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The differences between communications engineers and staff design 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 communications engineer and a staff design engineer. Additionally, a staff design engineer has an average salary of $128,071, which is higher than the $83,540 average annual salary of a communications engineer.
The top three skills for a communications engineer include RF, unified communications and unity. The most important skills for a staff design engineer are architecture, RF, and CAD.
| Communications Engineer | Staff Design Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $83,540 | $128,071 |
| Hourly rate | $40.16 | $61.57 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 71,942 | 154,963 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
The duties of a communications engineer depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. Their responsibilities typically revolve around designing and developing new systems to optimize operations, performing research and assessments to identify company needs, determining the strengths and weaknesses of existing systems, and providing solutions on issues and concerns. Furthermore, as a communications engineer, it is essential to perform regular maintenance checks to ensure a safe and productive work environment, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Staff design engineers are tasked to assess the efficiency of instruments, technologies, and equipment by collaborating with the engineering team to plan, design, and develop technologies efficiently. Their responsibilities include building and setting up, as wells as improving systems and procedures. They should possess strong attention to detail, good visual and spatial awareness, creativity, problem-solving, excellent verbal, written, and project management skills, and strong mathematical and IT skills to become efficient and effective staff design engineers.
Communications engineers and staff design engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Communications Engineer | Staff Design Engineer | |
| Average salary | $83,540 | $128,071 |
| Salary range | Between $62,000 And $111,000 | Between $89,000 And $182,000 |
| Highest paying City | Palo Alto, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Shearman & Sterling | HBO |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a communications engineer and a staff design engineer in terms of educational background:
| Communications Engineer | Staff Design Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Northeastern University |
Here are the differences between communications engineers' and staff design engineers' demographics:
| Communications Engineer | Staff Design Engineer | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.7% Female, 11.3% | Male, 75.7% Female, 24.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.4% Asian, 14.4% White, 64.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 23.8% White, 57.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |