This was a survey of 771 Australians, almost all men, working in construction[1]. Also "coworker support" is a big factor[2], the authors concluded. It's entir

This was a survey of 771 Australians, almost all men, working in construction[1]. Also "coworker support" is a big factor[2], the authors concluded. It's entirely unclear to me whether the results have any applicability to the types of technology jobs that the largely (I speculate) Silicon Valley HN audience holds. For one, software engineering isn't exactly hard physical labor, where getting a promotion to foreman in your 40s may mean a lot less hauling concrete. Second, women are present in greater numbers in white-collar jobs than in construction. Third, relationships with your coworkers are likely going to be different in an office environment. Fourth, there may be cultural differences between Australian construction workers and the rest of the world, even U.S. construction workers. Fifth, there's likely not the same (alleged, at least) age discrimination in construction, where you gain more skills over time and aren't expected to know the latest inane web JSRubyPythonGolangMartiniNodeDjangoErlangLuaRailsExpressConnectHaskellRestMVCController framework du jour. So in other words the NYMag.com article this HN thread links to could have been written exactly the opposite way -- by concluding that the study's results have no proven applicability except to, well, Australian male construction workers. [1] http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2014/07/peoples-happiness-at-work-usually-dips.html http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2014/07/peoples-happ... [2] http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&id=23043BB8-C419-8E86-D71E-E34F2AAFC6D1&resultID=1&page=1&dbTab=pa&search=true http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&id=...