For me, satisfaction comes primarily from the perceived level of usefulness.
If I'm either ineffective at my job, or my work doesn't seem very important(in a proximal or distal sense), or bureaucratic structure prevents me from being effective, then my interest plummets significantly.
I believe this is why some of my best work experiences were in less prestigious organizations. Despite how terrible my first employer was, there were times where I got tremendous satisfaction because I was allowed to be effective and my work had significant impact on company operations. (in retrospect, this wasn't a good thing since it came out that this company was running a massive robocalling ring, but you get what I'm saying)
In contrast, I certainly got paid much more in later jobs, but there would be long periods where I became dissatisfied because the majority of meaningful problems had already been solved and most of the work I was doing simply didn't matter. The most dissatisfying work I had was around propping up systems that, in reality, were creating more overhead than they were worth(i.e. the employer making things harder than they needed to be). It amazes me how many companies think that all the software they have is important to keep, even though it would be cheaper and simpler to figure out what really matters and then trim the fat.
If I'm either ineffective at my job, or my work doesn't seem very important(in a proximal or distal sense), or bureaucratic structure prevents me from being effective, then my interest plummets significantly.
I believe this is why some of my best work experiences were in less prestigious organizations. Despite how terrible my first employer was, there were times where I got tremendous satisfaction because I was allowed to be effective and my work had significant impact on company operations. (in retrospect, this wasn't a good thing since it came out that this company was running a massive robocalling ring, but you get what I'm saying)
In contrast, I certainly got paid much more in later jobs, but there would be long periods where I became dissatisfied because the majority of meaningful problems had already been solved and most of the work I was doing simply didn't matter. The most dissatisfying work I had was around propping up systems that, in reality, were creating more overhead than they were worth(i.e. the employer making things harder than they needed to be). It amazes me how many companies think that all the software they have is important to keep, even though it would be cheaper and simpler to figure out what really matters and then trim the fat.