Psychiatric technicians are one of the least happy 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, psychiatric technicians rate their career happiness 2.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 17% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy psychiatric technicians 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
Psychiatric aide
2.9
$29k
Social worker
2.9
$43k
Audiologist
2.9
$92k
Orthotist
2.9
$71k
Home health aide
2.8
$25k
Psychiatric technician
2.8
$23k
Family social worker
2.8
$28k
Licensed practical nurse
2.8
$41k
Pharmacy technician
2.8
$18k
Medical administrative assistant
2.8
$19k

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

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

Are psychiatric technicians happy with their salary?

Psychiatric technicians rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.4/5. Most psychiatric technicians do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.

We asked psychiatric technicians how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

2.4 out of 5 stars

168 psychiatric technicians

5 Star
5%

5% of psychiatric technicians rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
15%

15% of psychiatric technicians rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
22%

22% of psychiatric technicians rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
29%

29% of psychiatric technicians rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
30%

30% of psychiatric technicians rated their compensation 1 stars

Do psychiatric technicians find their jobs meaningful?

On average, psychiatric technicians rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.2/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

We asked psychiatric technicians how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.2 out of 5 stars

166 psychiatric technicians

5 Star
16%

16% of psychiatric technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
28%

28% of psychiatric technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
30%

30% of psychiatric technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
14%

14% of psychiatric technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of psychiatric technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as psychiatric technicians?

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

We asked psychiatric technicians how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.8 out of 5 stars

184 psychiatric technicians

5 Star
34%

34% of psychiatric technicians rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of psychiatric technicians rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
18%

18% of psychiatric technicians rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
10%

10% of psychiatric technicians rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
5%

5% of psychiatric technicians rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a psychiatric technician’s work environment?

As a whole, psychiatric technicians rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.

We asked psychiatric technicians how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.3 out of 5 stars

183 psychiatric technicians

5 Star
20%

20% of psychiatric technicians rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of psychiatric technicians rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
25%

25% of psychiatric technicians rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of psychiatric technicians rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
12%

12% of psychiatric technicians rated their work environment 1 stars

Are psychiatric technicians making the best use of their abilities?

Former psychiatric technicians on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.8/5. Psychiatric technicians tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.

We asked psychiatric technicians how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

2.8 out of 5 stars

184 psychiatric technicians

5 Star
16%

16% of psychiatric technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
14%

14% of psychiatric technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of psychiatric technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
30%

30% of psychiatric technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
16%

16% of psychiatric technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars