Molecular biologists are about average in terms of 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, molecular biologists rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 46% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy molecular biologists 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Geologist | 3.3 | $84k |
| Scientist | 3.3 | $67k |
| Bioinformatics scientist | 3.2 | $85k |
| Industrial ecologist | 3.2 | $90k |
| Geneticist | 3.2 | $96k |
| Molecular biologist | 3.2 | $61k |
| Materials scientist | 3.2 | $91k |
| Biotechnician | 3.1 | $39k |
| Pathologist | 3.1 | $201k |
| Microbiologist | 3.1 | $63k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are molecular biologists happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do molecular biologists find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as molecular biologists?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are molecular biologist’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are molecular biologists making the best use of their abilities?
Are molecular biologists happy with their salary?
Molecular biologists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Molecular biologists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked molecular biologists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
251 molecular biologists
9% of molecular biologists rated their compensation 5 stars
18% of molecular biologists rated their compensation 4 stars
25% of molecular biologists rated their compensation 3 stars
24% of molecular biologists rated their compensation 2 stars
24% of molecular biologists rated their compensation 1 stars
Do molecular biologists find their jobs meaningful?
On average, molecular biologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.0/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked molecular biologists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
254 molecular biologists
14% of molecular biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
25% of molecular biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of molecular biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
22% of molecular biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
13% of molecular biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as molecular biologists?
Molecular biologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of molecular biologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked molecular biologists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
278 molecular biologists
27% of molecular biologists rated their career fit 5 stars
38% of molecular biologists rated their career fit 4 stars
20% of molecular biologists rated their career fit 3 stars
11% of molecular biologists rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of molecular biologists rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a molecular biologist’s work environment?
As a whole, molecular biologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of molecular biologists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a molecular biologist.
We asked molecular biologists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
282 molecular biologists
20% of molecular biologists rated their work environment 5 stars
39% of molecular biologists rated their work environment 4 stars
20% of molecular biologists rated their work environment 3 stars
15% of molecular biologists rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of molecular biologists rated their work environment 1 stars
Are molecular biologists making the best use of their abilities?
Former molecular biologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most molecular biologists are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked molecular biologists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
281 molecular biologists
21% of molecular biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
25% of molecular biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
25% of molecular biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
17% of molecular biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
12% of molecular biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars