Video game designers are one of the happiest 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, video game designers rate their career happiness 4.2 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 3% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy video game designers 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Video game creative director | 4.5 | $90k |
| Video game level editor | 4.3 | $90k |
| Video game designer | 4.2 | $90k |
| Video game producer | 4.1 | $90k |
| Games artist | 3.9 | $90k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are video game designers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do video game designers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as video game designers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are video game designer’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are video game designers making the best use of their abilities?
Are video game designers happy with their salary?
Video game designers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.5/5. The majority of video game designers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.
We asked video game designers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
3.5 out of 5 stars
454 video game designers
30% of video game designers rated their compensation 5 stars
21% of video game designers rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of video game designers rated their compensation 3 stars
11% of video game designers rated their compensation 2 stars
11% of video game designers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do video game designers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, video game designers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.9/5. Unlike many careers, video game designers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become video game designers.
We asked video game designers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
3.9 out of 5 stars
472 video game designers
44% of video game designers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
25% of video game designers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
18% of video game designers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
6% of video game designers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
6% of video game designers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as video game designers?
Video game designers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.3/5. The majority of video game designers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked video game designers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.3 out of 5 stars
557 video game designers
51% of video game designers rated their career fit 5 stars
32% of video game designers rated their career fit 4 stars
13% of video game designers rated their career fit 3 stars
3% of video game designers rated their career fit 2 stars
1% of video game designers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a video game designer’s work environment?
As a whole, video game designers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.2/5. A solid majority of video game designers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a video game designer.
We asked video game designers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
4.2 out of 5 stars
550 video game designers
46% of video game designers rated their work environment 5 stars
34% of video game designers rated their work environment 4 stars
14% of video game designers rated their work environment 3 stars
4% of video game designers rated their work environment 2 stars
2% of video game designers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are video game designers making the best use of their abilities?
Former video game designers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 4.1/5. Most video game designers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a video game designer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.
We asked video game designers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
4.1 out of 5 stars
544 video game designers
46% of video game designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
29% of video game designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
15% of video game designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
7% of video game designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
3% of video game designers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars