What makes a job nearly perfect? It’s a combination of salary, demand (the number empty posts waiting to be filled), and job satisfaction, according to job search firm Glassdoor, which this week released a list of the best jobs in America for 2020.
Using median base salaries reported on Glassdoor in 2019, the number of U.S. job openings as of 18 December 2019, and the overall job satisfaction rating (on a scale of 1 to 5) reported by employees in those jobs, the company put front-end engineer in the number one spot, followed by Java developer and data scientist. That’s a switch previous trends; data scientist held the number one spot on Glassdoor’s top jobs list for the four previous years.
In fact, you don’t hit a non-tech job until the 8th ranking, where speech language pathologist claims the spot, boosted by astronomical demand [see table].
2020’s Top Jobs
| Rank | Job | Median Base Salary | Job Satisfaction | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Front End Engineer* | $105,240 | 3.9 | 13,122 |
| 2 | Java Developer* | $83,589 | 3.9 | 16,136 |
| 3 | Data Scientist* | $107,801 | 4.0 | 6,542 |
| 4 | Product Manager* | $117,713 | 3.8 | 12,173 |
| 5 | Devops Engineer* | $107,310 | 3.9 | 6,603 |
| 6 | Data Engineer* | $102,472 | 3.9 | 6,941 |
| 7 | Software Engineer* | $105,563 | 3.6 | 50,438 |
| 8 | Speech Language Pathologist | $71,867 | 3.8 | 29,167 |
| 9 | Strategy Manager | $133,067 | 4.3 | 3,515 |
| 10 | Business Development Manager | $78,480 | 4.0 | 6,560 |
*Tech job Source: Glassdoor
Tech jobs are among the highest paying, however, with seven of the top ten median salaries [see table].
2020’s Top Jobs by Salary
| Rank | Job | Median Base Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strategy Manager | $133,067 |
| 2 | Finance Manager | $120,644 |
| 3 | Design Manager* | $120,549 |
| 4 | Product manager* | $117,713 |
| 5 | Cloud Engineer* | $110,600 |
| 6 | Physician Assistant | $109,585 |
| 7 | Data Scientist* | $107,801 |
| 8 | Dev Ops engineer* | $107,310 |
| 9 | Software Engineer* | $105,563 |
| 10 | Front End Engineer* | $105,240 |
*Tech job Source: Glassdoor
Tech jobs, however, aren’t the most satisfying, according to Glassdoor’s rankings. Top honors in that category go to corporate recruiter posts, followed by strategy manager. The only tech jobs to make the top ten rankings in job satisfaction were Salesforce Developer and Data Scientist; two other “most satisfying” job categories included a mix of technical and non-technical professionals [see table].
2020’s Top Jobs by Satisfaction
| Satisfaction Score (out of 5) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corporate Recruiter | 4.4 |
| 2 | Strategy Manager | 4.3 |
| 3 | Salesforce Developer* | 4.2 |
| 3 | Customer Success Manager | 4.2 |
| 3 | Product Designer° | 4.2 |
| 3 | Realtor | 4.2 |
| 7 | HR Manager | 4.1 |
| 7 | Design Manager° | 4.1 |
| 9 | Data Scientist* | 4.0 |
| 9 | Business Development Manager | 4.0 |
| 9 | Accounting Manager | 4.0 |
*Tech job °Job category includes some tech professions Source: Glassdoor
A complete list of the 50 top jobs is available on Glassdoor.
Tekla S. Perry is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., she's been covering the people, companies, and technology that make Silicon Valley a special place for more than 40 years. An IEEE member, she holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Michigan State University.
