Career paths
How careers actually develop: what separates one level from the next, which lateral moves exist, and which skills support them.
| Path | Area | Steps | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data analytics From answering questions with data to deciding which questions are worth asking. | Data | 5 | Aug 10, 2026v1.0 |
| Data science From fitting models to deciding whether a model was the right answer at all. | Data | 4 | Aug 10, 2026v1.0 |
| From analysis into data engineering How people in Costa Rica move from reports and queries into building the data pipelines. Not the only route — the one that comes up most often. | Data | 6 | Aug 10, 2026v1.1 |
| Machine learning engineering Taking models to production and keeping them alive when the world shifts. | Data | 3 | Aug 10, 2026v1.0 |
How a path is built
- 1Initial draft, which may be proposed by AI and is always labeled as such
- 2Community review
- 3Industry review
- 4Academic review
- 5Approval and publication with version, evidence date and contributors
A ladder and a path are not the same
- A ladder and a path are not the same
- Career ladder: progression within one family and track.
- Career path: the broader graph, including lateral and adjacent transitions.