Junior Backend Engineer

Evidence of shipping something complete, however small: a data model, an endpoint, a deployment. Honest reflection on what was hard and what they'd do differently. Bonus: they can explain a trade-off they made (why a table instead of a file, why REST). A vague tutorial-follower answer with no ownership is a weak signal.

A structured way of getting unstuck: reading docs and error messages, searching, minimal reproduction, asking for help after a genuine attempt (with a summary of what they tried). Bonus: they mention learning something reusable from it. Someone who just waited to be told the answer shows weak resourcefulness.

Openness and the ability to separate feedback from ego. Bonus: a concrete case where feedback changed how they work. For a junior, coachability is the single most important trait; defensiveness here is a serious flag at an SMB with a small team.

A sensible path: read the existing similar code first, follow the conventions already there, make a small change, test it locally, ask a targeted question if blocked. Bonus: they mention checking whether a migration is needed. Someone who wants to rewrite things their way on day one shows poor judgement.

Gratitude for the catch, a quick fix, and ideally adding a test so it can't regress. Bonus: they reflect on checking edge cases (empty, null, very large) proactively next time. A defensive but it worked on my machine answer is a coachability flag.

Asking early rather than guessing and burning a day: a concise, specific question to the right person, with context on what they've understood so far. Bonus: they try to answer it themselves first (read the ticket, the code). Silently building the wrong thing is the failure mode to screen out.

A clear mental model at the right level: routing, handler, maybe a database query, a response with a status code. Bonus: they mention status codes, JSON, or validation. You're checking for a coherent picture, not senior depth. Total confusion here is a concern for an entry backend role.

The basic idea (faster reads by avoiding a full scan) and at least one downside (slower writes, storage). Bonus: they connect it to a query they'd want to speed up. Not knowing what an index is at all is a gap for a backend role, but a partial answer with sound intuition is fine at junior level.

Awareness of SQL injection and the fix (parameterized queries / prepared statements). You don't need a security specialist, but a junior backend hire should know not to concatenate user input into SQL. Bonus: they mention validating input as a second layer.

Self-awareness about how they learn and a realistic appetite for mentoring and pairing. Bonus: they ask about your onboarding, review culture or mentoring. Someone who expects to be fully independent immediately, or who wants zero guidance, is a poor fit for a junior role at an SMB.

A collaborative posture: asking respectfully, timeboxing solo attempts, being comfortable saying I don't know. Bonus: an example of helping a peer in return. At an SMB the junior's willingness to ask and to collaborate directly affects how fast they become productive.

Genuine curiosity and a growth mindset with some direction (a stack, a domain, an area like databases or APIs). Bonus: it's realistic and connects to the role. You're checking that the role and their trajectory point the same way, which drives retention for junior hires.