I'm a little late to the party, (hey, Detroit was grand!), but wanted to comment on recent releases of the 'Ten Best' vs. the 'Ten Worst' jobs. Forbes.com sums up the lists here, but the common themes surface:
(For those who don't want to visit the link, Clergy 'The least worldly are reported to be the happiest of all' won again)
1) Those who give of themselves to others find greater fulfillment and happiness.
2) Among the 'Ten Happiest' jobs, many are focused on making the lives of others better, not our own.
3) Creativity and a certain level of autonomy seem to be consistent themes.
Among the 'Ten Worst', let's see:
1) So tech jobs are all the rage, huh? (5 in this list are in the tech sector)
2) Comments here suggest 'imprisoned by hierarchical bureaucracies' as reasons for 'unhappiness.' Obviously, I work in an 'hierarchical bureaucracy,' and often admit that I didn't get into the priesthood to work in an office building downtown, but on the whole, the positives outweigh the negatives, at least for me.
3) Among the list, creativity seems stifled and, as described for law clerks, one is often subuject 'to the whims of a mercurial supervisor.'
Where are you in your position?
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One observation I have on the two lists is that the happy list includes jobs that you normally would never go into without asking yourself, "What do I really want to do with my life? What do I value and what am I willing to sacrifice?" And the depressed list includes jobs that I'd imagine you'd find yourself in if you were pretty smart and ambitious for money but not very intentional, and just tried to get a "good" job and then get promoted as much as possible, without asking what would really make you happy.
Of all the people I've met, nuns seem far and away the happiest. The priests I know also seem very happy to be priests, but I was surprised to see clergy at number 1 because I thought there were many sources of aggravation in the job!
As for me, I've really enjoyed being a biology lab tech-- low stress, interesting stuff to work with, decent pay. I'm currently in school to work towards a license that will let me do the same kind of thing but for more money. :)
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