How To Become A Contract Mechanical Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a contract mechanical engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Marco Schoen Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a contract mechanical engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $40.51 an hour? That's $84,269 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 6,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a contract mechanical engineer?

Marco Schoen Ph.D.

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Director of the Measurement and Control Engineering Research Center (MCERC), Idaho State University

Stay current. Engineering evolves continuously; new tools, new technologies, and new areas where engineers can contribute, learn, and work. When graduating, students have the feeling they are set for their careers. However, this is not true; they might be set to start their careers. To be consistently successful in their pages, they need to stay informed and updated.

ScoreContract Mechanical EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.6

Avg. Salary $84,269

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.4

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.11%

Asian 13.87%

Black or African American 3.34%

Hispanic or Latino 9.03%

Unknown 4.58%

White 69.09%

Gender

female 8.52%

male 91.48%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a contract mechanical engineer

Explore contract mechanical engineer education requirements

Most common contract mechanical engineer degrees

Bachelor's

80.5 %

Master's

10.3 %

Associate

7.3 %

Start to develop specific contract mechanical engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Solidworks	16.11%
Assembly Drawings	6.28%
Autocad	5.58%
Prototype	4.38%
FEA	4.23%

Complete relevant contract mechanical engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New contract mechanical engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a contract mechanical engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real contract mechanical engineer resumes.

Research contract mechanical engineer duties and responsibilities

Provide mechanical design and sustaining engineering expertise to troubleshoot manufacturing defect trends and achieve a more robust and producible product.
Document as built drawing ECN's, ECO's, & ECR's into archive files.
Utilize SolidWorks and FEA analysis, and classical analysis to develop products.
Design of plastic injection & sheet metal components, perform FEA's and other design relate functions.

Prepare your contract mechanical engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your contract mechanical engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a contract mechanical engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable contract mechanical engineer resume templates

Build a professional contract mechanical engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your contract mechanical engineer resume.