Security engineers 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, security engineers rate their career happiness 3.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 48% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy security 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Computer programmer | 3.2 | $85k |
| Agricultural engineer | 3.2 | $83k |
| Network administrator | 3.2 | $47k |
| Consultant | 3.2 | $77k |
| IT security consultant | 3.2 | $60k |
| Security engineer | 3.2 | $74k |
| Marine engineer | 3.2 | $93k |
| Intelligence analyst | 3.2 | $84k |
| Software engineer | 3.2 | $93k |
| Audio visual technician | 3.2 | $49k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are security engineers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do security engineers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as security engineers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are security engineer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are security engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Are security engineers happy with their salary?
Security engineers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.5/5. The majority of security engineers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked security engineers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
182 security engineers
20% of security engineers rated their compensation 5 stars
35% of security engineers rated their compensation 4 stars
23% of security engineers rated their compensation 3 stars
17% of security engineers rated their compensation 2 stars
5% of security engineers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do security engineers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, security engineers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.9/5. While most security engineers aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked security engineers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.9 out of 5 stars
183 security engineers
14% of security engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
22% of security engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
23% of security engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
20% of security engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
21% of security engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as security engineers?
Security engineers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of security engineers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked security engineers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
183 security engineers
26% of security engineers rated their career fit 5 stars
46% of security engineers rated their career fit 4 stars
14% of security engineers rated their career fit 3 stars
10% of security engineers rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of security engineers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a security engineer’s work environment?
As a whole, security engineers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of security engineers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a security engineer.
We asked security engineers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
181 security engineers
22% of security engineers rated their work environment 5 stars
38% of security engineers rated their work environment 4 stars
25% of security engineers rated their work environment 3 stars
11% of security engineers rated their work environment 2 stars
5% of security engineers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are security engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Former security engineers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most security engineers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked security engineers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
181 security engineers
19% of security engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
25% of security engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
25% of security engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
17% of security engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
13% of security engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars