Curated for this specific career level.
Level path
SRE Foundations
Junior SRE
Build reliable foundations and enough context to contribute safely with guidance.
Concepts explicitly listed in this level.
Concepts span multiple tracks and layers.
Job description signalsTypical responsibilities↓
- Define and improve reliability, latency, capacity, observability, incident response, and operational readiness.
- Automate toil, harden production systems, and create feedback loops through SLOs and postmortems.
- Partner with engineering teams to design systems that fail safely and recover predictably.
- Implement well-scoped tasks with guidance from more senior engineers.
- Write readable code, tests, and documentation for small features or fixes.
- Participate in code reviews, debugging sessions, and team ceremonies.
- Learn the team codebase, delivery workflow, and production support expectations.
Cumulative view includes
Dev / Junior DevSE / Junior SEInfrastructure Engineering / Junior Infrastructure Engineer
Track / layer masteryConcept coverage by layer↓
Operations
10 concepts
Software
3 concepts
Data
1 concepts
Software
69 concepts
Operations
29 concepts
Management
11 concepts
Product
5 concepts
Data
3 concepts
Theory
3 concepts
Learning scopeConcepts by learning area↓
Specific to this level
Concepts introduced by this level
01
Level concepts
Reliability Foundations
Understand the core vocabulary of resilient systems.
02
Level concepts
Production Signals
Observe and diagnose production systems using telemetry.
03
Level concepts
Distributed Operations
Operate distributed systems under traffic, failure, and consistency constraints.
04
Level concepts
Deployment & Recovery
Ship changes safely and recover when systems fail.
Cumulative level expectation
All concepts expected at this level
01
Inherited path
Coding Foundations
Developers begin by learning to translate requirements into working, readable code.
GPLSoftware · Programming LanguagesworkingSource CodeSoftware · Programming LanguagesawarenessFunctionSoftware · ProgrammingawarenessControl FlowSoftware · ProgrammingArraySoftware · Algorithms & Data StructuresHash TableSoftware · Algorithms & Data StructuresSynchronous ProgrammingSoftware · ProgrammingAsynchronous ProgrammingSoftware · ProgrammingVariableSoftware · ProgrammingStateSoftware · ProgrammingRecursionSoftware · ProgrammingStackSoftware · Algorithms & Data StructuresQueueSoftware · Algorithms & Data StructuresLinked ListSoftware · Algorithms & Data StructuresBinary SearchSoftware · Algorithms & Data StructuresSortingSoftware · Algorithms & Data StructuresImperative ProgrammingSoftware · ProgrammingDeclarative ProgrammingSoftware · ProgrammingProcedural ProgrammingSoftware · ProgrammingStatic TypingSoftware · Programming LanguagesDynamic TypingSoftware · Programming LanguagesType SystemSoftware · Programming Languages
02
Inherited path
Developer Tooling
Daily development depends on version control, language tooling, static checks, and repeatable local workflows.
GitProduct · Developer ToolsawarenessCompilerSoftware · Programming LanguagesawarenessInterpreterSoftware · Programming LanguagesPackage ManagerOperations · Build & PackagingLintingOperations · Build & PackagingCode EditorProduct · Developer ToolsCLISoftware · Operating SystemsVersion ControlProduct · Developer ToolsDependencyOperations · Build & PackagingArtifactOperations · Build & PackagingDevelopment EnvironmentOperations · Local DevelopmentSoftware EcosystemSoftware · Programming
03
Inherited path
Testing & Debugging
A developer owns not only writing code, but proving that it behaves as intended.
04
Inherited path
Employment Basics
Technical candidates benefit from understanding who employs them, how they are paid, and which terms govern the working relationship.
EmployeeManagement · business-foundationsawarenessContractorManagement · business-foundationsawarenessEORManagement · business-foundationsOffer LetterManagement · business-foundationsEmployment ContractManagement · business-foundationsCompensationManagement · business-foundationsEmployee BenefitsManagement · business-foundationsEquity CompensationManagement · business-foundationsPayrollManagement · business-foundationsStatement of WorkManagement · business-foundations
05
Inherited path
Programming Foundations
Learn the basic building blocks used to express behavior in code.
Graph Data StructureSoftware · Algorithms & Data StructuresawarenessBig O NotationTheory · Algorithmic AnalysisawarenessRequirements EngineeringManagement · Requirements & PlanningTime ComplexityTheory · Algorithmic AnalysisSpace ComplexityTheory · Algorithmic AnalysisTreeSoftware · Algorithms & Data StructuresHeapSoftware · Algorithms & Data StructuresBreadth-First SearchSoftware · Algorithms & Data StructuresDepth-First SearchSoftware · Algorithms & Data Structures
06
Inherited path
Software Design
Structure code so it remains readable, testable, and maintainable as it grows.
Object-Oriented ProgrammingSoftware · ProgrammingawarenessInterfaceSoftware · Software DesignawarenessCompositionSoftware · Software DesignCouplingSoftware · Software DesignCohesionSoftware · Software DesignDesign PatternSoftware · Software DesignRefactoringSoftware · Software DesignSRPSoftware · Software DesignOCPSoftware · Software DesignLSPSoftware · Software DesignISPSoftware · Software DesignDIPSoftware · Software DesignFactory PatternSoftware · Software DesignAdapter PatternSoftware · Software DesignStrategy PatternSoftware · Software Design
07
Inherited path
Data & Persistence
Understand how applications store, retrieve, and protect durable state.
08
Inherited path
Architecture & Systems
Design systems that handle growth, latency, failure, and multiple communicating components.
09
Inherited path
Production Awareness
Know how software is built, deployed, observed, and recovered in production.
10
Inherited path
Systems Foundations
Understand the operating-system and compute foundations beneath production software.
Infrastructure EngineeringOperations · Runtime InfrastructureLinuxOperations · Runtime InfrastructureServerOperations · Runtime InfrastructureKernelSoftware · Operating SystemsProcessSoftware · Operating SystemsShellSoftware · Operating SystemsFile SystemSoftware · Operating SystemsBlock StorageOperations · Runtime InfrastructureObject StorageOperations · Cloud Infrastructure
11
Inherited path
Network & Access
Operate basic connectivity and access controls for infrastructure.
12
Inherited path
Operations Basics
Observe, maintain, and recover infrastructure safely.
13
Path concepts
Reliability Foundations
Understand the core vocabulary of resilient systems.
14
Path concepts
Production Signals
Observe and diagnose production systems using telemetry.
15
Path concepts
Distributed Operations
Operate distributed systems under traffic, failure, and consistency constraints.
16
Path concepts
Deployment & Recovery
Ship changes safely and recover when systems fail.