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The differences between automotive engineers and service engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an automotive engineer and a service engineer. Additionally, a service engineer has an average salary of $87,151, which is higher than the $82,211 average annual salary of an automotive engineer.
The top three skills for an automotive engineer include CAD, ISO and adaptive. The most important skills for a service engineer are customer service, infrastructure, and cloud.
| Automotive Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $82,211 | $87,151 |
| Hourly rate | $39.52 | $41.90 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 104,464 | 143,806 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
An automotive engineer specializes in designing and developing vehicles for public or private use. Their job entails conducting extensive research and analyses, conceptualizing plans with fellow experts, building prototypes and structures, troubleshooting problems, and implementing multiple test procedures to identify how the vehicle operates at different conditions and ensure its quality adheres to standards and regulations. Besides developing new vehicles, an automotive engineer may also modify existing models, which requires them to study the market and consumers' feedback, identify the strengths and weaknesses of existing systems, and coordinate upgrades.
A service engineer is responsible for assisting the customers' concerns regarding the products and services offered by the company through technical support solutions. Service engineers conduct preventive maintenance, upgrade systems to boost optimal performance, create product manuals, record the occurring issues, perform adjustments on the systems infrastructure, identify business opportunities to generate more revenues, and analyze current market trends to meet client demands. A service engineer must have excellent communication skills, including extensive knowledge of the technology industry and network systems.
Automotive engineers and service engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Automotive Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Average salary | $82,211 | $87,151 |
| Salary range | Between $57,000 And $118,000 | Between $62,000 And $122,000 |
| Highest paying City | Belmont, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Cal | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Hospitality | Technology |
There are a few differences between an automotive engineer and a service engineer in terms of educational background:
| Automotive Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between automotive engineers' and service engineers' demographics:
| Automotive Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 93.0% Female, 7.0% | Male, 91.8% Female, 8.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.6% Asian, 15.9% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 13.2% White, 69.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |