# Career GPS
**Strategic career planning, skill gap analysis, and role transition roadmapping.**
Don't drift through your career. Navigate it with intent.

## Philosophy
Most careers happen *to* people. Career GPS puts you in the driver's seat by treating your career like a product — with a roadmap, milestones, and metrics.

The model:
1. **Current State** — Honest audit of skills, title, comp, trajectory
2. **Target State** — Where you want to be in 1, 3, 5 years
3. **Gap Analysis** — What's missing between current and target
4. **Action Plan** — Concrete steps with timelines
5. **Feedback Loops** — Regular check-ins to adjust course

## Input Required
- Current role, title, and compensation
- Years of experience
- Industry and domain
- Career aspirations (vague or specific — we'll refine them)
- Skills inventory (or resume/LinkedIn for extraction)

## Workflow

### Phase 1: Career Audit
```
Rate your current state (1-10):

Technical Skills:
  - Core technology stack:     [1-10]
  - System design/architecture: [1-10]
  - Code quality/craft:        [1-10]
  - DevOps/infrastructure:     [1-10]
  - Data/databases:            [1-10]
  - Security:                  [1-10]

Leadership Skills:
  - Technical leadership:      [1-10]
  - People management:         [1-10]
  - Cross-functional collab:   [1-10]
  - Communication/presenting:  [1-10]
  - Mentoring/coaching:        [1-10]

Business Skills:
  - Product thinking:          [1-10]
  - Business domain knowledge: [1-10]
  - Data-driven decisions:     [1-10]
  - Stakeholder management:    [1-10]

Career Metrics:
  - Compensation vs. market:   [above/at/below]
  - Title vs. experience:      [ahead/on-track/behind]
  - Learning velocity:         [accelerating/steady/decelerating]
  - Network strength:          [strong/moderate/weak]
  - Visibility/reputation:     [high/medium/low]
```

### Phase 2: Target Definition
```
Define your targets across time horizons:

1-Year Target:
  - Title/Role: [specific]
  - Compensation: [range]
  - Company type: [startup/scale-up/enterprise/FAANG]
  - Key skills to acquire: [2-3]
  - Key achievements to land: [1-2]

3-Year Target:
  - Title/Role: [specific]
  - Compensation: [range]
  - Scope (team size, budget, impact): [specific]
  - Domain expertise: [specific]
  - Leadership level: [IC/staff/principal/manager/director]

5-Year Target:
  - Career model: [IC track / Management track / Founder / Consultant]
  - Compensation target: [range]
  - Impact scope: [team/org/industry]
  - Lifestyle design: [remote/hybrid/in-office, hours, location]
```

### Phase 3: Gap Analysis
```
Compare current vs. target:

Target Role: [e.g., Staff Engineer]
Current gaps:
  - System design at scale: Need distributed systems experience
  - Technical leadership: Need cross-team influence examples
  - Scope: Currently own service, need org-level impact
  - Visibility: No conference talks, blog posts, or open source presence

Priority matrix:
  High Impact + Quick Win:
  - [e.g., Start a technical blog]
  - [e.g., Mentor a junior engineer]

  High Impact + Long Term:
  - [e.g., Lead a cross-team migration]
  - [e.g., Get staff-level promotion at current company]

  Low Impact + Quick Win:
  - [e.g., Update LinkedIn headline]
  - [e.g., Complete a certification]

  Low Impact + Long Term:
  - [e.g., Learn a new programming language unrelated to target]
```

### Phase 4: Action Roadmap
```
Quarterly breakdown:

Q1 (Next 3 months):
  Skill building:
  - [Specific course/book/project for top skill gap]
  Network:
  - [Attend 2 meetups/conferences in target domain]
  - [Reach out to 5 people in target role for coffee chats]
  Visibility:
  - [Publish 1 blog post or talk]
  - [Contribute to 1 open source project in target space]
  Career moves:
  - [Update resume and LinkedIn for target direction]
  - [Start casual conversations with target companies]

Q2-Q4: [Similar structure with increasing ambition]

Milestones:
  - [ ] 6-month checkpoint: [specific measurable goal]
  - [ ] 12-month checkpoint: [specific measurable goal]
```

## Career Transition Playbooks

### IC → Engineering Manager
```
Skills to develop:
- 1:1s, performance reviews, hiring, firing
- Project management, sprint planning, roadmap ownership
- Cross-functional communication
- Budget and vendor management

Steps:
1. Start mentoring 1-2 junior engineers
2. Volunteer to lead a project with 3+ people
3. Take on hiring responsibilities (screening, interviewing)
4. Ask to officially manage an intern or junior
5. Read: "The Manager's Path", "An Elegant Puzzle"
6. Find an EM mentor at your company
7. After 6-12 months of informal leadership, pitch the transition
```

### Backend → Full Stack
```
Skills to develop:
- Frontend framework (React/Vue/Svelte)
- CSS and responsive design
- Browser APIs and web performance
- UX fundamentals
- State management

Steps:
1. Build a full-stack side project
2. Pair with frontend engineers on features
3. Take on small frontend tasks at work
4. Learn the team's frontend stack on company time
5. Build a portfolio of 2-3 full-stack projects
6. Apply to full-stack roles with portfolio evidence
```

### Big Tech → Startup
```
Mindset shifts:
- "I built systems for millions" → "I'll build the MVP in a weekend"
- Process and documentation → speed and iteration
- Specialized role → wear many hats
- Comfort and stability → ambiguity and chaos

Financial planning:
- Calculate your runway: savings / monthly expenses = months
- Factor in equity risk: value it at $0
- Negotiate for cash-heavy comp if possible
- Understand your risk tolerance honestly

Steps:
1. Define your risk profile and runway
2. Identify startup stage preference (pre-seed, seed, series A)
3. Build network in startup ecosystem (YC alumni, AngelList)
4. Develop generalist skills: DevOps, product sense, growth
5. Start with freelance/consulting to test the water
```

### Developer → Product Manager
```
Skills to develop:
- User research and customer discovery
- Product analytics and metrics
- Roadmap prioritization frameworks
- Stakeholder management
- Business case development

Steps:
1. Volunteer for product-adjacent work (specs, user interviews)
2. Build a side product end-to-end
3. Take a product thinking course (Reforge, Product School)
4. Shadow PMs at your company
5. Transition internally (easiest path) or apply to APM programs
6. Build a product portfolio (case studies with outcomes)
```

### Employee → Freelancer/Consultant
```
Financial planning:
- Emergency fund: 6-12 months expenses
- Health insurance plan (independent)
- Tax structure (LLC, S-Corp, etc.)
- Accounting setup

Business foundations:
- Define your service offering (specific, not "I code")
- Set your rate: [annual salary target] / 1000 = hourly rate minimum
- Create a portfolio/case-study page
- Set up LinkedIn as a lead generation tool

Client acquisition:
1. Start moonlighting while employed (check contract)
2. Ask your network for referrals
3. Join freelance platforms as backup (Upwork, Toptal)
4. Write content demonstrating expertise
5. Target 3-5 anchor clients before going full-time

First 6 months:
- Month 1-2: Land first 2 clients at any reasonable rate
- Month 3-4: Raise rates 25% for new clients
- Month 5-6: Evaluate — is this sustainable? Adjust.
```

## Role Transition Decision Matrix

```
Should you switch roles? Score each factor:

                          Stay  Switch  Weight
Growth potential            X             3x
Compensation ceiling              X      2x
Learning velocity                 X      3x
Work-life balance           X             2x
Team/culture                X             2x
Impact potential                  X      2x
Risk tolerance                    X      1x
Commute/location                  X      2x

Weighted total: _____
If "Switch" wins by 20%+ — it's time.
If close — what would make staying competitive?
```

## Quarterly Review Template
```
Career Quarterly Review — [Date]

1. What were my goals for this quarter?
   [List goals from roadmap]

2. What did I accomplish?
   [Specific achievements with metrics]

3. What didn't I accomplish? Why?
   [Be honest — this feeds next quarter's plan]

4. What new opportunities appeared?
   [Serendipity audit — what came your way?]

5. What skills did I develop?
   [New tech, new domains, new soft skills]

6. How's my network?
   [New connections, strengthened relationships]

7. What's my energy/motivation level? (1-10)
   [Career satisfaction check]

8. Adjusted priorities for next quarter:
   [Updated goals based on learnings]
```

## Integration with Other Skills
- **resume-architect**: Translates career plan into resume language
- **salary-negotiator**: Informed by market data and trajectory analysis
- **jobhunter-master**: Executes the job search when it's time to move
- **linkedin-optimizer**: Aligns profile with target trajectory

## Files
- `memory/career-plan.md` — Master career roadmap
- `memory/career-audit-[date].md` — Quarterly self-assessments
- `memory/skill-gaps.md` — Active skill development tracking
- `memory/network-map.md` — Professional network management