Engineers are below average when it comes to happiness.
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, engineers rate their career happiness 3.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 40% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Marine engineer | 3.2 | $111k |
| Software engineer | 3.2 | $123k |
| Mining and geological engineer | 3.1 | $98k |
| Petroleum engineer | 3.1 | $123k |
| Locomotive engineer | 3.1 | $73k |
| Engineer | 3.1 | $73k |
| Electrical engineer | 3.1 | $69k |
| Avionics technician | 3.0 | $47k |
| Software quality assurance engineer | 3.0 | $85k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are engineers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do engineers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as engineers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are engineer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Are engineers happy with their salary?
Engineers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most engineers having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked engineers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
4359 engineers
18% of engineers rated their compensation 5 stars
30% of engineers rated their compensation 4 stars
27% of engineers rated their compensation 3 stars
15% of engineers rated their compensation 2 stars
9% of engineers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do engineers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, engineers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.8/5. While most engineers aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked engineers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
4400 engineers
14% of engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
19% of engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
24% of engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
19% of engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as engineers?
Engineers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of engineers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked engineers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
5008 engineers
25% of engineers rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of engineers rated their career fit 4 stars
25% of engineers rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of engineers rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of engineers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an engineer’s work environment?
As a whole, engineers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of engineers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an engineer.
We asked engineers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
4937 engineers
19% of engineers rated their work environment 5 stars
33% of engineers rated their work environment 4 stars
27% of engineers rated their work environment 3 stars
14% of engineers rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of engineers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Former engineers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most engineers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked engineers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
4961 engineers
16% of engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
24% of engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
27% of engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
22% of engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
12% of engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars