HVAC technicians 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, HVAC technicians rate their career happiness 3.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 29% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy HVAC technicians 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ship engineer | 3.0 | $59k |
| Power plant operator | 3.0 | $92k |
| Auto mechanic | 3.0 | $21k |
| Water engineer | 3.0 | $95k |
| Construction manager | 3.0 | $65k |
| HVAC technician | 3.0 | $17k |
| Aircraft mechanic | 3.0 | $45k |
| Industrial machinery mechanic | 3.0 | $50k |
| Electrician | 3.0 | $27k |
| Elevator mechanic | 2.9 | $104k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are HVAC technicians happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do HVAC technicians find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as HVAC technicians?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are HVAC technician’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are HVAC technicians making the best use of their abilities?
Are HVAC technicians happy with their salary?
HVAC technicians rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.1/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most HVAC technicians having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked HVAC technicians how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
512 HVAC technicians
16% of HVAC technicians rated their compensation 5 stars
23% of HVAC technicians rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of HVAC technicians rated their compensation 3 stars
19% of HVAC technicians rated their compensation 2 stars
13% of HVAC technicians rated their compensation 1 stars
Do HVAC technicians find their jobs meaningful?
On average, HVAC technicians rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.6/5. The majority of HVAC technicians struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked HVAC technicians how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
515 HVAC technicians
13% of HVAC technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
17% of HVAC technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
19% of HVAC technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
24% of HVAC technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
27% of HVAC technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as HVAC technicians?
HVAC technicians rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of HVAC technicians find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked HVAC technicians how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
541 HVAC technicians
29% of HVAC technicians rated their career fit 5 stars
32% of HVAC technicians rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of HVAC technicians rated their career fit 3 stars
10% of HVAC technicians rated their career fit 2 stars
6% of HVAC technicians rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an HVAC technician’s work environment?
As a whole, HVAC technicians rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked HVAC technicians how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
544 HVAC technicians
20% of HVAC technicians rated their work environment 5 stars
30% of HVAC technicians rated their work environment 4 stars
24% of HVAC technicians rated their work environment 3 stars
17% of HVAC technicians rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of HVAC technicians rated their work environment 1 stars
Are HVAC technicians making the best use of their abilities?
Former HVAC technicians on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most HVAC technicians are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked HVAC technicians how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
542 HVAC technicians
20% of HVAC technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
22% of HVAC technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
23% of HVAC technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
20% of HVAC technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
16% of HVAC technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars