Recording 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, recording engineers rate their career happiness 3.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 13% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy recording 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Game artist | 3.9 | $90k |
| Audio engineer | 3.9 | $28k |
| Ski patroller | 3.9 | $29k |
| Recording engineer | 3.9 | $34k |
| Music promoter | 3.8 | $31k |
| Piano accompanist | 3.8 | $47k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are recording engineers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do recording engineers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as recording engineers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are recording engineer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are recording engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Are recording engineers happy with their salary?
Recording engineers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Recording engineers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked recording engineers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
77 recording engineers
13% of recording engineers rated their compensation 5 stars
13% of recording engineers rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of recording engineers rated their compensation 3 stars
22% of recording engineers rated their compensation 2 stars
26% of recording engineers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do recording engineers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, recording engineers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.6/5. Unlike many careers, recording engineers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become recording engineers.
We asked recording engineers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
80 recording engineers
34% of recording engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
20% of recording engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
26% of recording engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
9% of recording engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
11% of recording engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as recording engineers?
Recording engineers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.1/5. The majority of recording engineers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked recording engineers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
86 recording engineers
38% of recording engineers rated their career fit 5 stars
41% of recording engineers rated their career fit 4 stars
16% of recording engineers rated their career fit 3 stars
3% of recording engineers rated their career fit 2 stars
1% of recording engineers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a recording engineer’s work environment?
As a whole, recording engineers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.8/5. A solid majority of recording engineers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a recording engineer.
We asked recording engineers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
86 recording engineers
28% of recording engineers rated their work environment 5 stars
38% of recording engineers rated their work environment 4 stars
21% of recording engineers rated their work environment 3 stars
9% of recording engineers rated their work environment 2 stars
3% of recording engineers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are recording engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Former recording engineers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most recording engineers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a recording engineer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked recording engineers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
87 recording engineers
32% of recording engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
33% of recording engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
16% of recording engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
16% of recording engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
2% of recording engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars