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The differences between chief engineers and assistant chief engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a chief engineer, becoming an assistant chief engineer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a chief engineer has an average salary of $108,050, which is higher than the $93,642 average annual salary of an assistant chief engineer.
The top three skills for a chief engineer include HVAC, plumbing and customer service. The most important skills for an assistant chief engineer are HVAC, plumbing, and customer service.
| Chief Engineer | Assistant Chief Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $108,050 | $93,642 |
| Hourly rate | $51.95 | $45.02 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 88,473 | 15,988 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 37% |
| Average age | 41 | 49 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
A chief engineer is responsible for monitoring the engineering department's overall operations, ensuring performance efficiency, and everyone's strict compliance with the safety standards and regulatory procedures. Chief engineers manage the distribution of the tasks to the team, communicate with the clients and management for instructions and specifications, monitor expenses and forecast sales reports, analyze and approve designs, negotiate contracts, and process disputes. A chief engineer must have excellent knowledge of the engineering disciplines and exemplary leadership skills to handle the team's performance towards the company's objectives.
The assistant chief engineer works under the direct supervision of the chief engineer. Most of the chief engineer's responsibilities are given to the assistant, such as delegating employees for different tasks, inspect plans and blueprints, conduct determinations of various engineering projects, and provide reports and status updates of each. An assistant chief engineer's job is vital for any engineering project, and high organizational skills are required. Alongside this, the assistant must have competent knowledge in all relevant fields of engineering.
Chief engineers and assistant chief engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Chief Engineer | Assistant Chief Engineer | |
| Average salary | $108,050 | $93,642 |
| Salary range | Between $65,000 And $177,000 | Between $63,000 And $139,000 |
| Highest paying City | Palo Alto, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | BGC Partners | BGC Partners |
| Best paying industry | Transportation | Technology |
There are a few differences between a chief engineer and an assistant chief engineer in terms of educational background:
| Chief Engineer | Assistant Chief Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 37% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Michigan Technological University | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred |
Here are the differences between chief engineers' and assistant chief engineers' demographics:
| Chief Engineer | Assistant Chief Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 96.2% Female, 3.8% | Male, 96.0% Female, 4.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 10.2% White, 71.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 8.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 15.6% Asian, 2.1% White, 68.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 4% |