Operations research analysts 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, operations research analysts rate their career happiness 2.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 21% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy operations research analysts 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Property manager | 2.9 | $46k |
| Nuclear engineer | 2.9 | $85k |
| Command and control center specialist | 2.9 | $37k |
| Industrial engineer | 2.9 | $61k |
| Data analyst | 2.9 | $70k |
| Operations research analyst | 2.9 | $65k |
| Office manager | 2.9 | $36k |
| Controller | 2.9 | $71k |
| Purchasing manager | 2.9 | $70k |
| Quality assurance analyst | 2.8 | $58k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are operations research analysts happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do operations research analysts find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as operations research analysts?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are operations research analyst’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are operations research analysts making the best use of their abilities?
Are operations research analysts happy with their salary?
Operations research analysts rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.2/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most operations research analysts having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked operations research analysts how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
236 operations research analysts
15% of operations research analysts rated their compensation 5 stars
29% of operations research analysts rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of operations research analysts rated their compensation 3 stars
15% of operations research analysts rated their compensation 2 stars
11% of operations research analysts rated their compensation 1 stars
Do operations research analysts find their jobs meaningful?
On average, operations research analysts rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.6/5. The majority of operations research analysts struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked operations research analysts how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
236 operations research analysts
10% of operations research analysts rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
15% of operations research analysts rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
23% of operations research analysts rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
25% of operations research analysts rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
27% of operations research analysts rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as operations research analysts?
Operations research analysts rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.6/5. The majority of operations research analysts find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked operations research analysts how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
262 operations research analysts
21% of operations research analysts rated their career fit 5 stars
35% of operations research analysts rated their career fit 4 stars
29% of operations research analysts rated their career fit 3 stars
11% of operations research analysts rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of operations research analysts rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an operations research analyst’s work environment?
As a whole, operations research analysts rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of operations research analysts enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an operations research analyst.
We asked operations research analysts how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
263 operations research analysts
18% of operations research analysts rated their work environment 5 stars
34% of operations research analysts rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of operations research analysts rated their work environment 3 stars
16% of operations research analysts rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of operations research analysts rated their work environment 1 stars
Are operations research analysts making the best use of their abilities?
Former operations research analysts on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.0/5. Operations research analysts tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked operations research analysts how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
264 operations research analysts
12% of operations research analysts rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
25% of operations research analysts rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
27% of operations research analysts rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
24% of operations research analysts rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
12% of operations research analysts rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars