https://github.com/chentianle1117/Skill-Bridge-DataVis

https://chentianle1117.github.io/Skill-Bridge-DataVis/

This project analyzes job postings to compare tech and design roles, focusing on skill requirements, salaries, and remote availability. An interactive dashboard reveals how these factors interplay across different geographic locations, highlighting where opportunities are most abundant for cross‐field job seekers.

Team member: David Chen, Risa Xie

Context: the dilemma for cross-field job seekers

The labor market is evolving at an unprecedented pace. Emerging technologies and shifting demands are driving individuals to acquire new skills and transition into unfamiliar fields. This phenomenon is particularly evident among cross-field job seekers—those venturing into careers that differ significantly from their previous experience. While these individuals bring diverse perspectives and creativity, they often face challenges in aligning their skills with job requirements and navigating the vast job landscape.

In this study, we aim to provide a data-driven understanding of the broader categories of jobs and how specific skills, particularly in tech and design, connect to these roles. We analyzed LinkedIn job postings from 2023, extracting skills from job descriptions and categorizing them into nine overarching skill groups (e.g., "Data Analysis," "Programming") and 23 job categories (e.g., "Cloud DevOps," "Software Engineer," "Product Management"). Using a consistent keyword mapping process, we ensured clarity and accuracy in linking skills to jobs. Our visualizations focus on revealing the connection between tech/design skills and job categories, as well as providing insights into salary trends and geographic distribution across these roles.

Key Results

Observation 1: Preference for Both Design and Technical Skills Varies Across Job Categories

Circular Skill-Job Linkage Interactive Graph

• From the visualization, we observe that certain roles, such as Software Engineer, demonstrate a strong preference for both technical and design skills, evident from the dense network of connections linking both types of skills to these jobs. In contrast, other roles, like Interior Design, predominantly emphasize design-specific skills, with little to no overlap with technical skills.
• Overall, technical jobs tend to require a broader and more diverse set of skills compared to design jobs. This discrepancy could stem from:
  • Tech Stack Variability: In technical fields, the differentiation among tools and frameworks is more pronounced. For instance, there are over 20 variations in software scaffolding tools alone (e.g., React, Angular, Node.js), whereas the design field focuses primarily on a few key software solutions like Adobe and Figma.
  • Data Bias: The dataset itself contains fewer design job postings than technical roles, leading to the omission of less frequently mentioned design skills (filtered out for having fewer than 50 mentions).

Observation 2: Overall tech-related jobs have more job openings comparing to engineering or design related job types, and provide more over half of the tech-related jobs are remote, while about less than 25% of the design related jobs are remote.

• To compare tech and design-related jobs by data count, we mapped the total job counts in subcategories and their remote positions. We used a log scale to prevent software engineering jobs from skewing the results. The data shows that tech jobs significantly outnumber design job openings, with about half of tech positions offering remote work compared to less than 20% for design jobs. Some design job categories have no remote positions in our sample dataset. Software engineering leads the tech category with over 2,000 job postings, while electrical and mechanical engineering are the largest design categories. While our dataset isn't comprehensive and requires further refinement and validation, some categories show very low posting numbers—just 3 for HVAC engineering and 1 for interior design.

  

  Batch-selectable Skill-to-job-categories connections graph