Back-End developers 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, back-end developers rate their career happiness 3.4 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 37% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy back-end developers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Computer hardware engineer | 3.5 | $95k |
| UX designer | 3.5 | $106k |
| Industrial designer | 3.5 | $62k |
| App developer | 3.5 | $71k |
| Full stack developer | 3.4 | $70k |
| Back-End developer | 3.4 | $67k |
| Technical product manager | 3.4 | $78k |
| Systems architect | 3.4 | $102k |
| Systems engineer | 3.4 | $100k |
| Network architect | 3.4 | $109k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are back-end developers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do back-end developers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as back-end developers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are back-end developer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are back-end developers making the best use of their abilities?
Are back-end developers happy with their salary?
Back-End developers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.5/5. The majority of back-end developers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked back-end developers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
412 back-end developers
24% of back-end developers rated their compensation 5 stars
31% of back-end developers rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of back-end developers rated their compensation 3 stars
13% of back-end developers rated their compensation 2 stars
7% of back-end developers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do back-end developers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, back-end developers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.0/5. While most back-end developers aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked back-end developers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
418 back-end developers
17% of back-end developers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
18% of back-end developers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
29% of back-end developers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
20% of back-end developers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
16% of back-end developers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as back-end developers?
Back-End developers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of back-end developers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked back-end developers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
422 back-end developers
32% of back-end developers rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of back-end developers rated their career fit 4 stars
19% of back-end developers rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of back-end developers rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of back-end developers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a back-end developer’s work environment?
As a whole, back-end developers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of back-end developers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a back-end developer.
We asked back-end developers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
423 back-end developers
26% of back-end developers rated their work environment 5 stars
34% of back-end developers rated their work environment 4 stars
26% of back-end developers rated their work environment 3 stars
9% of back-end developers rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of back-end developers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are back-end developers making the best use of their abilities?
Former back-end developers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.4/5. Most back-end developers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a back-end developer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked back-end developers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
421 back-end developers
20% of back-end developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
32% of back-end developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
25% of back-end developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
13% of back-end developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
10% of back-end developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars