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

5 Star
31%

31% of ethical hackers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
20%

20% of ethical hackers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of ethical hackers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of ethical hackers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
16%

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

5 Star
45%

45% of ethical hackers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
29%

29% of ethical hackers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
15%

15% of ethical hackers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
5%

5% of ethical hackers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
5%

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

5 Star
36%

36% of ethical hackers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
36%

36% of ethical hackers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
19%

19% of ethical hackers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
3%

3% of ethical hackers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
5%

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

5 Star
37%

37% of ethical hackers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of ethical hackers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
19%

19% of ethical hackers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of ethical hackers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
2%

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

5 Star
45%

45% of ethical hackers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of ethical hackers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
16%

16% of ethical hackers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
9%

9% of ethical hackers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
2%

2% of ethical hackers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars