Infantry soldiers 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, infantry soldiers rate their career happiness 3.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 30% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy infantry soldiers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Police officer | 3.2 | $58k |
| Military tactical operations leader | 3.2 | $60k |
| Sheriff | 3.2 | $43k |
| Shipmate | 3.1 | $84k |
| Armored assault vehicle crew member | 3.0 | $35k |
| Infantry soldier | 3.0 | $31k |
| Sailor | 2.9 | $42k |
| Command and control center specialist | 2.9 | $37k |
| Artillery crew member | 2.8 | $35k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are infantry soldiers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do infantry soldiers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as infantry soldiers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are infantry soldier’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are infantry soldiers making the best use of their abilities?
Are infantry soldiers happy with their salary?
Infantry soldiers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.7/5. Infantry soldiers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked infantry soldiers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
1313 infantry soldiers
11% of infantry soldiers rated their compensation 5 stars
17% of infantry soldiers rated their compensation 4 stars
27% of infantry soldiers rated their compensation 3 stars
22% of infantry soldiers rated their compensation 2 stars
23% of infantry soldiers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do infantry soldiers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, infantry soldiers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.5/5. Unlike many careers, infantry soldiers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become infantry soldiers.
We asked infantry soldiers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
1310 infantry soldiers
31% of infantry soldiers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
25% of infantry soldiers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
20% of infantry soldiers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
12% of infantry soldiers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
12% of infantry soldiers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as infantry soldiers?
Infantry soldiers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of infantry soldiers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked infantry soldiers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
1406 infantry soldiers
36% of infantry soldiers rated their career fit 5 stars
31% of infantry soldiers rated their career fit 4 stars
19% of infantry soldiers rated their career fit 3 stars
8% of infantry soldiers rated their career fit 2 stars
7% of infantry soldiers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an infantry soldier’s work environment?
As a whole, infantry soldiers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of infantry soldiers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an infantry soldier.
We asked infantry soldiers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
1406 infantry soldiers
26% of infantry soldiers rated their work environment 5 stars
28% of infantry soldiers rated their work environment 4 stars
23% of infantry soldiers rated their work environment 3 stars
13% of infantry soldiers rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of infantry soldiers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are infantry soldiers making the best use of their abilities?
Former infantry soldiers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most infantry soldiers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked infantry soldiers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
1407 infantry soldiers
21% of infantry soldiers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
21% of infantry soldiers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
24% of infantry soldiers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
18% of infantry soldiers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
16% of infantry soldiers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars