Ethical hackers 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, ethical hackers rate their career happiness 4.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 8% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy ethical hackers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Video game creative director | 4.5 | $90k |
| Game level designer | 4.3 | $90k |
| Game designer | 4.2 | $90k |
| Video game producer | 4.1 | $90k |
| Game artist | 3.9 | $90k |
| Nanotechnology engineer | 3.9 | $120k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are ethical hackers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do ethical hackers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as ethical hackers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are ethical hacker’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are ethical hackers making the best use of their abilities?
Are ethical hackers happy with their salary?
Ethical hackers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.4/5. The majority of ethical hackers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked ethical hackers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
55 ethical hackers
31% of ethical hackers rated their compensation 5 stars
20% of ethical hackers rated their compensation 4 stars
24% of ethical hackers rated their compensation 3 stars
9% of ethical hackers rated their compensation 2 stars
16% of ethical hackers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do ethical hackers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, ethical hackers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.0/5. Unlike many careers, ethical hackers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become ethical hackers.
We asked ethical hackers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
55 ethical hackers
45% of ethical hackers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
29% of ethical hackers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
15% of ethical hackers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
5% of ethical hackers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
5% of ethical hackers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as ethical hackers?
Ethical hackers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of ethical hackers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked ethical hackers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
58 ethical hackers
36% of ethical hackers rated their career fit 5 stars
36% of ethical hackers rated their career fit 4 stars
19% of ethical hackers rated their career fit 3 stars
3% of ethical hackers rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of ethical hackers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is an ethical hacker’s work environment?
As a whole, ethical hackers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.9/5. A solid majority of ethical hackers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as an ethical hacker.
We asked ethical hackers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
57 ethical hackers
37% of ethical hackers rated their work environment 5 stars
32% of ethical hackers rated their work environment 4 stars
19% of ethical hackers rated their work environment 3 stars
11% of ethical hackers rated their work environment 2 stars
2% of ethical hackers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are ethical hackers making the best use of their abilities?
Former ethical hackers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 4.1/5. Most ethical hackers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as an ethical hacker, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked ethical hackers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
55 ethical hackers
45% of ethical hackers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
27% of ethical hackers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
16% of ethical hackers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
9% of ethical hackers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
2% of ethical hackers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars