How these tools work

Your data stays here

Everything you type or click in these career tools is saved in your own browser (a technology called localStorage) — never on our servers. There are no accounts, and we cannot see your answers.

• One local profile. Your results are kept in a small local profile so the tools can help each other — finish the Navigator and the Interview tool already knows your direction. It never leaves this device unless you export it.
• Backup & restore. The Export button (career hub footer) downloads everything as a file you keep; Import restores it — that's how you move devices.
• Start fresh. The Navigator and the Interview tool each have a "Start fresh" button that wipes only that tool's data (with a confirmation). "Clear all" in the hub footer wipes everything.
• The one exception — AI features. The Interview tool's AI features (research, mock interviews, coaching) must send your session content to our AI service to generate each response. It is processed for that response and not stored on our side — our server is deliberately stateless. Your resume file itself never leaves the browser; only its extracted text is sent when you use those features.

Career Navigator — what it actually measures

What it is: a structured self-reflection inspired by the ikigai framework — not a validated psychological test, and it never pretends to be. It surfaces patterns in your own answers so a direction can emerge; the reasoning is always visible.

The four sections are four lenses:

If you add your character strengths (see below), a fifth lens joins and the weights rebalance (passion 30%, character 25%, market 20%, purpose 15%, skills 10%).

Only real answers count. If you skip the sliders or the ranking, they contribute nothing — the remaining sections' weights are redistributed. We never let a default you didn't choose influence your result.

How the score works. Each lens scores all five career domains; each lens's scores are normalized to 0–100; the weighted blend is normalized again — that final number is your match strength (how strongly your answers point at a domain, relative to the other domains). Confidence is shown in words, not a percentage: it blends the gap between your top two domains with how many sections agreed. A close call is called a close call.

The diagram is your evidence, drawn. Every dot is one of your answers, placed in its lens's circle. Its distance toward the center shows how strongly that answer supports your current front-runner — so agreement literally converges: passion where love meets ability, mission where love meets need, profession where ability meets pay, vocation where need meets pay, ikigai where all four align. Click any dot to see the exact question, your answer, and why it sits where it sits. Dots only re-arrange between sections, and only when your front-runner genuinely changes (we tell you when).

Versioned and retakeable. The scoring engine is versioned — currently version 4 (v4); your last 10 attempts are kept locally so you can see how your picture changes.

Character Strengths

A 24-strength survey in the spirit of the VIA classification, written in our own plain language, with a definition under every strength so you always know what you're rating. Your top and bottom five feed the Navigator's fifth lens and travel to interview prep. It refines your result — it never overrides your other answers.

Career Roadmap

Takes a target domain — imported automatically from your Navigator result, or picked manually — plus your background and time budget, and assembles a step-by-step plan from shared, sourced datasets (certifications, roles, resources with citations). Change the domain any time; the roadmap recomputes.

Interview Practice

Six steps from self-knowledge to mock interviews. Your whole session (company, role, resume text, research, conversation) lives in your browser and is sent only with each AI request, then forgotten by the server — our interview backend is stateless.

• Ikigai Discovery (in this tool): a different, complementary instrument — 12 questions build a trait profile that is matched (by mathematical similarity, no AI involved) against a catalog of 46 cybersecurity fields, including people-facing careers like sales engineering and technical writing. Each field carries framework anchors (NICE / ECSF / CyberSeek) and sourced salary bands. It's labeled exploratory because it is.
• The AI tiers: the free tier runs on a fast model (Claude Haiku) and allows about one full session per ~14 days per network connection. Premium and test access codes unlock stronger models (Claude Sonnet/Opus) and remove that session limit. Premium/test codes are capped at $10 of usage each; bring your own key for unlimited use. A key you paste is used per-request only, never stored, and clears when you close the tab.

Where the numbers come from

Salary bands and market statistics carry their sources (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CyberSeek, and named industry reports) with the retrieval dates. If a number has no source, it doesn't ship — that's a house rule.

What these tools are — and are not

Everything here is a suggestion, not advice. These tools generate general guidance drawn from generalizations — aggregated market data, common career patterns, and your own self-reported answers. They are meant to help you navigate your own thinking. They are not career counseling, professional coaching, hiring advice, or a prediction of your success in any role, and no result here should be treated as a directive.

About the resources we list. The certifications, courses, communities, job boards, salary figures, and other references throughout these tools are provided as options we assembled in good faith to fit each career path. The Cybersecurity Circle does not endorse, sponsor, or guarantee any listed resource, is not affiliated with them unless explicitly stated, and is not responsible for their content, pricing, quality, availability, or outcomes. Verify anything important directly with the provider before spending money or time.

Your decisions are yours. We've made our best effort to keep everything accurate and sourced, but career decisions depend on circumstances no tool can see. Use these results as one input among many — alongside real humans: mentors, the community, and people doing the work you're considering.