Chemical engineers 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, chemical engineers rate their career happiness 2.9 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 25% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy chemical 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanical engineer | 3.0 | $72k |
| Ship engineer | 3.0 | $75k |
| Water engineer | 3.0 | $89k |
| Industrial engineering technician | 2.9 | $57k |
| Chemical engineer | 2.9 | $106k |
| Nuclear engineer | 2.9 | $106k |
| Environmental engineer | 2.9 | $89k |
| Industrial engineer | 2.9 | $86k |
| Power engineer | 2.8 | $62k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are chemical engineers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do chemical engineers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as chemical engineers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are chemical engineer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are chemical engineers making the best use of their abilities?