If you think you have the worst job in the world, and you are an oil rig labourer, you are probably right, at least according to one survey published this week.

Ranking pay, stress levels, physical toll and other factors for 200 professions, website CareerCast thinks “roustabouts” get the rawest deal.

Maintaining oil rigs and pipelines is physically tough and offers little in return, the firm said.

CareerCast described a hardscrabble life of “twelve-hour shifts, exposure to the elements in hostile environments, low pay, high risk of injury and isolation from loved ones for weeks at a time,” making it “the worst job of 2011.”

For all that roustabouts are likely to receive around $32,000 a year.

Conversely, if you are a software engineer, congratulations, yours is the best job in the world.

Software is in practically every device used in our daily lives – telephones, cars, appliances – and that is becoming even more the case.” In return for keeping up with the latest codes, computer languages and techniques engineers can expect to earn an average of $87,000 a year.

According to CareerCast other great jobs include: mathematician, actuary, statistician and computer systems analyst.