Traffic technicians are one of the least happy careers in the United States.
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, traffic technicians rate their career happiness 2.6 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 8% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy traffic technicians 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Truck driver | 2.7 | $48k |
| Courier | 2.7 | $33k |
| Cargo and freight agent | 2.7 | $47k |
| Delivery service driver | 2.6 | $38k |
| Hazardous materials removal worker | 2.6 | $46k |
| Traffic technician | 2.6 | $49k |
| Customs broker | 2.6 | $75k |
| Recreational vehicle service technician | 2.6 | $44k |
| Derrick operator | 2.6 | $47k |
| Drywall installer | 2.6 | $48k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are traffic technicians happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do traffic technicians find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as traffic technicians?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are traffic technician’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are traffic technicians making the best use of their abilities?
Are traffic technicians happy with their salary?
Traffic technicians rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.3/5. Few are explicitly unhappy with their salaries, with most traffic technicians having generally positive views of their salary.
We asked traffic technicians how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
23 traffic technicians
17% of traffic technicians rated their compensation 5 stars
26% of traffic technicians rated their compensation 4 stars
39% of traffic technicians rated their compensation 3 stars
9% of traffic technicians rated their compensation 2 stars
9% of traffic technicians rated their compensation 1 stars
Do traffic technicians find their jobs meaningful?
On average, traffic technicians rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.5/5. The majority of traffic technicians struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked traffic technicians how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.5 out of 5 stars
23 traffic technicians
4% of traffic technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
9% of traffic technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
35% of traffic technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
35% of traffic technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
17% of traffic technicians rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as traffic technicians?
Traffic technicians rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.8/5. The majority of traffic technicians find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked traffic technicians how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
3.8 out of 5 stars
24 traffic technicians
29% of traffic technicians rated their career fit 5 stars
33% of traffic technicians rated their career fit 4 stars
29% of traffic technicians rated their career fit 3 stars
4% of traffic technicians rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of traffic technicians rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a traffic technician’s work environment?
As a whole, traffic technicians rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.2/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked traffic technicians how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.2 out of 5 stars
24 traffic technicians
13% of traffic technicians rated their work environment 5 stars
21% of traffic technicians rated their work environment 4 stars
50% of traffic technicians rated their work environment 3 stars
4% of traffic technicians rated their work environment 2 stars
13% of traffic technicians rated their work environment 1 stars
Are traffic technicians making the best use of their abilities?
Former traffic technicians on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.7/5. Traffic technicians tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked traffic technicians how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.7 out of 5 stars
24 traffic technicians
4% of traffic technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
25% of traffic technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
29% of traffic technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
21% of traffic technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
21% of traffic technicians rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars