Week 1 · QR-1 · Career Navigator, Readiness Track, live orientation, personal learning plan
Quantum Readiness I — Find Your Fit
Subject-matter expertise first. Job titles second.
Partner: Quantum Global Group · 6–8 hours
Why this week
Workforce programs fail when everyone is treated as a future algorithm researcher. Week 1 names the real roles — applied SME, software, hardware, security, sensing, business, education, algorithms — so the rest of the month has a reason.
Most people meet quantum as a wall of physics. This course starts the other way: what you already know, how that knowledge shows up in the quantum ecosystem, and which pathway is the honest next step. The Career Navigator is the primary lab; the eight-pathway Readiness Track is the shorter complement.
Learning outcomes
- Locate yourself on the Quantum Global Group pathway map using current expertise, not aspiration alone.
- Distinguish quantum computing, sensing, communications/security, and enabling software/hardware roles.
- Write a one-page learning plan that states a target pathway, a stretch pathway, and a non-goal.
- Explain, in plain language, why the quantum workforce cannot be built by PhDs alone.
Modules
The ecosystem is wider than the lab
90 min
Outcomes
- Name the eight pathways and one example role in each.
- Separate compute hype from sensing, PQC, and tooling work.
Activities
- Read the pathway cards on /learn.
- Watch or facilitate a 20-minute orientation: “where people actually get hired.”
Run the Career Navigator
60–90 min
Outcomes
- Generate a board-game pathway from profile, interest, and goal.
- Name a role family, a next-best action, and one learning resource to start with.
Activities
- Complete /learn/navigator (optional ?demo=1 loads the example student).
- Open /learn/roles for that pathway — titles, skills, example employers.
- Read /learn/pathway (ecosystem one-pager: university vs industry).
- Save or screenshot the pathway summary for the cohort folder.
Readiness Track (complement)
30–45 min
Outcomes
- Complete the eight-pathway SME-fit assessment.
- Interpret primary and secondary pathway scores without treating them as destiny.
Activities
- Complete /learn/readiness.
- Note where the Navigator role family and the Readiness pathway agree or diverge.
Personal learning plan
2 hours
Outcomes
- State a 30-day goal tied to a real role family.
- Identify one skill you already have that the field is short on.
Activities
- Fill the learning-plan template (problem, pathway, evidence you will produce in week 4).
- Optional 25-minute office hours with the learning guide.
Deliverable
Signed learning plan: primary pathway, secondary pathway, 30-day artifact, and a sentence on what you will not try to become this month.
Assessment
Complete / incomplete on the Career Navigator (and optional Readiness Track) plus a scored learning plan (clarity of fit, realism of artifact, honesty about gaps).