Career growth Work & ambitions

How to prepare for your next role before it exists

Compare the next role with evidence you can actually show.

Identify the role's responsibilities, match them to your experience and choose a bounded way to test a gap. Agree authority, time and support before taking on stretch work. Readiness is one input to a promotion decision, not a guarantee.

Want new features first?

Start with three things you can do today

A starting goal

I want to move into a role with more responsibility. Help me identify the skills and evidence I need, then turn my current work into preparation for that step.

Change any word so it fits your situation. The course is built from what you type and a few setup questions.

Start today

Three things you can do before the course exists.

Useful on their own. The course is for when you want the whole skill, not just the first move.

Turn a title into evidence
Original example: a role requires planning a cross-team project. You have coordinated one small handover but have not owned a project schedule. Write both facts instead of calling yourself either fully ready or unqualified.
Choose a bounded next step
Ask your manager whether you can help plan a suitable small project, with clear scope, support and time. Do not quietly take on another person's authority or an unlimited unpaid workload.
Check readiness against the requirement
After the work, record what you actually planned, decisions you made and what still needed help. One completed project is evidence to discuss, not a guarantee of promotion or a substitute for other role requirements.

Best for: Career growth
Prerequisites: None. Bring the situation you have.
Course length: 7 to 30 lessons
Pace: Yours. One lesson at a time, as often as you like.
Format: Read it, or play the audio
Access: Available on the App Store and Google Play, with an optional early testing list

Before the course is built

Setup asks about your situation first.

Lesson 1 opens on the moment you describe, and the examples use your role. For this request, expect questions like these.

Do you know which role you want next, or are you deciding between a few?
Is the step a bigger version of your current work, or a different kind of work such as managing people?
Who decides whether you get it, and what have they said so far?

Right for now

If any of this sounds familiar, start here.

You are doing well and standing still

Good reviews, the same scope, and no clear path to what comes next.

You are not sure what the next step requires

The role has a title and no description of what would make you credible in it.

You want to be ready when it opens

The opportunity might come in months and you do not want to be starting then.

Course arc

Where the course goes, in order.

Cadence writes the lessons for you, so the exact path follows your answers. This is the ground a course built from this sentence covers.

01 / 06

What the next role is made of

Decoding a role into the problems it owns and the judgment it needs, using real examples around you.

The evidence you already have

Auditing your current work for proof, and noticing what nobody has seen.

The gap

Naming the two or three things you cannot yet demonstrate, without inflating the list.

Work that builds the case

Choosing stretch work, and shaping what you already do so it shows the missing capability.

The people who decide

Making your direction visible to your manager and sponsors without it reading as impatience.

Your readiness plan

One page that names the role, the gap and the next quarter's moves.

What changes

What you will be able to do, and what you will stop believing.

You will be able to

Describe the next role concretely

Know the decisions, scope and judgment it demands, not just its title.

See your gap honestly

Compare that description with what you can show today.

Choose work that closes it

Pick the projects and conversations this quarter that build the missing evidence.

Ideas this course corrects

Being excellent now proves readiness for every next role

Compare the next role's responsibilities with evidence you can actually show.

A stretch task guarantees promotion

Opportunities depend on organizational needs and decisions as well as your readiness.

Course questions

What to know before you start.

How to prepare for your next role before it exists: what can I do today?

Turn a title into evidence. Original example: a role requires planning a cross-team project. You have coordinated one small handover but have not owned a project schedule. Write both facts instead of calling yourself either fully ready or unqualified. Choose a bounded next step. Ask your manager whether you can help plan a suitable small project, with clear scope, support and time. Do not quietly take on another person's authority or an unlimited unpaid workload. Check readiness against the requirement. After the work, record what you actually planned, decisions you made and what still needed help. One completed project is evidence to discuss, not a guarantee of promotion or a substitute for other role requirements.

Is this a fixed course?

No. Cadence builds the course when you type the sentence and answer a few setup questions, so the lessons follow your situation. This page describes what a course built from this request covers. You see the whole path before Lesson 1.

Who is this course for?

Do I need any prior experience?

No. Setup asks what you already know and where you want to use it, and the course starts from there. Bring a real situation if you have one; the examples are built around it.

How long does it take?

Most courses run 7 to 30 lessons. The course length is sized to what you asked for. You set the pace: one lesson at a time, as often as you like. Lessons can be read or played as audio.

Does this course award a certificate or degree?

No. Cadence is for practical self-learning and does not award accredited degrees or professional certification.