The Technical Skills Gap for Product Owners: How to Master 10 Fundamental Topics – Jeroen Boon

As a product owner, you need to understand the technology behind your product. You don’t need to code, but you should learn the basics of data analysis and related topics such as cloud computing, systems architecture, database schema, technical trade-offs, software development lifecycle, and deployments. This list of online resources will help you learn these topics. Each resource has a link and a summary for your convenience. Use these resources and improve your product skills.

Data Analysis
- Online Course: Data Analysis with Python by IBM (Coursera)
  This course will teach you how to collect, clean, manipulate, visualize, and model data using Python libraries such as Pandas, Numpy, Scipy, and scikit-learn.
- Book: “Data Analysis with Open Source Tools” by Philipp K. Janert
  This book will show you how to use open source tools such as R, gnuplot, Octave, and SQLite to analyze data from various domains and applications.
Application Layer
- Article: “Client-side vs Server-side Rendering: What’s the Difference?” by GeeksforGeeks
  This article will explain the difference between client-side and server-side rendering, their advantages and disadvantages, and some examples of web frameworks that use them
- YouTube Video: “Web Applications Architecture Basics” by Traversy Media
  This video will give you an overview of web applications architecture, including the components of a web application, the types of web servers, the role of databases, and the common web technologies.
APIs
- Online Course: REST APIs with Flask and Python (Udemy)
  This course will teach you how to build professional REST APIs with Flask and Python, using best practices such as testing, authentication, documentation, and deployment.
- Book: “RESTful Web APIs” by Leonard Richardson, Mike Amundsen, and Sam Ruby
  This book will help you design and implement RESTful web APIs that are scalable, secure, and interoperable with various formats and protocols.
Programming Languages
- Online Course: Python for Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp (Udemy)
  This course will teach you how to use Python for data science and machine learning tasks such as data analysis, data visualization, statistical modeling, natural language processing, deep learning, and more.
- Book: “Programming Language Pragmatics” by Michael L. Scott
  This book will provide you with a comprehensive introduction to the design and implementation of programming languages, covering topics such as syntax, semantics, parsing, compilation, runtime systems, concurrency, and parallelism.
Cloud Computing
- Article: “What is Cloud Computing?” by AWS
  This article will define cloud computing as the on-demand delivery of IT resources over the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing models.
- Online Course: Cloud Computing Fundamentals (Pluralsight)
  This course will introduce you to the basics of cloud computing concepts such as cloud service models (IaaS/PaaS/SaaS), cloud deployment models (public/private/hybrid), cloud characteristics (scalability/elasticity/reliability), and cloud challenges (security/cost/performance).
Systems Architecture
- YouTube Video: “Microservices vs Monolithic Architecture” by Simplilearn
  This video will compare microservices and monolithic architecture in terms of their definition, advantages, disadvantages, use cases, and examples.
- Online Course: Software Architecture: From Developer to Architect (Pluralsight)
  This course will guide you through the transition from a developer to an architect, covering topics such as architectural styles, design principles, quality attributes, patterns, and frameworks.
Data & Database Schema
- Article: “SQL vs NoSQL Databases: What’s the Difference?” by Oracle
  This article will explain the difference between SQL and NoSQL databases, their pros and cons, and how to choose the right one for your data needs.
- Online Course: Introduction to Databases and SQL Querying (Udemy)
  This course will teach you the fundamentals of databases and SQL querying, including how to create tables, insert data, query data, join tables, aggregate data, and more.
Technical Trade-offs
- Article: “Choosing the Right Software Architecture: Monolithic vs Microservices” by DZone
  This article will help you choose the right software architecture for your project by weighing the trade-offs between monolithic and microservices architectures in terms of complexity, scalability, performance, reliability, and security.
- Online Course: Software Design Patterns and Principles (Pluralsight)
  This course will introduce you to the most common software design patterns and principles that can help you write better code and avoid common pitfalls.
Software Development Lifecycle
- Online Course: Introduction to Software Development Lifecycle (Udemy)
  This course will give you an overview of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), including its phases, models, methodologies, tools, and best practices.
- Book: “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries
  This book will show you how to apply the lean startup approach to your software development process, using concepts such as minimum viable product (MVP), validated learning, build-measure-learn feedback loop, and innovation accounting.
Deployments
- Online Course: Deploying Applications with Docker and Kubernetes (Pluralsight)
  This course will teach you how to use Docker and Kubernetes to deploy your applications in a fast, reliable, and scalable way.
- YouTube Video: “Introduction to Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)” by Simplilearn
  This video will explain what continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) are, why they are important for software development, and how they work with tools such as Jenkins, Git, Maven, Docker, etc.