Your Roadmap to Becoming More Technical

Seven steps to become more technical in 2025

Hey, I’m Colin! I help PMs and business leaders improve their technical skills through real-world case studies. For more, check out my Live cohort course and subscribe on Substack.

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Becoming more technical requires time, effort, and hands-on practice. It doesn’t require you to become an expert developer.

Use these 7 steps to become more technical in 2025!

1) Understand clients, servers, and databases

Every modern application is built on the same basic principles. When you open Instagram, TikTok, or any other app, you're actually interacting with multiple pieces of software working together. Your phone or browser (called the client) sends requests over the internet to powerful computers (servers) that process these requests and send back the information you want to see.

With enterprise software, things can get more complex. Our single server can be broken up into many smaller services, each with their own database.

Learn more:

Become a more technical product manager

• What is Client-Server Network? Definition, Advantages, and Disadvantages - zenarmor.com

• What Is REST API? Examples And How To Use It: Crash Course System Design #3

2) Learn about developer workflows

Software doesn't magically appear on your device - it goes through a careful process of development, testing, and distribution. Developers use special tools to track changes to their code (version control) and to safely get those changes to users (deployment).

The most popular version control system is called Git. It's like a super-powered track changes that keeps track of every change made to the software. When multiple developers work together, Git helps them combine their work without accidentally overwriting each other's changes.

Learn more:

How software gets shipped

• Top 5 Most-Used Deployment Strategies

3) Discover how to scale

When an application becomes popular, it needs to handle thousands or millions of people using it at the same time. This is called scaling, and it's why companies like Netflix can stream videos to millions of people simultaneously without crashing.

The tricks to scaling include using multiple servers (like opening more cash registers at a busy store), saving frequently-used information in special high-speed storage called cache (like keeping popular items within easy reach), and placing servers around the world so users get faster access from nearby locations.

Learn more:

• bytebytego.com: System Design - Scale From Zero To Millions Of Users

• 8 Most Important System Design Concepts You Should Know

4) Get familiar with databases

Applications need to store information somewhere - user accounts, messages, photos, etc. This is where databases come in. A database is like a super-powered spreadsheet that can quickly store and retrieve massive amounts of information.

There are different types of databases for different needs. Some (SQL databases) are like very organized filing cabinets with strict rules about how information is stored. Others (NoSQL databases) are more flexible, like a collection of sticky notes that can be organized in different ways.

Learn more:

Become a data-informed product manager

• Roadmap for Learning SQL

5) Learn about AI

Artificial Intelligence has transformed how we build software. Modern AI can help write code, generate images, understand text, and much more. Start by understanding the basics, like linear and logistic regression, and work your way up through common approaches until you reach GenAI.

Learn more:

Artificial Intelligence

6) Build your own app with Replit

Building an application means combining all these pieces: a client that users interact with, a server that processes requests, a database that stores information. Luckily for us, Replit and other AI code generators can build basic applications for you. Create a small app and explore how it works through the client, server, and database code.

Learn more:

• Building with the Replit Agent

7) Integrate Gen AI

Modern applications often include AI capabilities - think of Snapchat filters, Gmail's smart compose, or chatbots. Adding AI to an application usually means connecting to specialized AI services (like OpenAI or Claude) through their APIs, then carefully handling their responses to create a smooth user experience. Add an AI feature to your replit app to give it a try!

Learn more:

How to build an AI-enabled product

• GPT-4o Quickstart Guide - Replit

Get started with a free guide

You can get started with my free, 5-step guide on building applications with AI. This covers the basics of setting up an application, integrating an API endpoint, and using AI.

Grab it here 👉 https://ai-prototyping-for-pms.netlify.app/