Editorial Policy

Who writes our articles

Articles are published under the name CareerPath Guide Editorial Team. Drafts are written with the help of AI writing tools, then checked by automated tests against our data files and sources, and approved before they are published. We do not invent authors, credentials, student stories, job offers or personal experience.

How we choose sources

1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for pay, and the Occupational Outlook Handbook for entry education, training and job outlook.
2. O*NET OnLine (U.S. Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0) and CareerOneStop for occupation details and license finders.
3. Official state licensing boards (government websites only) for license requirements, lookups, applications and renewals.
4. Professional associations and exam bodies where an official source does not cover a step, labeled as such.

Forums, social media, salary self-reports and anonymous blogs are not cited as evidence. If we cannot verify a fact, we leave it out rather than guess.

How we present pay

• Every pay figure is a BLS median (or percentile) with its year; the current data year is May 2025.
• OEWS covers wage and salary workers only. Self-employed people, such as many real estate agents and owner-operator truck drivers, are not included, and we say so on those pages.
• A median is not a promise. Pay varies with location, employer, experience and union contracts.
• We refresh pay data once a year after BLS publishes new estimates.

How we present licenses

• We link to the state board's own lookup and never copy license databases.
• License pages show a "Last verified" date. We check every official link at least once a quarter.
• Requirements are set by each state and change; confirm with the board before you apply.

What we will not publish

• Promises of admission, employment, exam results or income.
• "Best school" or "best program" rankings we have not actually compared.
• Advice that depends on your personal situation. Our pages are general information.

Images

Article header images are illustrative scenes made for this site with AI image tools. The people in them are fictional, not real workers. Charts, maps and diagrams are drawn by us from the cited data.

Opinions

Each article ends with an "Our Take" section. It is clearly an opinion based on the sources cited.

Updates and corrections

The "Updated" date only changes for substantive edits. Factual corrections are listed on ourcorrections page; to report an error, contact us.

Advertising and affiliate links

Ads and affiliate links never decide what we write. Pages with affiliate links say so at the top. Details are in our affiliate disclosure.