Research question: Given someone's current role and experience, what does a realistic switch into a data-focused role look like — transferable skills, gaps, and real salary trajectory?
Career-switchers often overestimate how fast the transition is, or underestimate which skills already transfer. This project compares a current and target role against real salary data and a curated skill-requirement mapping.
Salary figures are real, historical (2020-2023). Skill mappings are curated — hand-built and cross-checked against a real technical-skills vocabulary, since no dataset maps 'who has which skills.'
Data Analyst salary progresses realistically from $59,102 (entry) to $115,467 (senior), each backed by real records. Skill-gap logic correctly separates transferable vs. missing skills for a realistic case.