Level path

Data Practitioner

Own features and services with solid implementation judgment across neighboring layers.

Total concepts 263

Curated for this specific career level.

Specific to this level 40

Concepts explicitly listed in this level.

Knowledge tracks 6

Concepts span multiple tracks and layers.

Job description signals Typical responsibilities

Build data ingestion, transformation, orchestration, storage, quality, lineage, and serving pipelines.
Model analytical and operational data for correctness, scalability, privacy, and downstream usability.
Support analytics, BI, ML, compliance, and product teams with reliable data platforms.
Own features end to end from design through implementation, testing, release, and support.
Make local technical tradeoffs and explain them clearly to teammates.
Improve reliability, maintainability, and observability of the systems you touch.
Collaborate with product, design, QA, operations, and adjacent engineering teams.

Cumulative view includes

Dev / Junior DevSE / Junior SEDE / Junior DEDev / DevSE / Mid SE

Specific to this level 40 Cumulative 263

Track / layer mastery Concept coverage by layer

DATA

Data

34 concepts

Data Platforms 20 Data Engineering 12 Data Foundations 2

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Software

4 concepts

System Design 2 Databases 1 Security 1

OPS

Operations

2 concepts

Observability 2

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Software

141 concepts

Software Design 35 Programming 23 System Design 16 Programming Languages 14 Algorithms & Data Structures 12 Databases 11 Computer Networks 9 Security 7 Software Architecture 5 Quality Assurance 5 Distributed Systems 3 Operating Systems 1

DATA

Data

53 concepts

Data Platforms 23 Data Engineering 18 Data Foundations 12

OPS

Operations

29 concepts

Deployment 11 Build & Packaging 7 Observability 7 Continuous Integration 2 Local Development 1 Runtime Infrastructure 1

MGT

Management

20 concepts

Business Foundations 10 Requirements & Planning 7 Delivery Methodologies 2 Team Leadership 1

Product

17 concepts

Developer Tools 11 API Products 4 Web Applications 2

Theory

3 concepts

Algorithmic Analysis 3

Learning scope Concepts by learning area

Specific to this level

Concepts introduced by this level

Level concepts

Data foundations

Understand datasets, schemas, quality, SQL, and analytical storage basics.

ETL Data · Data Engineering new ELT Data · Data Engineering new Data Warehouse Data · Data Platforms new Data Lake Data · Data Platforms new Materialized View Data · Data Platforms new

Level concepts

Pipeline orchestration

Build and operate data movement and transformation workflows at scale.

Airflow Data · Data Engineering new Workflow Orchestration Data · Data Engineering new Data Migration Data · Data Engineering new TTL Software · System Design new CDC Data · Data Engineering new Schema Registry Data · Data Engineering new Late-Arriving Data Data · Data Engineering new Watermark Data · Data Engineering new Reverse ETL Data · Data Engineering new

Level concepts

Data platform production

Make data platforms reliable, discoverable, observable, and ready for analytics and ML consumers.

Metrics Operations · Observability new Throughput Software · System Design new Data Lineage Data · Data Platforms new Data Encryption Software · Security new Data Observability Data · Data Engineering new Data Contract Data · Data Engineering new

Level concepts

Data Platforms

Build the capabilities needed for this area.

Cumulative level expectation

All concepts expected at this level

Inherited path

Coding Foundations

Developers begin by learning to translate requirements into working, readable code.

Inherited path

Developer Tooling

Daily development depends on version control, language tooling, static checks, and repeatable local workflows.

Git Product · Developer Tools awareness Compiler Software · Programming Languages awareness Interpreter Software · Programming Languages Package Manager Operations · Build & Packaging Linting Operations · Build & Packaging Code Editor Product · Developer Tools CLI Software · Operating Systems Version Control Product · Developer Tools Dependency Operations · Build & Packaging Artifact Operations · Build & Packaging Development Environment Operations · Local Development Software Ecosystem Software · Programming Repository Product · Developer Tools awareness Commit Product · Developer Tools awareness Branch Product · Developer Tools awareness Pull Request Product · Developer Tools awareness

Inherited path

Testing & Debugging

A developer owns not only writing code, but proving that it behaves as intended.

Unit Test Software · quality-assurance awareness Debugger Product · Developer Tools awareness Error Handling Software · Programming Code Documentation Software · Software Design Software Testing Software · quality-assurance awareness Test Case Software · quality-assurance awareness

Inherited path

Software Systems Basics

Even implementation-focused developers need a working vocabulary for clients, servers, interfaces, web requests, and the lifecycle surrounding a change.