Aircraft designer vs stress engineer

The differences between aircraft designers and stress engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an aircraft designer and a stress engineer. Additionally, a stress engineer has an average salary of $107,036, which is higher than the $91,919 average annual salary of an aircraft designer.

The top three skills for an aircraft designer include MATLAB, installation drawings and CATIA. The most important skills for a stress engineer are finite element analysis, structural analysis, and autocad.

Aircraft designer vs stress engineer overview

	Aircraft Designer	Stress Engineer
Yearly salary	$91,919	$107,036
Hourly rate	$44.19	$51.46
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	46,747	36,117
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	4

Aircraft designer vs stress engineer salary

Aircraft designers and stress engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Aircraft Designer	Stress Engineer
Average salary	$91,919	$107,036
Salary range	Between $61,000 And $137,000	Between $73,000 And $156,000
Highest paying City	-	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	-	Washington
Best paying company	-	CTS
Best paying industry	-	Professional

Differences between aircraft designer and stress engineer education

There are a few differences between an aircraft designer and a stress engineer in terms of educational background:

	Aircraft Designer	Stress Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 73%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common major	Aerospace Engineering	Mechanical Engineering
Most common college	Georgia Institute of Technology	Georgia Institute of Technology

Aircraft designer vs stress engineer demographics

Here are the differences between aircraft designers' and stress engineers' demographics:

	Aircraft Designer	Stress Engineer
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 86.7% Female, 13.3%	Male, 89.7% Female, 10.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 19.8% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 19.8% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between aircraft designer and stress engineer duties and responsibilities

Aircraft designer example responsibilities.

Manage documentation of existing projects, perform ECN resolutions.
Upgrade models from Catia V4 to Catia V5.
Perform shipchecks including off site and on board sketch work.
Analyze and resolve deficiencies on composite parts and assemblies report from MRB.
Create new composite FOD shield to attach to forward fuselage for composite prop conformity.
Research airframe and engine log books on multiple types of aircraft to verify all necessary maintenance guidelines have been comply with.

Stress engineer example responsibilities.

Lead CFD analyses on various aircraft types.
Manage the development and design data in PDM to ensure successful completion.
Manage Jenkins security by providing specific access to authorize developers/testers using project base matrix authorization strategy.
Develop Perl, TCL, and Bourne shell tools to improve the CFD process.
Perform FEA static analysis on primary and secondary MLG structural parts using ABAQUS as solver.
Perform mission analysis using PATRAN, ABAQUS, and NASTRAN as well as basic hand calculations.

Aircraft designer vs stress engineer skills

Common aircraft designer skills

MATLAB, 29%
Installation Drawings, 25%
CATIA, 24%
CAD, 12%
FAA, 10%

Common stress engineer skills

Finite Element Analysis, 10%
Structural Analysis, 9%
Autocad, 6%
Fatigue Analysis, 5%
MRB, 5%
Ansys, 4%