Systems 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, systems engineers rate their career happiness 3.4 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 40% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy systems 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Full stack developer | 3.4 | $70k |
| Back-End developer | 3.4 | $67k |
| Technical product manager | 3.4 | $78k |
| Wind energy engineer | 3.4 | $101k |
| Systems architect | 3.4 | $102k |
| Systems engineer | 3.4 | $90k |
| Network architect | 3.4 | $109k |
| Database architect | 3.3 | $90k |
| Broadcast engineer | 3.3 | $45k |
| Computer and information research scientist | 3.3 | $118k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are systems engineers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do systems engineers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as systems engineers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are systems engineer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are systems engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Are systems engineers happy with their salary?
Systems engineers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.4/5. The majority of systems engineers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked systems engineers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.4 out of 5 stars
542 systems engineers
19% of systems engineers rated their compensation 5 stars
35% of systems engineers rated their compensation 4 stars
23% of systems engineers rated their compensation 3 stars
14% of systems engineers rated their compensation 2 stars
9% of systems engineers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do systems engineers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, systems engineers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.0/5. Most tend to be satisified with the level of meaning they find in their careers.
We asked systems engineers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.0 out of 5 stars
552 systems engineers
18% of systems engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
20% of systems engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
24% of systems engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
23% of systems engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
15% of systems engineers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as systems engineers?
Systems engineers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of systems engineers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked systems engineers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
636 systems engineers
32% of systems engineers rated their career fit 5 stars
40% of systems engineers rated their career fit 4 stars
19% of systems engineers rated their career fit 3 stars
6% of systems engineers rated their career fit 2 stars
3% of systems engineers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a systems engineer’s work environment?
As a whole, systems engineers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.7/5. A solid majority of systems engineers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a systems engineer.
We asked systems engineers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.7 out of 5 stars
637 systems engineers
26% of systems engineers rated their work environment 5 stars
36% of systems engineers rated their work environment 4 stars
23% of systems engineers rated their work environment 3 stars
11% of systems engineers rated their work environment 2 stars
4% of systems engineers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are systems engineers making the best use of their abilities?
Former systems engineers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.3/5. Most systems engineers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.
We asked systems engineers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
633 systems engineers
21% of systems engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
26% of systems engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of systems engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
19% of systems engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
8% of systems engineers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars