App developers rate their happiness above average.

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, app developers rate their career happiness 3.5 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 33% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy app developers 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
Computer hardware engineer
3.5
$128k
UX designer
3.5
$65k
Multimedia animator
3.5
$79k
Industrial designer
3.5
$77k
App developer
3.5
$71k
Full stack developer
3.4
$70k
Back-End developer
3.4
$67k
Technical product manager
3.4
$78k
Graphic designer
3.4
$51k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are app developers happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do app developers find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as app developers?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are app developer’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are app developers making the best use of their abilities?

Are app developers happy with their salary?

App developers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most app developers having generally positive views of their salary.

We asked app developers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

452 app developers

5 Star
15%

15% of app developers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of app developers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
30%

30% of app developers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
14%

14% of app developers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
10%

10% of app developers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do app developers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, app developers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.1/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

We asked app developers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.1 out of 5 stars

465 app developers

5 Star
15%

15% of app developers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
26%

26% of app developers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of app developers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
20%

20% of app developers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
15%

15% of app developers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as app developers?

App developers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of app developers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked app developers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.8 out of 5 stars

463 app developers

5 Star
26%

26% of app developers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
39%

39% of app developers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of app developers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of app developers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
1%

1% of app developers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is an app developer’s work environment?

As a whole, app developers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of app developers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an app developer.

We asked app developers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.7 out of 5 stars

461 app developers

5 Star
25%

25% of app developers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
37%

37% of app developers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of app developers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
10%

10% of app developers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
3%

3% of app developers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are app developers making the best use of their abilities?

Former app developers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.4/5. Most app developers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as an app developer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

We asked app developers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.4 out of 5 stars

468 app developers

5 Star
21%

21% of app developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
30%

30% of app developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of app developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
18%

18% of app developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
6%

6% of app developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars