IT support specialists are one of the least happy careers in the United States.
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, IT support specialists rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 15% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy IT support specialists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Quality assurance analyst | 2.8 | $58k |
| Database administrator | 2.8 | $58k |
| Electronic assembler | 2.8 | $28k |
| Quality control inspector | 2.8 | $39k |
| IT support specialist | 2.8 | $50k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are IT support specialists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do IT support specialists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as IT support specialists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are IT support specialist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are IT support specialists making the best use of their abilities?
Are IT support specialists happy with their salary?
IT support specialists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.0/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most IT support specialists having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked IT support specialists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
3793 IT support specialists
10% of IT support specialists rated their compensation 5 stars
27% of IT support specialists rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of IT support specialists rated their compensation 3 stars
21% of IT support specialists rated their compensation 2 stars
14% of IT support specialists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do IT support specialists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, IT support specialists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.3/5. The majority of IT support specialists struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked IT support specialists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
3799 IT support specialists
6% of IT support specialists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
12% of IT support specialists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
22% of IT support specialists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
29% of IT support specialists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
31% of IT support specialists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as IT support specialists?
IT support specialists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of IT support specialists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked IT support specialists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
4274 IT support specialists
22% of IT support specialists rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of IT support specialists rated their career fit 4 stars
25% of IT support specialists rated their career fit 3 stars
11% of IT support specialists rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of IT support specialists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an IT support specialist’s work environment?
As a whole, IT support specialists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of IT support specialists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an IT support specialist.
We asked IT support specialists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
4271 IT support specialists
16% of IT support specialists rated their work environment 5 stars
34% of IT support specialists rated their work environment 4 stars
26% of IT support specialists rated their work environment 3 stars
16% of IT support specialists rated their work environment 2 stars
7% of IT support specialists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are IT support specialists making the best use of their abilities?
Former IT support specialists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.8/5. IT support specialists tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked IT support specialists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
4268 IT support specialists
10% of IT support specialists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
21% of IT support specialists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of IT support specialists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
27% of IT support specialists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
16% of IT support specialists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars