NetMentors is built on publicly available government occupational data, combined with a structured editorial process. This page explains exactly how each piece of content is produced.
| Data Type | Source | Update Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Occupation titles & descriptions | O*NET OnLine (O*NET 31.0 database) | Annual |
| O*NET codes | U.S. Dept. of Labor / ETA | Annual |
| Tasks, skills & tools | O*NET Task Statements, Skills, and Technology Skills files | Annual |
| Related occupations | O*NET Related Occupations (curated relatedness mapping) | Annual |
| Median annual wages | BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), May 2025 release, pulled via the BLS public API | Annual (May release); refreshed automatically via the BLS public API |
| Bright Outlook designations | O*NET Bright Outlook classification | Annual |
We download the full O*NET occupation database (tab-separated bulk files) weekly, including tasks, skills, technology/tools, and O*NET's own curated related-occupations mapping. Each of the ~1,000 O*NET-SOC occupations is stored in our database with its code, title, description, and these structured facts verbatim.
We match each O*NET-SOC occupation to its BLS OES national series and pull the median annual wage from the BLS public API (currently the May 2025 release). Every wage on the site is labelled with the BLS release year it came from, and the refresh runs automatically so figures are updated as BLS publishes new data. Wages shown are national medians — individual pay varies significantly by geography, experience, employer, and specialization. Occupations for which BLS publishes no national series show no wage at all rather than an estimate.
Every career page has two kinds of content, and each block is labelled on the page so you can tell them apart. Blocks tagged O*NET data (tasks, skills, tools, education & preparation) and the wage figures are rendered verbatim from O*NET and BLS — we don't edit or paraphrase them. Blocks tagged Editorial guidance (what a mentor teaches, questions to ask, career path, a day in the life, interview questions, certifications, FAQ) are narrative written from those facts plus general career knowledge. They are guidance, not government statistics: they may say what is typical for a field, but they are instructed not to invent numbers, and not to state specific licensing, exam, or legal requirements as fact — where a role commonly requires licensure, the page says to verify with the relevant state board or certifying body.
Every editorial draft is checked automatically before it can be published: minimum word count, required fields (mentor intro, questions, FAQ), rejection of known cliché/templated phrasing, and rejection of medical-advice, income-guarantee, and hard legal/licensing-requirement claims ("required by law", "must be licensed by", and similar). Drafts that fail are discarded and regenerated. These gates catch structural and phrasing problems; they are not a substitute for verifying a specific requirement with the authority that sets it.
Approved pages are rendered to static HTML and published gradually, a small number at a time, rather than all at once. Pages are re-generated when source data changes.
O*NET and BLS data reflects national averages and may not reflect your local job market. Occupation descriptions reflect the formal O*NET definition, which may differ from colloquial job titles. Wages lag behind real-time market conditions by 12–18 months (due to BLS survey publication timing). A small number of emerging roles on this site (e.g. crypto/Web3 occupations) are NetMentors-classified rather than official O*NET/BLS occupations — these are clearly disclosed on their own pages.
Questions about our data? Contact our editorial team.