Aerospace engineers rate their happiness above average.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, aerospace engineers rate their career happiness 3.4 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 34% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy aerospace engineers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Mechatronics engineer | 3.5 | $102k |
| Computer hardware engineer | 3.5 | $95k |
| Physicist | 3.5 | $126k |
| Biochemical engineer | 3.5 | $116k |
| Aerospace engineer | 3.4 | $87k |
| Wind energy engineer | 3.4 | $109k |
| Naval architect | 3.4 | $105k |
| Explosives worker | 3.4 | $50k |
| Systems engineer | 3.4 | $100k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are aerospace engineers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do aerospace engineers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as aerospace engineers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are aerospace engineer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are aerospace engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Are aerospace engineers happy with their salary?
Aerospace engineers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.6/5. The majority of aerospace engineers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked aerospace engineers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
289 aerospace engineers
26% of aerospace engineers rated their compensation 5 stars
30% of aerospace engineers rated their compensation 4 stars
22% of aerospace engineers rated their compensation 3 stars
14% of aerospace engineers rated their compensation 2 stars
7% of aerospace engineers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do aerospace engineers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, aerospace engineers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.2/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked aerospace engineers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
291 aerospace engineers
24% of aerospace engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
21% of aerospace engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
19% of aerospace engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
20% of aerospace engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
16% of aerospace engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as aerospace engineers?
Aerospace engineers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of aerospace engineers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked aerospace engineers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
337 aerospace engineers
33% of aerospace engineers rated their career fit 5 stars
39% of aerospace engineers rated their career fit 4 stars
20% of aerospace engineers rated their career fit 3 stars
4% of aerospace engineers rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of aerospace engineers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an aerospace engineer’s work environment?
As a whole, aerospace engineers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of aerospace engineers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an aerospace engineer.
We asked aerospace engineers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
329 aerospace engineers
30% of aerospace engineers rated their work environment 5 stars
31% of aerospace engineers rated their work environment 4 stars
22% of aerospace engineers rated their work environment 3 stars
9% of aerospace engineers rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of aerospace engineers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are aerospace engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Former aerospace engineers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.5/5. Most aerospace engineers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as an aerospace engineer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked aerospace engineers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
334 aerospace engineers
26% of aerospace engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
27% of aerospace engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
21% of aerospace engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
22% of aerospace engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
5% of aerospace engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars