Systems administrators 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, systems administrators rate their career happiness 3.1 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 38% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy systems administrators 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Statistician | 3.2 | $96k |
| IT manager | 3.1 | $79k |
| Electrical engineer | 3.1 | $100k |
| Systems administrator | 3.1 | $75k |
| Search engine optimization specialist | 3.1 | $39k |
| Systems analyst | 3.0 | $79k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are systems administrators happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do systems administrators find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as systems administrators?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are systems administrator’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are systems administrators making the best use of their abilities?
Are systems administrators happy with their salary?
Systems administrators rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.2/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most systems administrators having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked systems administrators how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
658 systems administrators
15% of systems administrators rated their compensation 5 stars
29% of systems administrators rated their compensation 4 stars
29% of systems administrators rated their compensation 3 stars
17% of systems administrators rated their compensation 2 stars
10% of systems administrators rated their compensation 1 stars
Do systems administrators find their jobs meaningful?
On average, systems administrators rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.7/5. While most systems administrators aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.
We asked systems administrators how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
659 systems administrators
10% of systems administrators rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
15% of systems administrators rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
27% of systems administrators rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
25% of systems administrators rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
22% of systems administrators rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as systems administrators?
Systems administrators rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of systems administrators find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked systems administrators how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
737 systems administrators
26% of systems administrators rated their career fit 5 stars
42% of systems administrators rated their career fit 4 stars
23% of systems administrators rated their career fit 3 stars
7% of systems administrators rated their career fit 2 stars
2% of systems administrators rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a systems administrator’s work environment?
As a whole, systems administrators rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.6/5. A solid majority of systems administrators enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a systems administrator.
We asked systems administrators how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.6 out of 5 stars
738 systems administrators
19% of systems administrators rated their work environment 5 stars
41% of systems administrators rated their work environment 4 stars
22% of systems administrators rated their work environment 3 stars
14% of systems administrators rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of systems administrators rated their work environment 1 stars
Are systems administrators making the best use of their abilities?
Former systems administrators on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.2/5. Most systems administrators are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked systems administrators how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
738 systems administrators
15% of systems administrators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
26% of systems administrators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
28% of systems administrators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
23% of systems administrators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
9% of systems administrators rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars