Circuit designer vs controls engineer

The differences between circuit designers and controls engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a circuit designer and a controls engineer. Additionally, a circuit designer has an average salary of $105,618, which is higher than the $84,532 average annual salary of a controls engineer.

The top three skills for a circuit designer include cadence, analog and RF. The most important skills for a controls engineer are C++, troubleshoot, and UL.

Circuit designer vs controls engineer overview

	Circuit Designer	Controls Engineer
Yearly salary	$105,618	$84,532
Hourly rate	$50.78	$40.64
Growth rate	3%	3%
Number of jobs	44,611	50,203
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	6	6

Circuit designer vs controls engineer salary

Circuit designers and controls engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Circuit Designer	Controls Engineer
Average salary	$105,618	$84,532
Salary range	Between $79,000 And $139,000	Between $64,000 And $111,000
Highest paying City	Mountain View, CA	Palo Alto, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Apple	Apple
Best paying industry	Manufacturing	Automotive

Differences between circuit designer and controls engineer education

There are a few differences between a circuit designer and a controls engineer in terms of educational background:

	Circuit Designer	Controls Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Stanford University	Georgia Institute of Technology

Circuit designer vs controls engineer demographics

Here are the differences between circuit designers' and controls engineers' demographics:

	Circuit Designer	Controls Engineer
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 66.9% Female, 33.1%	Male, 90.8% Female, 9.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.4% Asian, 16.6% White, 62.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 14.5% White, 64.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between circuit designer and controls engineer duties and responsibilities

Circuit designer example responsibilities.

Manage and assign company facilities and assets through the use of: circuit reports, manual logs and PC generate reports.
Configure, document, and support routers, switches, and VPN.
Used handheld computers and pressure gauges.
Test and measurement of various RF circuits.
Develop schematic & PCB footprints for component library.
Transition to in-circuit testing of complete circuit boards.

Controls engineer example responsibilities.

Lead team to upgrade new syringe lines to current OSHA and NFPA safety standards.
Lead a team of 12 programmers to validate a common library of 70 DeltaV modules.
Promote to manage the advanced process control (APC) program, responsible for the generation of $30MM per year.
Establish communication links and prepare machines for bench-testing to attain UL certification.
Design electrical controls using Allen-Bradley PLC for automatic filling of emergency breathing air bottles.
Complete system design, installation, troubleshooting and technical support of PC and PLC control automated and robotic manufacturing equipment.

Circuit designer vs controls engineer skills

Common circuit designer skills

Cadence, 11%
Analog, 10%
RF, 7%
MATLAB, 7%
IP, 6%
CMOS, 5%

Common controls engineer skills

C++, 8%
Troubleshoot, 6%
UL, 5%
Hmi Programming, 4%
MATLAB, 4%
Simulink, 4%