You know things.
What can you prove?
Most career plans are built from what you've studied. This one starts from what you can demonstrate. Pick your target role, rate yourself honestly across its capabilities, and get a level for each one — plus the specific evidence that would move you up.
Free with an account. No card, no call booked, nothing to cancel.
Each level asks for something harder
A certification proves you can pass an exam, and it does that well. These levels keep raising the bar on what counts as proof — which is the same thing a hiring panel does when it stops asking what a service is and starts asking why you chose it.
- L1 — Understand
Introduction
You know the fundamentals, the terminology and what the thing is for.
Proof looks like: Explaining concepts correctly, identifying the right services, answering foundational questions.
- L2 — Build
Basic architecting
You can connect the components and get a basic solution working.
Proof looks like: Simple implementations, labs, a working deployment, a basic architecture diagram.
- L3 — Design
Complex systems
You can design and implement systems with multiple components and dependencies.
Proof looks like: Multi-service architectures, multiple environments, networking and security integration, data flows.
- L4 — Decide
Trade-off thinking
You can explain why one decision beats another, and what would change your mind.
Proof looks like: A written decision record comparing real alternatives on cost, scale, security, complexity and maintainability.
- L5 — Balance
Real-world constraints
You can design and build inside real business and technical limits.
Proof looks like: Judgement shown under a budget, a deadline, a small team, PII, compliance or legacy systems.
- L6 — Operate
Operating at scale
You can run, troubleshoot, optimise and evolve a system with real consequences.
Proof looks like: Incident response, scaling and capacity decisions, cost optimisation, migrations, reliability work.
Your capability map
- A level for every capability your target role needs — never one overall score
- The level that role actually expects, varied by sector and the seniority you're applying at
- Which capabilities are strengths, which are developing, and which are priority gaps
- For each gap: the specific thing missing, and the evidence that would close it
- One clear next action, not a twelve-month reading list
Claimed becomes verified
A self-assessment is a claim, and the map says so. What turns it into something a hiring manager can trust is evidence someone has actually reviewed: a repository, a decision record that defends a choice, a system you operated when it broke.
In the atelier that's a guided challenge for the exact gap you're closing — define the problem, explore the options, build it, test it against real constraints, then turn the work into proof you can put on a CV. Esperance reviews the evidence before any level changes.
Before you start
- How is this different from a skills quiz?
- A quiz scores recall. This maps each capability onto six levels of demonstrated ability — understand, build, design, decide, balance under constraints, operate at scale — and tells you which specific evidence is missing for the next one.
- Why don't I get one overall score?
- Because nobody is one number. You might be strong on identity and weak on infrastructure as code, and an average would hide exactly the thing you need to work on. You get a level per capability.
- Does a certification move my level?
- A certification is evidence of learning, not proof of mastery. It supports the lower levels well. The higher levels ask for decisions you defended, constraints you worked inside, and systems you operated.
- Who decides whether I've reached a level?
- Your self-assessment is labelled as exactly that — a claim. A level only becomes verified when Esperance has reviewed real evidence: a repository, a decision record, an incident write-up. That review is part of mentoring.
- Is it really free?
- The assessment, your capability map and the gap analysis are free with an account. Guided challenges and mentor-verified evidence are part of the mentoring programme.