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Clinical engineer vs product development engineer

The differences between clinical engineers and product development engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a clinical engineer, becoming a product development engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a product development engineer has an average salary of $86,075, which is higher than the $75,883 average annual salary of a clinical engineer.

The top three skills for a clinical engineer include patient care, medical devices and patients. The most important skills for a product development engineer are CAD, solidworks, and product development.

Clinical engineer vs product development engineer overview

Clinical EngineerProduct Development Engineer
Yearly salary$75,883$86,075
Hourly rate$36.48$41.38
Growth rate10%2%
Number of jobs80,770202,155
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 51%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age3841
Years of experience26

What does a clinical engineer do?

A clinical engineer is responsible for designing and creating medical equipment and technology for medical procedures and examinations. Clinical engineers maintain and inspect the performance of machinery regularly to ensure the accuracy of results and prevent potential hazards. They also conduct quality control tests to locate system failures and perform immediate troubleshooting as necessary. A clinical engineer must have excellent communication and technical skills, especially in identifying the most needed equipment for treating and diagnosing patients.

What does a product development engineer do?

A Product Development Engineer is responsible for creating and testing new product designs. They collaborate with market researchers to evaluate market needs, existing competition, and potential costs.

Clinical engineer vs product development engineer salary

Clinical engineers and product development engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Clinical EngineerProduct Development Engineer
Average salary$75,883$86,075
Salary rangeBetween $55,000 And $102,000Between $64,000 And $113,000
Highest paying CityRedwood City, CASunnyvale, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyRegeneronAmazon
Best paying industryManufacturingTechnology

Differences between clinical engineer and product development engineer education

There are a few differences between a clinical engineer and a product development engineer in terms of educational background:

Clinical EngineerProduct Development Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 51%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorBiomedical EngineeringMechanical Engineering
Most common collegeMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyMichigan Technological University

Clinical engineer vs product development engineer demographics

Here are the differences between clinical engineers' and product development engineers' demographics:

Clinical EngineerProduct Development Engineer
Average age3841
Gender ratioMale, 77.3% Female, 22.7%Male, 86.8% Female, 13.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 7.0% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian, 14.1% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 16.7% White, 67.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage13%5%

Differences between clinical engineer and product development engineer duties and responsibilities

Clinical engineer example responsibilities.

  • Develop and manage in-house maintenance program utilizing a balance of OEM, third party, and in-house talent.
  • Manage Jenkins security by providing specific access to authorize developers/testers using project base matrix authorization strategy.
  • Direct support of cardiovascular unit, surgery and relate services.
  • Support all phases of software development life cycle through FDA approval & commercial launch.
  • Handle complaint reporting, return material authorizations and assure effective timescales are applied, per the FDA.
  • Plan, coordinate and complete each project on schedule and little down time to the radiology department.
  • Show more

Product development engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage design control including FMEA risk analysis, surgeon clinical input documentation, design verification and validation activities.
  • Manage project from conceptual design through final debugging and animal/clinical testing resulting in a new business unit within the company.
  • Create java test template design to vary equation specs and loop pattern bursts.
  • Develop and maintain websites in HTML, CSS and JAVA script by writing, debugging, and testing.
  • Set up, troubleshot and maintain the Linux and Unix machines used in the development, build and test of ADINA.
  • Participate in engineering DFMEA activities.
  • Show more

Clinical engineer vs product development engineer skills

Common clinical engineer skills
  • Patient Care, 11%
  • Medical Devices, 11%
  • Patients, 10%
  • FDA, 7%
  • Preventative Maintenance, 6%
  • Biomedical Equipment, 5%
Common product development engineer skills
  • CAD, 6%
  • Solidworks, 5%
  • Product Development, 5%
  • Project Management, 4%
  • Data Analysis, 4%
  • Product Design, 4%

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