What a Junior } should know

Understands the importance of API documentation for internal and external consumers. Knows OpenAPI/Swagger formats and can read specifications. Can identify documentation gaps during review.

Understands REST API principles: resources, HTTP methods, status codes. Reads API specifications and understands endpoint structure. Knows how API design affects developer experience and product capabilities.

Understands the capacity planning concept at team and infrastructure levels. Knows main metrics: velocity, throughput, utilization. Participates in sprint planning considering developer availability.

Understands the microservice architecture concept and decomposition principles. Knows differences between monolith and microservices from the perspective of product capabilities. Participates in discussions on defining service boundaries.

Understands system design basics for product decision-making: high-level architecture diagrams, API-first design principles, and scalability considerations. Follows team practices for technical requirements documentation and architecture discussion participation.

Understands the technical debt concept and its impact on product delivery speed. Knows the difference between deliberate and accidental debt. Can document tech debt items with business impact.

Understands the difference between SLI, SLO and SLA and their role in product decisions. Knows basic SLIs: availability, latency, error rate. Understands how SLOs influence product decisions and engineering priorities.

Understands the code review process and its importance for product quality. Can read pull requests and understand changes at a high level. Participates in PR discussions from the perspective of product requirements.

Understands A/B testing principles and their application for product decisions. Knows how to formulate a hypothesis for an experiment considering platform technical constraints. Can describe basic test success metrics.

Understands product backlog structure and prioritization principles. Can create user stories with acceptance criteria, including technical criteria. Knows differences between product backlog and sprint backlog in the context of a technical product.

Understands the conversion funnel concept and its metrics at each stage. Knows how technical factors (page load time, errors) affect conversion. Can interpret basic funnel reports from Amplitude or Mixpanel.

Understands the fundamentals of Go-to-Market Strategy. Applies basic practices in daily work. Follows recommendations from the team and documentation.

Understands hypothesis formulation and validation principles in a product context. Can create a hypothesis in 'if-then-because' format considering technical capabilities. Knows basic validation methods.

Understands the Jobs-to-be-Done concept and its difference from persona-based approach. Knows how to apply JTBD framework for technical products and developer tools. Can formulate job statements for basic user tasks.

Conducts technical market research: evaluates competing APIs and platforms, analyzes developer experience trends, and benchmarks technical capabilities. Maps findings to engineering feasibility.

Understands the difference between OKR and KPI. Knows how to formulate measurable objectives for a technical product. Tracks basic product metrics: adoption, retention, performance SLIs.

Knows main product analytics tools: Amplitude, Mixpanel, PostHog. Understands how event tracking architecture affects data quality. Can find and interpret basic reports.

Understands product roadmap structure and its connection to technical planning. Knows the difference between feature-based and outcome-based roadmaps. Can read and discuss the roadmap considering technical dependencies and constraints.

Understands the importance of product vision and its connection to technical capabilities. Can articulate vision for their feature considering technical architecture. Knows how technology trends affect product vision.

Understands the stakeholder landscape of a technical product: engineering, business, operations. Can communicate with technical and non-technical stakeholders. Prepares status updates with appropriate technical depth.

Understands the fundamentals of User Research. Applies basic practices in daily work. Follows recommendations from the team and documentation.

Understands the user story mapping concept and its application for technical products. Knows the structure: activities, tasks, user stories. Participates in mapping sessions and helps define MVP considering technical dependencies.

Knows key delivery metrics: lead time, cycle time, deployment frequency, change failure rate. Understands DORA metrics and their connection to product performance. Tracks basic indicators for their team.

Understands the concept of dependencies between teams and system components. Can identify and document product and technical dependencies. Participates in coordination meetings for synchronization with other teams.

Knows basic estimation techniques: story points, T-shirt sizing, planning poker. Participates in estimation sessions and understands the connection between estimates and technical risks. Helps the team define acceptance criteria for estimation.

Understands Kanban principles: flow visualization, WIP limits, pull system. Can work with a Kanban board and track task status. Knows when Kanban is preferable to Scrum for technical teams.

Understands the fundamentals of Process Improvement: Kaizen, Retrospectives. Applies basic practices in daily work. Follows recommendations from the team and documentation.

Understands the release planning process and its connection to CI/CD pipeline. Knows differences between release train, feature-based and time-based releases. Participates in release planning considering technical readiness.

Understands the fundamentals of Risk Management. Applies basic practices in daily work. Follows recommendations from the team and documentation.

Understands Scrum framework: roles, artifacts, events. Knows the differences between Product Owner and Technical Product Manager. Participates in sprint ceremonies and maintains product backlog with technical stories.

Understands the importance of architectural documentation for technical decisions. Familiar with ADR (Architecture Decision Records) and C4 model formats. Reads architectural diagrams and participates in technical decision discussions.

Can read and create basic diagrams: flowcharts, sequence diagrams, user flows. Uses Miro, Lucidchart or draw.io for visualizing product processes. Understands UML notation at a basic level.