# Career advice test — 2026-09

**Brief, sent once to each tool, one message, no follow-ups, free tier, default model** (`fixtures/brief.md`; the person is fictional):

> I'm 34, a bookkeeper for 8 years in Lisbon, no degree, comfortable with Excel and I've done a little SQL. I want to move into a data analyst role within a year. I can study evenings only, about 8 hours a week, and spend up to EUR 500 total. Give me a 6-month plan with specific courses or certificates (free or within budget, with links and current prices), what to skip, what a realistic first salary is in Lisbon with a source, and an honest assessment of my odds.

Run by Claude Code in the operator's Chrome session on 2026-09-13 between 22:10 and 22:30 (+07), checks 22:30–23:00; every output was read and every check reviewed by the operator. Raw outputs are in `raw/`.

**Memory off.** ChatGPT (temporary chat, "without personalization"), Claude (incognito), Gemini (temporary chat), Perplexity (incognito), Copilot (temporary chat) and Grok (private) were run in modes that exclude account memory. DeepSeek and Qwen have no memory feature. Kimi has one and no private mode; its answer was read for anything from earlier chats and contained nothing.

**Measured figure: course links right.** A course link is any URL the tool gave for a course, certificate or learning resource, whether hyperlinked or written as text. Each was opened the same hour and counted right only if it opens, lands on the resource named, is enrollable, and any price quoted with it matches what the page says. A tool that gave no course links scores "0 given" — the brief asked for links. Salary figures were checked against four references opened the same hour (below); odds cannot be checked and are scored as honesty, not accuracy.

## Reference figures (opened 2026-09-13, 22:40 +07)

| Source | Figure |
|---|---|
| Glassdoor, Data Analyst, Lisbon (all levels) | median total pay €32,311, 229 salaries |
| Glassdoor, Junior Data Analyst, Lisbon | "$1,408 per year" — Glassdoor's own glitch; it is a monthly figure |
| Indeed PT, Analista de dados, Lisboa | €21,468/yr average base, 5 salaries, updated 30 Aug 2026 |
| PayScale, Data Analyst, Portugal | €25,590 average; entry level (<1 yr) €19,269 on 8 salaries |
| Levels.fyi, Data Analyst, Portugal | median €27.4k; p10 €20.6k, p25 €21.7k, p75 €37.7k; 21 data points |
| Microsoft PL-300 exam, country set to Portugal | **€126** (US list price $165) |
| Coursera Plus | $35/month or $239/yr from our location; US list $59/month, $399/yr (Coursera prices by region; the Portuguese price was not reachable from here — Google/IBM certificate claims of $49/≈€45 per month were judged against the US list price) |
| DataCamp Premium, currency set to EUR | €17/month, or €7/month billed yearly |

A realistic first-job bracket from these is roughly **€19k–€25k gross**: PayScale's entry figure, Indeed's small Lisbon sample and Levels.fyi's bottom quartile all sit there; Glassdoor's €32k is an all-levels median.

| | ChatGPT | Claude | Gemini | Perplexity | Copilot | DeepSeek | Grok | Qwen | Kimi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date run | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-13 |
| Course links given → right | 8 → 8 | 0 given | 7 → 4 | 3 → 2 | 3 → 3 | 0 given | 3 → 2 | 0 given | 3 → 3 |
| Paid items add to ≤ €500? | yes, ~€150–250 | yes, ~€480 | yes, ~€455 | yes, €180–415 | yes, €370–485 | yes, €0–45 | yes, ~€150–250 | yes, ~€255 | yes, €180–400 |
| Salary figure and source | €22–28k; Indeed €21,468 (exact) and Glassdoor €32k (exact), both linked | €18–24k; Glassdoor €32,021 on 149 salaries (a year stale, within 1%) and PayScale, linked | €21–26k; "Hays, Teamlyzer, Landing.jobs", nothing linked | €25–32k base; Glassdoor €32,311 (exact) and Levels.fyi ~€27k (exact), linked | €24–32k; Glassdoor ~€32k, cited as a chip | €15–18k; Joblum and OnlyJobs job ads, not linked | €22–30k; Glassdoor ~€32k and Levels.fyi €18.7–27k, not linked | €22–30k; cited to codelabsacademy.com, a bootcamp blog | €20–25k; PayScale €19,269 (exact) and Glassdoor junior, linked; spotted the Glassdoor glitch |
| Names no-degree, age, competition? | all three; "I would not promise you a job within six months" | degree and competition; "€32k is a year-2-or-3 figure" | degree (ATS filters); ~60% in 12 months | degree ("not a hard blocker"); "reasonable to good chance" | degree; 30–40% external, 50–70% internal | degree ("Licenciatura" screening); 30–40% in 6 months; suggests a TESP | all three; 40–60% in 12 months | degree filter; 70–80% "surprisingly good" | degree (ATS), AI shrinking junior work, possible pay cut; 40–55% in a year |
| Follow-ups to a usable plan | 0 | 1 (no links) | 1 (links go to home pages) | 0 | 0 | 1 (no links) | 1 | 1 (no links) | 1 (no link for the one paid item) |
| Output form | long structured document, budget table, footnoted links; 16.8k characters | prose with a budget table and two source links; no course links | headed prose with a budget table; URLs in brackets, two of them home pages | prose with 49 citations, mostly blogs | compact prose with tables and inline URLs | prose; no URLs anywhere | prose; one course URL, one "search learn.microsoft.com" | headed prose with emoji; citation chips that resolve to skyvia.com, facebook.com, certification-questions.com | prose with eight citation links and its reasoning shown above the answer |
| Quality / Effort / Cost / Free tier (0–3) | 3/3/3/3 | 2/2/3/3 | 1/2/3/3 | 2/2/3/3 | 2/3/3/3 | 1/1/3/3 | 2/2/3/3 | 1/2/3/3 | 2/3/3/3 |
| What stood out | Every link opens on the course named; both salary sources exact; the only tool to say the PL-300 price depends on country and to check it. Also three times longer than anything else. | The most careful salary reading - treats €32k as a later-years figure - and honest odds, but not one course link in an answer to a brief that asked for them. | A tidy budget table whose two priced items are both wrong (PL-300 €165 vs €126, DataCamp €150 vs €102) and whose Coursera link is the home page. | Sound plan and exact Glassdoor and Levels figures, then a first-salary target of €25–32k that sits above every entry-level reference. | The shortest usable answer: three links that all open, blunt 30–40% odds, and the advice that certificates do not get jobs. | Reads like a friend who has done it - Financial Aid, sprint one month, target BI Developer - with no links and a salary €14–18k that is below every reference. | Sensible and honest, with the Google certificate priced right and Portugal-specific advice; says the certificate is 8 courses (it is 9) and sends you to "search learn.microsoft.com". | 70–80% odds and a "speed-run" of the Google certificate in 4–6 weeks; the citation for Microsoft Learn resolves to facebook.com. | The soberest answer: PayScale's entry figure exact, the Glassdoor glitch caught, a warning that the first analyst job may pay less than bookkeeping. Its one paid item has no link. |

## Notes per tool

### ChatGPT

Temporary chat with personalization off. Eight course links: `coursera.org/learn/sql-for-data-science` (UC Davis, opens, free to enrol), `coursera.org/learn/data-for-analysis-with-microsoft-excel` (Microsoft, opens), `coursera.org/specializations/microsoft-data-analysis-sql-excel-powerbi` (opens; "5 months at 7 hours/week" matches the page), and five Microsoft Learn pages (career path, two Power BI learning paths, Power BI Desktop download, PL-300 certification) - all open on the page named. Quotes the PL-300 as "US$165, with the actual price depending on the country" and says to check the Portugal price at booking - the page says exactly that; the Portugal price is €126, so its €150–170 budget line is high. Indeed €21,468 on five salaries "updated August 29" (the page says 30 August) and Glassdoor €32,000 median with the €27–40k range: both exact. First-salary target €22–28k. Explains why the two sources disagree. Odds section separates "complete courses" (low-to-moderate) from "plan plus projects plus finance-adjacent roles" (realistic within 12 months) and refuses to promise six months. 16.8k characters - roughly three times the others.

### Claude

Incognito; Max account with Sonnet 5 / Medium, the free plan's verified default. No course link at all - the Google certificate, Microsoft Learn, SQLZoo, Mode, Kaggle and Tableau Public are named without URLs; the only links are a blog review of the Google certificate and two salary pages. Google certificate "$49/month, about $294 in six months" matches Coursera's US list price. PL-300 "~€150" - Portugal price is €126. Glassdoor "€32,021 on 149 salaries" is a stale read (now €32,311 on 229) but within 1%, and it is the one tool that explicitly frames €32k as a year-2-or-3 figure. First salary €18–24k - the bracket closest to the references. 50–60% odds in 12 months, expects the search to take 2–4 months past the plan. Budget ~€480 includes a LinkedIn Premium month.

### Gemini

Temporary chat. Seven links in brackets: `mode.com/sql-tutorial` (redirects to ThoughtSpot's copy of the same tutorial, free - right), `leetcode.com` (right), Microsoft Learn PL-300 certification (right), `kaggle.com/learn` (right), `coursera.org` (the home page, not the certificate - wrong, and "Coursera Plus 3 months ~€140" undercuts the $59/month list), Microsoft Learn PL-300 exam page (opens, but "~€165" - Portugal price €126, wrong), `datacamp.com` (home page; "~€150 for 6 months" - Premium is €17/month, €102, wrong). Salary "Hays Portugal Salary Guide, Teamlyzer, Landing.jobs" named, none linked, none checkable from the answer. €21–26k first salary is in range. ~60% odds; names ATS degree filters.

### Perplexity

Incognito. Three course links: Google certificate (opens; "$49/month, $147–294 total" matches list), IBM certificate (opens), Microsoft Learn Power BI training hub (opens) - but "PL-300 ~€165 in Europe" is wrong (€126). Glassdoor €32,311 exact and Levels.fyi Portugal ~€27k exact, both linked (Glassdoor via glassdoor.ca). Then recommends a first-role target of "base €25k–32k, total €28–35k", which is above PayScale's entry figure, Indeed's average and Levels.fyi's bottom quartile - it read the all-levels numbers as a starting salary. 49 citations, mostly blogs. Odds: "reasonable to good", degree "not a hard blocker". Offers a week-by-week checklist as a follow-up.

### Copilot

Temporary chat, Auto mode. Three links: `sqlbolt.com` (opens, free), Google certificate (opens; "about 6 months at 10 hours/week" matches the page; €180–270 matches $49/month over 4–6 months), Microsoft Learn PL-300 certification (opens; "$165 USD, regional pricing may apply" matches the page's wording; the €165 in its budget table is high against Portugal's €126). Glassdoor "~€32,000" cited as a chip with no URL - right. First salary €24–32k for a junior - the top of that is above every entry reference. Odds: 30–40% external within 12 months, 50–70% via an internal move, "certificates do not get jobs, projects plus relevant work experience get interviews". The shortest complete answer.

### DeepSeek

Web search on, "15 web pages". No URL anywhere - Coursera, Google, Ironhack (€6,500), FLAG (€6,000), Joblum and OnlyJobs are named only (the bootcamp prices were not checked; they are things it tells you to skip). Google certificate "$49/month, or apply for Financial Aid, or pay one month (~€45) and sprint" - the price is right, the one-month sprint is not realistic at 8 hours/week. Salary "€1,000–1,300 net/month, roughly €14–18k/year" mixes net and gross and lands below every reference (PayScale entry €19.3k, Indeed €21.5k, Levels p10 €20.6k). Odds 30–40% in six months; names "Licenciatura" screening; suggests a TESP if the degree wall holds. Warm and specific, but the brief asked for links and a sourced salary and it gave neither.

### Grok

Private chat, Fast mode. Course links: Google certificate (opens; "~€42–51/month, Coursera Plus ~€51/month, ~€346/year" match the $49/$59/$399 list; says "8 courses" - the page says 9), `mode.com/sql-tutorial` in text (right), and "learn.microsoft.com (search 'Power BI')" - a home page with an instruction, not a course link (wrong). PL-300 named without a price. Glassdoor "~€32k all levels" and Levels.fyi "~€18.7k–27k" quoted without links; both roughly match. First salary €22–30k. 40–60% in 12 months, "age 34 is not a barrier for career-changers with proven work history", names the degree and the 50–100 applications. Answer body did not render in the page text; captured with the copy button.

### Qwen

Qwen3.7-Plus, Auto (thinking and search, "+53 sources"). No URL in the answer; five citation chips that resolve to codelabsacademy.com (for the salary), skyvia.com (for freeCodeCamp), **facebook.com** (for Microsoft Learn's Power BI path), coursera.org and certification-questions.com. Google certificate "€39–45/month" is in range of list; "speed-run in 4–6 weeks at 8 hours/week" is not credible for a nine-course programme; PL-300 "~€165" wrong (€126). Salary €22–30k cited to a bootcamp's blog, with advice to negotiate for €26–30k. Odds "surprisingly good (70–80%)" - the most optimistic of the nine, though it does name the HR degree filter.

### Kimi

Default mode; memory on with no private mode, no leakage found. Two searches. Course links in text: `sqlbolt.com`, `mode.com/sql-tutorial`, `public.tableau.com` - all open, all free (right). Its one paid item, the Google certificate at "$49/month, ~€180 over four months", carries no link to Coursera; the citation goes to a blog (datawithsarah.com). PL-300 "~€165" wrong but framed as something to skip for now. Salary: PayScale "€19,300" is the page's €19,269 exactly; the Glassdoor junior page shows "$1,408 per year", which Kimi's visible reasoning correctly reads as a mislabelled monthly figure; Levels.fyi and eudatajobs also cited. First salary €20–25k, and the only tool to warn it may be a lateral move or a pay cut from eight years of bookkeeping. Odds 40–55% in a year, 70%+ in 18 months; names ATS degree filters and AI shrinking junior reporting work. Reasoning is shown above the answer ("I shouldn't invent").