Methodology

How we build our resume skills pages

Every number on our job-title pages comes from a public U.S. government dataset. This page explains which ones, what we do to them, and what they can't tell you.

38 occupations published · Data updated 2026-11-06

Sources

  • O*NET 31.0 (U.S. Department of Labor). Technology skills and their In Demand flags, skill and knowledge importance ratings and definitions, work style distinctiveness ranks, task statements, alternate job titles, related occupations and the education levels workers report.
  • BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. National employment and annual wage percentiles for each occupation.
  • BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35. Projected growth, average annual openings, typical education for entry, and the factors BLS expects to change each occupation.

Every figure and list on these pages comes directly from these sources. We don’t use data from MyCareerAI users.

What we calculate

  • Tool ranking. Tools that O*NET finds often in job postings for the occupation (its In Demand flag) come first. The rest are grouped by type of software, with the types most specific to the job first, and at most five tools per type. Web browsers, operating systems and email clients go on a separate line, because nearly every job lists them.
  • Skills and knowledge. O*NET rates how important each skill and knowledge area is to a job, on a scale of 1 to 5. We compare that rating with the average across all jobs. Skills rated clearly above average are marked as needed “more than in most jobs,” and those a full point or more above it as “far more than in most jobs.” If none stands out, we show the highest-rated ones.
  • Soft skills. The work styles O*NET ranks as most distinctive for the occupation, in rank order, with O*NET’s own definitions.
  • Bullet starters. O*NET task statements, core tasks first, ranked by importance. We change only the leading verbs to the past tense, using fixed grammar rules.
  • Job titles. Each page uses the title people use day to day, such as Software Engineer. Where the government’s occupation name is different (Software Developers), the page says so.

Why some jobs don’t have a page

  • Not enough data. We only build a page when O*NET lists at least 10 tools specific to the job and at least 8 task statements, and BLS publishes wages for it. With less, the page couldn’t tell you much beyond what any job needs.
  • A very similar job already has one. When two occupations share 85% or more of their top tools and skills, the advice would be the same, so both titles lead to one page.
  • We haven’t reached it yet. We add occupations in batches. If yours is missing, let us know.

Limitations

  • O*NET describes an occupation across the whole U.S. economy. A specific employer’s posting is a better guide to which skills matter for that job.
  • Wages are national figures. Pay varies a lot by location, industry and experience.
  • BLS projections are estimates of long-term trends, not forecasts of hiring in any given year.
  • The keyword check looks for exact tool names in the text you paste. It doesn’t judge how well your resume shows the skill.

Updates

O*NET updates its database every quarter, with a major release each fall. BLS publishes wage data each spring and projections each fall. We update the pages after each release. A page’s “Data updated” date changes only when its data actually changed.

Spotted an error? Tell us and we will check it against the source.

Attribution

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. MyCareerAI has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. CC BY 4.0. The changes are as described under “What we calculate” above. BLS data is in the public domain.