Contract mechanical designer vs design drafter

The differences between contract mechanical designers and design drafters can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a contract mechanical designer, becoming a design drafter takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a contract mechanical designer has an average salary of $69,294, which is higher than the $50,021 average annual salary of a design drafter.

The top three skills for a contract mechanical designer include R, BOM and auto cad. The most important skills for a design drafter are layout drawings, auto cad, and engineering drawings.

Contract mechanical designer vs design drafter overview

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Design Drafter
Yearly salary	$69,294	$50,021
Hourly rate	$33.31	$24.05
Growth rate	2%	-3%
Number of jobs	72,152	39,125
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 49%	Associate Degree, 56%
Average age	41	45
Years of experience	6	4

Contract mechanical designer vs design drafter salary

Contract mechanical designers and design drafters have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Design Drafter
Average salary	$69,294	$50,021
Salary range	Between $52,000 And $91,000	Between $37,000 And $67,000
Highest paying City	-	Cupertino, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Apple
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between contract mechanical designer and design drafter education

There are a few differences between a contract mechanical designer and a design drafter in terms of educational background:

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Design Drafter
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 49%	Associate Degree, 56%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Drafting And Design
Most common college	Carnegie Mellon University	LeTourneau University

Contract mechanical designer vs design drafter demographics

Here are the differences between contract mechanical designers' and design drafters' demographics:

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Design Drafter
Average age	41	45
Gender ratio	Male, 92.6% Female, 7.4%	Male, 80.1% Female, 19.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 10.2% White, 71.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 13.1% Asian, 5.7% White, 73.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	5%	6%

Differences between contract mechanical designer and design drafter duties and responsibilities

Contract mechanical designer example responsibilities.

Work with JPL / NASA packaging and fabrication engineering leads (on-site).
Correspond with various vendors to select proper HVAC equipment.
Develop detail drawings, mechanize animations, bill of materials, ECO, and ECR's.
Generate ECO to update part specification in accordance with manufacturing requirements.
Create designs and documentation to facilitate manufacture of products including drawings, BOM and material specifications.
Design and automate electro-mechanical machinery to customer specifications.

Design drafter example responsibilities.

Manage the ECN process by assigning the highest priority requests through coordination between engineering staff and drafting personnel.
Use Windchill for file management.
Develop pattern REVIT families for retail fixture manufactures.
Assist with implementation of Revit as main drawing application.
Draft and design mechanical and electrical windows for aircraft and yachts.
Work on plant location to sketch isometric drawings used for pressure analysis.

Contract mechanical designer vs design drafter skills

Common contract mechanical designer skills

R, 9%
BOM, 8%
Auto CAD, 7%
Mechanical Design, 6%
Layout Drawings, 6%
Product Development, 5%

Common design drafter skills

Layout Drawings, 10%
Auto CAD, 6%
Engineering Drawings, 5%
Aided Design, 5%
Assembly Drawings, 5%
Revit, 4%

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Contract Mechanical Designer
Contract Mechanical Designer vs Design Drafter

Updated January 8, 2025

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