Photonics engineers are one of the happiest 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, photonics engineers rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 14% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy photonics engineers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Robotics engineer | 4.2 | $65k |
| Nanotechnology engineer | 3.9 | $120k |
| Photonics engineer | 3.8 | $112k |
| Remote sensing technician | 3.6 | $57k |
| Mechatronics engineer | 3.5 | $102k |
| Computer hardware engineer | 3.5 | $95k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are photonics engineers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do photonics engineers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as photonics engineers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are photonics engineer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are photonics engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Are photonics engineers happy with their salary?
Photonics engineers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.5/5. The majority of photonics engineers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked photonics engineers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
17 photonics engineers
35% of photonics engineers rated their compensation 5 stars
18% of photonics engineers rated their compensation 4 stars
18% of photonics engineers rated their compensation 3 stars
24% of photonics engineers rated their compensation 2 stars
6% of photonics engineers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do photonics engineers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, photonics engineers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.4/5. While most photonics engineers aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked photonics engineers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
17 photonics engineers
24% of photonics engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
18% of photonics engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
29% of photonics engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
29% of photonics engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as photonics engineers?
Photonics engineers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.0/5. The majority of photonics engineers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked photonics engineers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
23 photonics engineers
35% of photonics engineers rated their career fit 5 stars
39% of photonics engineers rated their career fit 4 stars
22% of photonics engineers rated their career fit 3 stars
4% of photonics engineers rated their career fit 2 stars
How enjoyable is a photonics engineer’s work environment?
As a whole, photonics engineers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.8/5. A solid majority of photonics engineers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a photonics engineer.
We asked photonics engineers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
22 photonics engineers
27% of photonics engineers rated their work environment 5 stars
32% of photonics engineers rated their work environment 4 stars
32% of photonics engineers rated their work environment 3 stars
9% of photonics engineers rated their work environment 2 stars
Are photonics engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Former photonics engineers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.7/5. Most photonics engineers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a photonics engineer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked photonics engineers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
22 photonics engineers
32% of photonics engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
23% of photonics engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
27% of photonics engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
18% of photonics engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars