Contract mechanical designer vs mechanical design engineer

The differences between contract mechanical designers and mechanical 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 contract mechanical designer and a mechanical design engineer. Additionally, a mechanical design engineer has an average salary of $75,821, which is higher than the $69,294 average annual salary of a contract mechanical designer.

The top three skills for a contract mechanical designer include R, BOM and auto cad. The most important skills for a mechanical design engineer are CAD, mechanical design, and GD.

Contract mechanical designer vs mechanical design engineer overview

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Mechanical Design Engineer
Yearly salary	$69,294	$75,821
Hourly rate	$33.31	$36.45
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	72,152	120,258
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	6	6

Contract mechanical designer vs mechanical design engineer salary

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

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Mechanical Design Engineer
Average salary	$69,294	$75,821
Salary range	Between $52,000 And $91,000	Between $59,000 And $96,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Meta
Best paying industry	-	Automotive

Differences between contract mechanical designer and mechanical design engineer education

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

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Mechanical Design Engineer
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Mechanical Engineering
Most common college	Carnegie Mellon University	Michigan Technological University

Contract mechanical designer vs mechanical design engineer demographics

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

	Contract Mechanical Designer	Mechanical Design Engineer
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 92.6% Female, 7.4%	Male, 91.9% Female, 8.1%
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, 3.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 16.4% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between contract mechanical designer and mechanical design engineer 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.

Mechanical design engineer example responsibilities.

Manage installation and troubleshooting documents for ultra precision CNC grinding machines.
Manage the successful release to manufacturing of several generations of Ethernet switches.
Engineer, manage and implement configuration and installation of complex Ethernet network backbones.
Manage automation projects including purchasing, scheduling fabrication and assembly, debugging, and delivery to customer.
Provide mechanical design and sustaining engineering expertise to troubleshoot manufacturing defect trends and achieve a more robust and producible product.
Supervise product development in coherence with UL standards and manufacturers.

Contract mechanical designer vs mechanical design engineer skills

Common contract mechanical designer skills

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

Common mechanical design engineer skills

CAD, 14%
Mechanical Design, 12%
GD, 5%
Creo, 5%
FEA, 4%
UL, 3%

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Contract Mechanical Designer
Contract Mechanical Designer vs Mechanical Design Engineer

Updated January 8, 2025

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