Are Quality Professionals Happy On the Job?

Posted on April 9, 2012 by borawski

No one said it’s easy to be a quality professional. Interesting—yes. Frustrating—sometimes. (Just see feedback to last month’s post on “selling” quality.) Rewarding—it can be; we’re making a difference. Challenging—that’s a given.

Maybe it shouldn’t be easy. After all, some of the most rewarding things in life aren’t easily achieved. Yet most of us in quality will say that the job can be satisfying. Maybe we feel job satisfaction when we ensure that our companies produce a quality product that serves our customers well. (Call it Raising the Voice of Quality!) Maybe it’s when we help eliminate waste and rework. Maybe when lives are saved. Maybe it’s when we use the skills that we’ve worked for years to develop and sharpen: math, statistics, problem-solving. Or maybe it’s when we see that we’re making a difference.

So I wasn’t surprised that Forbes Magazine named software quality assurance engineer as the “happiest job” in the U.S.

As Forbes says, “Professionals with this job title are typically involved in the entire software development process to ensure the quality of the final product…Software quality assurance engineers feel rewarded at work, as they are typically the last stop before software goes live and correctly feel that they are an integral part of the job being done at the company.”

Great news for software quality engineers—but what about other quality professionals? This month, let’s talk about happiness and job satisfaction in the quality field, worldwide. Are you happy on the job? If yes, why? If no—what would help you raise the voice of quality with a passion?