MyCareer.NJ — New Jersey's statewide career platform
Role: Engineering lead and principal engineer · 2022–present
- residents reached
- 1.7M
- automated test coverage
- 0→~93–96%
- security vulnerabilities
- −94%
- accessibility
- 100%
MyCareer.NJ helps residents find training programs and career pathways using real, current state data. It is part of New Jersey's first major workforce modernization in more than 20 years, and people lean on it to make decisions about their livelihoods. Chelsea led the engineering that turned an early prototype into infrastructure they can count on.
What changed
The work went into the unglamorous things that make public software trustworthy. Automated test coverage rose from essentially zero to about 93–96%. Known security vulnerabilities fell by roughly 94%. And the interface reached full accessibility, so it works for everyone who needs it, including people on assistive technology.
What residents actually get
The NJ Training Explorer was the state's first comprehensive, interactive list of its approved training providers. It is bilingual, searchable, and works on a phone. And it surfaces the things that actually help someone pick a program:
- Cost, projected earnings, and real employment outcomes for each program
- Filters for languages offered, wheelchair accessibility, evening classes, and child-care help
- Tuition-assistance information, so residents can see what they may not have to pay for
One platform, many tools
Training Explorer is one tool in a connected suite. The platform also covers career navigation, the training-program explorer, industry career pathways, an in-demand-occupations list, a statewide job board, labor-market information, and a hub of support (child care, transportation, housing, tuition, and more), plus resources for training providers. A resident can go from 'what career fits me' to 'what program trains me for it' to 'what help can I get to enroll' without ever leaving the site.
Built on open data standards
The platform runs on real, current state data: 3,800+ approved training programs matched to wage-record outcomes. New Jersey's training and credential data was published to CTDL, the national Credential Transparency Description Language. That means the state's programs are described in the same open, linked-data vocabulary used across the country, and they can interoperate across agencies. It is the workforce-side counterpart to the FHIR health-data interoperability work elsewhere in this portfolio — public data that is open, standardized, and portable instead of locked in a silo.
Since launch, hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents have used the platform. Harvard Kennedy School's Project on Workforce called the Training Explorer a 'promising potential model,' and the work has been featured by Fast Company.