eng Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Educational Research 2333-4770 2014-08-14 2 8 698 702 10.12691/education-2-8-20 EDUCATION20142820 article Eka Daryanto ekadaryanto@unimed.ac.id 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering Education, Faculty of Engineering, State University of Medan, Medan, Indonesia The job satisfaction is reflected by the affective reaction of an individual on to his/her work related factors. This study explores the relationship between individual characteristics, job characteristics, and career development with job satisfaction of teachers in vocational schools at the Province of North Sumatera, Indonesia. The sample size of this study was obtained using the proportional random sampling which further resulting a total number of 166 teachers who were found having the expected qualification in Mechanical Engineering subject. The hypotheses tests based on the path analysis on the research model revealed that individual characteristics, job characteristics, and career development directly influence job satisfaction. Summary of findings and managerial implications in this study are discussed and put forward. http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/2/8/20/education-2-8-20.pdf individual characteristics job characteristics career development job satisfaction vocational school teacher's