Happiest and Crappiest Jobs

     Forbes.com did an article where they ranked the happiest and unhappiest jobs in America, the results were actually quite surprising. There were, obviously, restricting guidelines for what jobs could be considered:

"Top jobs like CEO weren’t part of the mix, nor were rock star or NBA player. “The jobs on our site are middle-market,” says CareerBliss CEO Heidi Golledge.” In other words, some exceedingly happy professionals, like movie stars and best-selling authors, weren’t candidates for the list. Other jobs that you might associate with unhappiness, like poultry factory worker, also weren’t considered."

     So, after those jobs are put aside, I was surprised to find that software developer sits at number 6 in terms of the top ten happiest. And I was even more surprised to see that designer sits right behind it at number 7. It's widely known (so much so that it's cliche) that money doesn't mean happiness. But it's also widely known that to some extent that really isn't the case. Which is why it wasn't surprising to see what they said about the software engineers, who can have an average salary of over $90,000.

"Software developers create, improve, test and implement software. Their mean annual wage is $93,280, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics."

And here's what they said about designers:

"Designers create visuals, by hand or using computer software, to communicate ideas. CareerBliss lists an average salary of $51,000."

     While it certainly doesn't seem like they tried very hard to describe those careers, that's not what I was really focused on. I'm not here to break down what defines happiness, I am here to delve into why these career paths seem to offer the same amount of it despite the vast differences in their pay. After all, one of those graduates is still gonna have to deal with those student loans after a few years out of college while the other is, well, the software engineer. 

http://www.curver.com/usa/design-innovation

     So I suppose my first few questions have been answered. Yes, you can be happy receiving an art degree, yes you will have an awful salary, (note neither of these are certainties because nothing is certain but oh well) and yes, I suppose it is worth it to go to college for it based on the specialization required by a lot of companies. But I still have one more question, is there any way to make more money as a designer outside of the regular method? More specifically, as a game designer?