I have a job satisfaction indicator I like to call “the barbecue factor”.
You’re at a social event with friends and friends of friends. Someone asks “so what do you do?” and you answer.
They either go “huh?”, “ooh neat!” or “oh, gee, yeah isn’t it awful how $industry is $negative_outcome?”
Which of those answers you get can have a big bearing on your job satisfaction.
It feels like the opinions of others shouldn’t be such a big deal. It turns out they are a pretty big deal for me, though. It sounds like it might be the same for you, and I suspect it’s the same for most humans. We’re tribal animals.
Once I figured that out, I started factoring it into my career decisions. I’ve been much happier for it.