How to read an outcome claim
A career-changer researching tech training keeps meeting confident numbers on landing pages. This page does not tell you whether any of those numbers is good; it gives you a checklist for reading any bootcamp, course, or certificate outcome claim so you can judge how much weight it can bear.
None of the questions below is a RoleMath claim about pay, placement, or return; we publish no such number. Each question is a lens you can point at someone else's published figure.
The career-changer checklist
| # | Ask this | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is it audited? | Does the number come from CIRR or another independent third party, or only from the organization selling the program? Check cirr.org/schooldata for the current audited roster; absence of an audited figure is itself information, not a verdict. |
| 2 | What is the denominator? | Is 100% of the cohort counted, or were non-job-seeking or non-responding graduates removed first? A number that drops people from the denominator is not comparable to one that keeps the whole cohort. |
| 3 | What counts as 'placed' or 'positive'? | A new full-time in-field role only, or does a raise, a promotion, a part-time or contract gig, or 'any job' count? The word 'placement' is not defined the same way across publishers, so two numbers are not comparable by size alone. |
| 4 | What is the time window? | 90 / 180 / 360 days? 'Ever'? Shorter, looser windows do not describe the same thing as a fixed in-field window and can read higher for no real reason. |
| 5 | What is the sample and response rate? | How many people, and what fraction of the cohort actually responded? A self-reported survey with no published response rate is not evidence of the whole cohort's result. |
| 6 | Which track? | Is the figure specific to your target track, or a blended average across tracks with very different demand? A blended number does not tell you about your own track. |
| 7 | How old is it, and what was the market then? | A peak-hiring-year figure does not describe the current market; it is not a forecast of your odds today. |
| 8 | Is a salary figure a median or an average, and is it gross of cost? | A salary number that does not net out tuition, time out of work, and financing is not a measure of return; we make no such return claim and neither should a reader infer one. |
The bottom line
If a claim cannot answer items 1 through 4, treat it as marketing, no matter how high the number is; a big figure with no method is not evidence.
Sources
- RoleMath Outcome Transparency Meta-Analysis (2026-06-14, AI review draft) (RoleMath editorial analysis)
- CIRR — School outcomes data portal: https://www.cirr.org/schooldata
Citation Ledger
| ID | Supports | Evidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| CIT-01 | The checklist and its framing | Synthesis of the methodology research | RoleMath Outcome Transparency Meta-Analysis (2026-06-14, AI review draft) (RoleMath editorial analysis) |
| CIT-02 | The audited-roster check the reader is told to run | Publisher's own portal | CIRR — School outcomes data portal |