Ship engineers are below average when it comes to 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, ship engineers rate their career happiness 3.0 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 32% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy ship 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
Millwright
3.1
$60k
Freight and cargo inspector
3.1
$80k
Avionics technician
3.0
$69k
Software quality assurance engineer
3.0
$90k
Mechanical engineer
3.0
$95k
Ship engineer
3.0
$82k
Power plant operator
3.0
$81k
Auto mechanic
3.0
$47k
Water engineer
3.0
$97k
Construction manager
3.0
$99k

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

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

Are ship engineers happy with their salary?

Ship engineers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.4/5. The majority of ship engineers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.

We asked ship engineers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.4 out of 5 stars

56 ship engineers

5 Star
25%

25% of ship engineers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of ship engineers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of ship engineers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
14%

14% of ship engineers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
11%

11% of ship engineers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do ship engineers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, ship engineers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.9/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.

We asked ship engineers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

2.9 out of 5 stars

56 ship engineers

5 Star
9%

9% of ship engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
30%

30% of ship engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of ship engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of ship engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
21%

21% of ship engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as ship engineers?

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

We asked ship engineers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.7 out of 5 stars

57 ship engineers

5 Star
19%

19% of ship engineers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
47%

47% of ship engineers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of ship engineers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
11%

11% of ship engineers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
2%

2% of ship engineers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a ship engineer’s work environment?

As a whole, ship engineers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.4/5. A solid majority of ship engineers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a ship engineer.

We asked ship engineers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.4 out of 5 stars

57 ship engineers

5 Star
19%

19% of ship engineers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of ship engineers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of ship engineers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
18%

18% of ship engineers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
9%

9% of ship engineers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are ship engineers making the best use of their abilities?

Former ship engineers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.1/5. Most ship engineers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

We asked ship engineers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.1 out of 5 stars

58 ship engineers

5 Star
14%

14% of ship engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
21%

21% of ship engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
34%

34% of ship engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
21%

21% of ship engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
10%

10% of ship engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars