Post job

Contract mechanical designer vs product designer

The differences between contract mechanical designers and product 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 contract mechanical designer, becoming a product designer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a product designer has an average salary of $102,033, 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 product designer are sketch, visual design, and UI.

Contract mechanical designer vs product designer overview

Contract Mechanical DesignerProduct Designer
Yearly salary$69,294$102,033
Hourly rate$33.31$49.05
Growth rate2%3%
Number of jobs72,15298,465
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 49%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age4140
Years of experience64

Contract mechanical designer vs product designer salary

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

Contract Mechanical DesignerProduct Designer
Average salary$69,294$102,033
Salary rangeBetween $52,000 And $91,000Between $68,000 And $152,000
Highest paying City-Sacramento, CA
Highest paying state-Washington
Best paying company-Netflix
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between contract mechanical designer and product designer education

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

Contract Mechanical DesignerProduct Designer
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 49%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common majorDrafting And DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University

Contract mechanical designer vs product designer demographics

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

Contract Mechanical DesignerProduct Designer
Average age4140
Gender ratioMale, 92.6% Female, 7.4%Male, 74.2% Female, 25.8%
Race ratioBlack 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, 1.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.3% Asian, 10.1% White, 76.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage5%8%

Differences between contract mechanical designer and product designer 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.
  • Show more

Product designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage PDM system, updating technical, fit and design information.
  • Lead front-end QA of all major releases, filing, prioritizing and fixing bugs myself.
  • Manage all aspects of production including QC, packaging needs, and adherence to worldwide product standard protocols.
  • Lead FMEA (failure modes and effects analysis) team and DVP (design verification plan) prove-out for system.
  • Provide responsive html layouts using bootstrap and hand code CSS.
  • Design and develop high-fidelity user interface prototypes in HTML, JavaScript, and VBScript base on product requirements.
  • Show more

Contract mechanical designer vs product designer skills

Common contract mechanical designer skills
  • R, 9%
  • BOM, 8%
  • Auto CAD, 7%
  • Mechanical Design, 6%
  • Layout Drawings, 6%
  • Product Development, 5%
Common product designer skills
  • Sketch, 23%
  • Visual Design, 7%
  • UI, 7%
  • User Research, 6%
  • User Experience, 6%
  • Interaction Design, 5%

Browse architecture and engineering jobs