This guidance is for individual practitioners focused on taking greater agency over their professional growth and building a measurable, evidence-based case for career progression or change.
Introduction to use cases
This guidance is for individual practitioners focused on taking greater agency over their professional growth and building a measurable, evidence-based case for career progression or change.
It provides a structured map to explore the CDDaT landscape, helping you understand how your existing skills align with different technical domains and potential career paths across the sector. The framework allows you to guide development conversations with your manager to establish an objective, shared understanding of your current proficiency. Finally, it provides access to a curated library of free learning resources specifically mapped to the framework’s skill families to help you bridge your technical gaps.
When using this framework, it is important to remember that proficiency levels do not directly map to a particular role or seniority. For example, a senior leader may be a technical expert only in some areas but possess a higher level in soft skills such as project management or people operations. Similarly, a junior staff member may possess expert-level proficiency in a particular skill but only a working-level understanding of line management.
Using the framework to explore the CDDaT landscape
Why this is important
Professional growth in digital and technology can often feel limited by existing job titles and departmental silos, making it difficult to see how individual strengths align with the wider profession. Without a clear understanding of the diverse roles within the sector, "Digital" can seem like a narrow or inaccessible field. This lack of transparency can prevent practitioners from identifying how their current skills could serve as a foundation for lateral moves or a transition into emerging domains like Data Science or AI.
How to do this using the framework
Use the framework as an interactive map to browse areas of capability specialism outside of your immediate service area. Start by reviewing the “Awareness” and “Working” levels across different skill families to see which skills resonate with your interests and/or strengths. To help focus your exploration, you use the following reflection questions:
- Which parts of my current role give me the most satisfaction?
- If I could progress in my career by becoming a deep technical expert rather than a line manager, which domain would I want to own?
- If I wanted to make a lateral move into another CDDaT roles, which skills would I already possess and which skills would I have to learn?
Using the framework to guide development conversations
Why this is important
Development discussions often lack objective standards, which can lead to subjective feedback and unclear progression paths. For many technical specialists, career advancement is frequently restricted to management roles rather than recognising increased technical expertise. Without defined proficiency levels, it is difficult to move away from seniority based on length of employment toward a system that rewards demonstrable skills and technical mastery.
How to do this using the framework
The framework helps remove the guesswork from your performance reviews and build an evidenced plan for upskilling and/or progression.
Start by identifying where you want to be, whether that is the next seniority level in your current role or a lateral move into a new domain. Then identify which skills you will need to get there, e.g. looking at the next proficiency level above where you are now. Compare your current strengths against the capability descriptors for that target role. Reflect honestly: which of these skills do you already demonstrate, and which require more effort?
Draft a mini development plan based on these reflections that includes a list of objectives where you require the most improvement. Bring these drafted objectives to your manager for a discussion about your career development. To maximise the impact of your development conversation, you can use the following prompts:
- Discussing your Current Level: Compare your self-assessment with your manager’s assessment. Does it align? An honest conversation about where you are versus where you’d like to be will make it much easier for a manager to advocate for learning and development time or training budget.
- Contextualising the Framework: When a descriptor mentions ‘using appropriate tools’, ask your manager: "What specific methodologies does our council prioritise for this?". This can turn a general description into a tangible goal.
- Seeking Levelling-Up Insights: Identify a peer or mentor currently at your target level with your manager’s help. Ask them what they do differently in their daily tasks to understand the practical shift from Working to Practitioner or Expert.
- Identifying Learning Pathways: Learning and development can come from a variety of pathways, from more formal courses and professional certifications to on-the-job learning opportunities and online courses. With your manager, use the list of L&D resources to identify online courses most relevant to your goals and level of proficiency.
Using the framework to discover learning resources
Why this is important
Identifying high-quality technical training is often a time-consuming process, particularly when trying to navigate limited budgets or an overwhelming number of online options. Without a starting point, it can be difficult for practitioners to discover the specific, free resources that are most relevant to their professional standards and the unique requirements of the local government sector.
How to do this using the framework
Identify the skill families and/or skills you would like to target for development using the framework. Specifically, identify the level of proficiency that you would like to work towards.
You can download the CDDaT Learning & Development Resources Map below. This document offers a mix of bite-sized courses for building awareness and deep-dive technical modules with industry certifications, all of which are free for public sector employees. By mapping your skill gaps to the free, targeted learning pathways provided, you can bypass traditional budget constraints and begin upskilling immediately.
This list of learning resources is useful for all CDDaT staff, from junior staff looking to gain technical qualifications to senior members hoping to increase their awareness of AI.
Download CDDaT Learning & Development Resources Map
Further use cases
The CDDaT framework is a foundational resource that can be tailored to support the unique growth and professional development goals of your team. These ideas are provided to inspire creative ways to use the standards to foster a culture of continuous learning and clear career progression.
- Advocate for technical mastery: Use the framework’s vocabulary to build a case for senior specialist roles that focus on deep technical expertise rather than traditional line management.
- Establish cross-domain coaching: Facilitate informal peer-to-peer mentoring between technical specialists and product leads to build a more well-rounded understanding of different skill families.
- Support non-technical colleagues: Help staff in non-CDDaT roles identify where they use digital skills in their daily tasks and how they can improve their proficiency.
If you have used the framework in creative ways to support your team, please get in touch to share your experience with the sector. Send your use cases and case studies to [email].
