Postsecondary programs in early childhood education (ECE) can provide a pathway for new educators to enter the child care and early education (CCEE) field or for the advancement and professional development of individuals already in the field. At a time when CCEE administrators report difficulties in finding qualified applicants, the recruitment and development of educators is especially crucial. The Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (BASE) project aims to increase knowledge and understanding about the CCEE workforce by documenting factors that drive turnover and by building evidence on current initiatives to recruit, advance, and retain a stable and qualified CCEE workforce. This brief explores how individual-level administrative records linked across multiple state agencies can be used to observe individuals' pathways through ECE postsecondary programs, with the goal of understanding how ECE postsecondary enrollment complements work experience in developing the CCEE workforce. Using administrative data from the Linked Information Network of Colorado (LINC), the analysis explores the demographic characteristics and prior employment experiences of newly enrolled students in ECE bachelor's degree programs, and in associate's degree and comparable certificate programs in Colorado. Following these students over several years, the analysis reports on their graduation rates and post-graduation employment and wages. This brief demonstrates both the possibilities and the challenges in examining these questions using linked data.