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Civil designer vs designer

The differences between civil 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 a civil designer, becoming a designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a designer has an average salary of $66,347, which is higher than the $58,421 average annual salary of a civil designer.

The top three skills for a civil designer include civil 3d, autocad and civil engineering. The most important skills for a designer are sketch, customer service, and graphic design.

Civil designer vs designer overview

Civil DesignerDesigner
Yearly salary$58,421$66,347
Hourly rate$28.09$31.90
Growth rate7%3%
Number of jobs57,03652,433
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 44%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age4138
Years of experience612

What does a civil designer do?

A Civil Designer plans, scales, and drafts drawings and maps for roads, bridges, and other construction projects. They work with engineers and project managers in determining material, labor, and other costs of the assigned projects.

What does a designer do?

A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences. Designers are creative thinkers with a great eye to configure the skeletal and structural properties of the targeted output. They work in several fields, such as fashion, architecture, web graphics, and user experience. In spite of the variety of professionals in the design industry, all of them are artistic, passionate, inspiring, and emotionally connected to their projects and brands.

Civil designer vs designer salary

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

Civil DesignerDesigner
Average salary$58,421$66,347
Salary rangeBetween $41,000 And $81,000Between $45,000 And $97,000
Highest paying CityWalnut Creek, CASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaWashington
Best paying companyParsonsMeta
Best paying industryConstructionTechnology

Differences between civil designer and designer education

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

Civil DesignerDesigner
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 44%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common majorDrafting And DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Civil designer vs designer demographics

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

Civil DesignerDesigner
Average age4138
Gender ratioMale, 82.9% Female, 17.1%Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.1% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.1% Asian, 11.2% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%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 Percentage5%13%

Differences between civil designer and designer duties and responsibilities

Civil designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage production of full sets of contract documents (grading, drainage, water, sewer, paving and SWPPP).
  • Create and revise detail drawings (MEP).
  • Deliver as-built MEP schematics and structural details.
  • Perform the analysis of guy communication towers using CSA-S37/01 and AISC manual guidelines.
  • Use Trimble GPS station to survey projects, upload data into trimble geomatics office3.
  • Direct or participate in surveying to lay out installations and establishreference points, grades and elevations to guide construction.
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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.
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Civil designer vs designer skills

Common civil designer skills
  • Civil 3D, 18%
  • Autocad, 16%
  • Civil Engineering, 8%
  • Civil Design, 4%
  • Site Design, 4%
  • GIS, 3%
Common designer skills
  • Sketch, 10%
  • Customer Service, 7%
  • Graphic Design, 6%
  • CSS, 5%
  • HTML, 4%
  • PowerPoint, 4%

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