Automotive designer vs designer

The differences between automotive designers and designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become an automotive designer, becoming a designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an automotive designer has an average salary of $69,782, which is higher than the $66,347 average annual salary of a designer.

The top three skills for an automotive designer include industrial design, sketch and powertrain. The most important skills for a designer are sketch, customer service, and graphic design.

Automotive designer vs designer overview

	Automotive Designer	Designer
Yearly salary	$69,782	$66,347
Hourly rate	$33.55	$31.90
Growth rate	2%	3%
Number of jobs	76,806	52,433
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age	41	38
Years of experience	6	12

Automotive designer vs designer salary

Automotive designers and designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Automotive Designer	Designer
Average salary	$69,782	$66,347
Salary range	Between $44,000 And $108,000	Between $45,000 And $97,000
Highest paying City	Belmont, CA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Washington
Best paying company	Meta	Meta
Best paying industry	Automotive	Technology

Differences between automotive designer and designer education

There are a few differences between an automotive designer and a designer in terms of educational background:

	Automotive Designer	Designer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common major	Mechanical Engineering	Graphic Design
Most common college	Northwestern University	University of Pennsylvania

Automotive designer vs designer demographics

Here are the differences between automotive designers' and designers' demographics:

	Automotive Designer	Designer
Average age	41	38
Gender ratio	Male, 80.2% Female, 19.8%	Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 11.0% White, 70.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	5%	13%

Differences between automotive designer and designer duties and responsibilities

Automotive designer example responsibilities.

Manage documentation of existing projects, perform ECN resolutions.
Design of brackets and torsion bar components are validated using FEA inSolidworks.
Designate as group training mentor during transition from CADAM to Unigraphics V9.
Complete several fully fillet and draft angle solid models on Unigraphics for direct manufacturing.
Perform mechanical engineering design for facilities including calculate building HVAC requirements to ensure adequate capacity of system air flow.
Release drawings and BOMs in PDM/Link Windchill.

Designer example responsibilities.

Lead & design all creative content stemming from apparel design to web identity.
Manage various PCB designs utilizing state of the art DFM techniques and comply with company standards.
Utilize CSS, DHTML, HTML, and JavaScript for cross browser, cross platform compatibility and consistency.
Develop different kinds of functions globally, locally for the development of forms using JavaScript, CSS.
Transform customer specifications into usable SolidWorks 3D models and assemblies from which all manufacturing are derived.
Process ECR's and ECO's using Windchill.

Automotive designer vs designer skills

Common automotive designer skills

Industrial Design, 24%
Sketch, 19%
Powertrain, 13%
FEA, 11%
Cost Reduction, 9%
Catia V5, 8%

Common designer skills

Sketch, 10%
Customer Service, 7%
Graphic Design, 6%
CSS, 5%
HTML, 4%
PowerPoint, 4%