FAQs

To activate your Navigar account go to the Navigar App and select the ‘Create Account’ tab to activate your Navigar account. 

• You’ll need to use a non-work email address not linked to any other active or inactive Pluralsight Plan (even as a secondary email)
• If you don’t want to use a personal email address, you can request a PIPSC email or create a new email address dedicated to training e.g My_IT_Training@gmail.com.
• If you need to update your email on file please let us know at Navigar.ca/contact-us.

Navigar is built in AWS and was designed to autoscale. All backend services (Lambda functions, GraphQl APIs, etc) are serverless – these will scale in real time to whatever capacity is needed to support the load.

Data is stored in DynamoDB tables, which have a predictable response time of 5ms for any indexed data. Scaling to 75,000 members will not be a problem.

Navigar is built on AWS in the Angular Javascript framework. It communicates with the backend through Amplify and GraphQL queries.

The data is stored in a heavily indexed DynamoDB instance, queried with OpenSearch. Authentication is through user pools in Cognito. The data is fully end-to-end encrypted, and managed internally with a serverless architecture using Python in Lambdas along with SNS and SQS.

We have installed a number of monitors to alert us of CPU/RAM over-usage and to highlight any bottlenecks if they occur. We will also continue to revise the caching and indexing as we monitor the system.

Finally, we’re using Point-In-Time recovery on the DynamoDB tables. This gives us a rolling 35 day backup of the data, in addition to the ability to manually trigger table backups.

There are two components in Navigar’s front end that are on our near term roadmap to accelerate.

The searchable catalogs of courses and careers both retrieve the full catalogs before the search can be used. This results in a fully browser-cached – and therefore fast – search and filter functionality, but at the cost of an initial load of a few seconds. This was a good tradeoff when the catalogs were small, and is still quite within UX limits, but we have decided to implement lazy loading, targeted local caching, and backend filtering, to ensure it scales well as the catalogs grow.

Navigar is a smart online skills development planning tool that’s free to PIPSC members.

Whether you want to advance in your current career or pivot to a new profession, Navigar provides the information you need, and a skills development plan tailored to your goals.

With data-backed industry insights into available careers and the future of work, plus knowledge of more than 40,000 available resources: courses, books, audiobooks etc. Navigar helps you plan and advocate for your career development.

The Navigar Skills Learning Platform is a web application that combines expert data on the future of work with PIPSC’s knowledge of labour markets and your deep understanding of your job and career goals.

Navigar helps you create a personalized learning plan, based on your current skills to help you move forward in your career.

Members of the IT Group have had access to Navigar since October, 2024. The cost of accessing all of our training partners is covered by the IT Training Fund that was negotiated into their collective agreement.

As Navigar rolls out to all PIPSC members in 2025, we’ll be advising each group on a case-by-case basis of exactly what their members have access to and if any cost is involved.

Our partners have asked us to use a personal email address to keep your Navigar account separate from any current or future training (personal or  through your employer).

But there are other good reasons for your training information to be linked to a non-work email:

• It ensures that you will continue to have access to Navigar even if you change your job or email address (as long as you’re still a PIPSC member.)
• It ensures  your personal training information remains private. (You can still print out a training plan to share with your employer.)
• Some learning platforms can only link an email address to one email account, so it doesn’t compromise  your employer’s ability to provide you with training through your work email in the future.

If you don’t want to use a personal email address, you can request a PIPSC email or create a new email address dedicated to training, e.g My_IT_Training@gmail.com

No, Navigar is a skills learning platform, designed to help PIPSC members get from where they are in their careers to where they want to go, focusing primarily on growth skills e.g. conflict resolution, creative thinking etc.

Research shows that growth skills are the key skills required to future-proof your career, and will complement any profession-specific training you are pursuing.

Navigar identifies the skills required to bridge the gap, matching relevant courses and training materials to support your career path and goals from Skillsoft (Percipio) and the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS). Language training is also available through goFLUENT.

You can use Navigar to plan your career development in several ways. It allows you to:

• Explore and discover career options relevant to your current skill sets, as well as new career paths.
• Learn about different skills and what courses you need to up-level a specific skill.
• Gain knowledge about the future of work and how to prepare for coming changes. For example, Navigar publishes data-based insights about how trends such as automation and AI will impact specific jobs and lead to the creation of new jobs.
• Identify and visualize the skills and knowledge gaps between where you are in your career today and where you want to go next.
• Prepare a skills development plan and place for you to record all your training.

Navigar was designed to take the guesswork out of planning and pursuing a career; more than 70% of PIPSC members want tangible proactive steps on career development

It was developed based on input and feedback from PIPSC members. We engaged with PIPSC members to understand the challenges they face in planning and navigating their careers. PIPSC members and staff have provided critical input throughout the development of Navigar.

Navigar helps PIPSC realize its vision to provide outstanding career support and advancement to our members so they can thrive in the workforce.

Members of the IT Group have had access to Navigar since October, 2024. The cost of accessing all of our training partners is covered by the IT Training Fund that was negotiated into their collective agreement.

As Navigar rolls out to all PIPSC members in 2025, we’ll be advising each group on a case-by-case basis of exactly what their members have access to and if any cost is involved.

Yes, Navigar’s planning features and insights are free to PIPSC members thanks to funding from the Future Skills Center (FSC) a federal initiative to fund innovation projects to strengthen access to high-quality career advice, skill building resources, and learning.

The training courses that Navigar recommends are offered through our learning partners, starting with skillsoft (Percipio), goFLUENT and the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS).

CSPS courses are offered for free to Federal public servants, and courses through Skillsoft and other learning partners will be available at specially-reduced prices for Navigar users or for free through a special purchase by a member group.

Each learning provider’s pricing and fees will apply. Some may be subscription-based, others may be priced per course, and yet others will be free (for example, courses from the Canadian School of Public Service (CSPS)).

PIPSC works with learning partners to negotiate great deals on courses for PIPSC members.

One advantage of having a concrete skills development plan from Navigar is that you can share it with your employer. It will help you and your manager quantify and justify your training needs and budget.