Career roadmaps: close the gap between college and the job

Many IT employers ask for skills that a degree does not always teach: a working knowledge of SQL, Git, building and deploying something real, or explaining a project clearly. That is not your fault, and it is not true of every college, but it is common enough that students who wait for the syllabus to catch up often fall behind those who start on their own.

These roadmaps give you a concrete path for one role at a time: what employers usually expect, what students commonly miss, a 12-week plan, three projects that prove the skills, and what interviewers ask.

How to use these roadmaps

1. Pick one role, not five. Depth in one area beats a thin list of many tools.
2. Open ten real job posts for that role and count which skills appear again and again. Those are your priorities, whatever any list says. The Tailor tool on this site shows which of a role's skills your resume already has.
3. Learn by building. For every skill, make something small that uses it and put it on GitHub or a live link.
4. Keep a short log of what you built and what you learned. It becomes your resume bullets and your interview stories.

Choose a role

Please read

• Colleges, companies and roles vary. Treat each roadmap as a starting point and adjust it to the job posts you see.
• Twelve weeks at about 10 hours a week gets you a solid base, not a guaranteed job. Hiring also depends on the market, your location and luck.
• Resource names are well-known places to start. Check that a course or site is still free and up to date before you commit.

Want to see where you stand today? Check your resume or tailor it to a role.