

Common questions

Can I run concurrency safety: Threads, locks and race conditions training online?

Yes. The course is self-paced and online, and the live deck lets you add a live session in the room or online.

How often is this training needed?

At onboarding of back-end engineers, and after a race-condition incident.

Who needs this training?

Back-end developers and systems engineers; run by senior engineers and engineering managers with L&D.

What records should I keep?

Record completion in your own LMS or record system, so you can show who finished the course and when.

Can I edit the content?

Yes, everything. Change the wording, swap scenarios for ones from your workplace, add your logo, or remove parts that don't apply.

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Last reviewed: 21 October 2026Templates are a starting point, not legal advice.

Ready to run it?

Open the live deck to see how the session runs alongside the course and both surveys.

See the live deck