Molecular biologists are about average in terms of 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, molecular biologists rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 46% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy molecular biologists 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
Geologist
3.3
$84k
Scientist
3.3
$67k
Bioinformatics scientist
3.2
$85k
Industrial ecologist
3.2
$90k
Geneticist
3.2
$96k
Molecular biologist
3.2
$61k
Materials scientist
3.2
$91k
Biotechnician
3.1
$39k
Pathologist
3.1
$201k
Microbiologist
3.1
$63k

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

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

Are molecular biologists happy with their salary?

Molecular biologists rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Molecular biologists tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

We asked molecular biologists how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

2.6 out of 5 stars

251 molecular biologists

5 Star
9%

9% of molecular biologists rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
18%

18% of molecular biologists rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of molecular biologists rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
24%

24% of molecular biologists rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
24%

24% of molecular biologists rated their compensation 1 stars

Do molecular biologists find their jobs meaningful?

On average, molecular biologists rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.0/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

We asked molecular biologists how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.0 out of 5 stars

254 molecular biologists

5 Star
14%

14% of molecular biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
25%

25% of molecular biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
26%

26% of molecular biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
22%

22% of molecular biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
13%

13% of molecular biologists rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as molecular biologists?

Molecular biologists rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of molecular biologists find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked molecular biologists how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.7 out of 5 stars

278 molecular biologists

5 Star
27%

27% of molecular biologists rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
38%

38% of molecular biologists rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of molecular biologists rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of molecular biologists rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
5%

5% of molecular biologists rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a molecular biologist’s work environment?

As a whole, molecular biologists rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.5/5. A solid majority of molecular biologists enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a molecular biologist.

We asked molecular biologists how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.5 out of 5 stars

282 molecular biologists

5 Star
20%

20% of molecular biologists rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
39%

39% of molecular biologists rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
20%

20% of molecular biologists rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
15%

15% of molecular biologists rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
6%

6% of molecular biologists rated their work environment 1 stars

Are molecular biologists making the best use of their abilities?

Former molecular biologists on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most molecular biologists are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

We asked molecular biologists how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.2 out of 5 stars

281 molecular biologists

5 Star
21%

21% of molecular biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
25%

25% of molecular biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of molecular biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
17%

17% of molecular biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of molecular biologists rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars