Microbiologists 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, microbiologists rate their career happiness 3.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 38% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy microbiologists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Molecular biologist | 3.2 | $61k |
| Materials scientist | 3.2 | $91k |
| MRI technologist | 3.1 | $84k |
| Biotechnician | 3.1 | $39k |
| Pathologist | 3.1 | $201k |
| Microbiologist | 3.1 | $63k |
| Immunologist | 3.0 | $201k |
| Optometrist | 3.0 | $96k |
| Chemical technician | 2.9 | $44k |
| Chemist | 2.9 | $47k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are microbiologists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do microbiologists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as microbiologists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are microbiologist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are microbiologists making the best use of their abilities?
Are microbiologists happy with their salary?
Microbiologists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.8/5. Microbiologists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked microbiologists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
302 microbiologists
9% of microbiologists rated their compensation 5 stars
17% of microbiologists rated their compensation 4 stars
35% of microbiologists rated their compensation 3 stars
24% of microbiologists rated their compensation 2 stars
16% of microbiologists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do microbiologists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, microbiologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.9/5. While most microbiologists aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked microbiologists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
303 microbiologists
13% of microbiologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
20% of microbiologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of microbiologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
26% of microbiologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
17% of microbiologists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as microbiologists?
Microbiologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of microbiologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked microbiologists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
323 microbiologists
27% of microbiologists rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of microbiologists rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of microbiologists rated their career fit 3 stars
10% of microbiologists rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of microbiologists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a microbiologist’s work environment?
As a whole, microbiologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of microbiologists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a microbiologist.
We asked microbiologists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
326 microbiologists
18% of microbiologists rated their work environment 5 stars
37% of microbiologists rated their work environment 4 stars
24% of microbiologists rated their work environment 3 stars
13% of microbiologists rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of microbiologists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are microbiologists making the best use of their abilities?
Former microbiologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most microbiologists are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked microbiologists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.1 out of 5 stars
324 microbiologists
16% of microbiologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
24% of microbiologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
28% of microbiologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
19% of microbiologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
12% of microbiologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars