Software 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, software engineers 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 software 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Front-End developer | 3.3 | $51k |
| Computer programmer | 3.2 | $85k |
| Network administrator | 3.2 | $47k |
| IT security consultant | 3.2 | $60k |
| Security engineer | 3.2 | $74k |
| Software engineer | 3.2 | $93k |
| Audio visual technician | 3.2 | $49k |
| Statistician | 3.2 | $96k |
| IT manager | 3.1 | $79k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are software engineers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do software engineers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as software engineers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are software engineer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are software engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Are software engineers happy with their salary?
Software engineers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.6/5. The majority of software engineers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked software engineers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
3702 software engineers
27% of software engineers rated their compensation 5 stars
32% of software engineers rated their compensation 4 stars
23% of software engineers rated their compensation 3 stars
11% of software engineers rated their compensation 2 stars
7% of software engineers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do software engineers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, software engineers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.7/5. While most software engineers aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked software engineers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
3746 software engineers
12% of software engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
18% of software engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of software engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
24% of software engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
22% of software engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as software engineers?
Software engineers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.7/5. The majority of software engineers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked software engineers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
4094 software engineers
26% of software engineers rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of software engineers rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of software engineers rated their career fit 3 stars
9% of software engineers rated their career fit 2 stars
5% of software engineers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a software engineer’s work environment?
As a whole, software engineers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of software engineers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a software engineer.
We asked software engineers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
4070 software engineers
23% of software engineers rated their work environment 5 stars
35% of software engineers rated their work environment 4 stars
23% of software engineers rated their work environment 3 stars
12% of software engineers rated their work environment 2 stars
6% of software engineers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are software engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Former software engineers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most software engineers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked software engineers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
4074 software engineers
18% of software engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
26% of software engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
25% of software engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
20% of software engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
11% of software engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars