How Satisfied are IT People in Their Jobs?

Are you satisfied in your job? Results of a survey of IT professionals indicate that job satisfaction, while still low, is rising.

Over half of respondents (58 percent) were either satisfied or very satisfied with
their current position, according to a recent Global Knowledge survey of IT pros.

This number has actually gone up since the company surveyed IT pros in 2010.

In 2010, only eight percent of the IT people surveyed felt "very satisfied" in IT, as opposed to 14 percent this year who were "very satisfied." (See graphic.)

Job satisfaction, as you know, depends on a variety of factors for a variety of people in a variety of circumstances.

Your manager might hope you value the interesting work you do, or your supportive colleagues, or the flexibility to work from home.

And maybe you do.

But let's face it, compensation's important, too.

Sixty-four percent of those reporting they received a raise in the prior year also reported being satisfied with the work they do.

That the satisfaction might have a) indirectly contributed to the excellence of work required to get the salary increase, or b) been the result of having the guts to ask for a raise, isn't explored.

One not-so-surprising result of the survey is that the further you get from supporting day-to-day IT operations, the more job satisfaction you see. The survey notes that "Respondents in help desk, user support, and IT specialist positions were the least likely to report being satisfied (50 percent)."

Job satisfaction also depends on which industry your IT department is in.

If you work in IT in aerospace, agriculture, IS integration, IT communication, manufacturing, or natural resources (mining, oil, or gas), you feel greater satisfaction--according to the survey results. Those in IT in such industries as hospitality, industrial manufacturing, media, and government reported feeling less satisfied.

What does this mean for SharePoint admins and IT pros who work in SharePoint? Well, unfortunately the survey didn't focus on app/platform, or at least it didn't on SharePoint.

Based on our unofficial monitoring of Twitter posts with "SharePoint" in them, it appears if you choose to work with SharePoint, you're more satisfied with your job than is someone who didn't choose to work with SharePoint but has to.

That's as scientific as we get here.

What's been true for you? Are you more satisfied working with SharePoint than you have in other incarnations of IT/tech? Feel free to leave a comment. If it's not spam (or etc.), I will make it appear within 24 hours or sooner. (Power--now that's satisfying.)

To decide whether your manager should see the survey results, or to download the survey results yourself, see "2013 IT Skills and Salary Report," at our sister magazine, Windows IT Pro.