How To Become A Design Checker: What It Is and Career Path

What is a design checker and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Design Checkers assist engineers in their design work and oversee design parameters, standards, codes, and industry practices. They review drawings, blueprints, and designs for the designated project, checking for deficiencies and correcting any visible mistakes. Design Checkers must possess at least a basic understanding of engineering, design, or drafting to fulfill their responsibilities. They must also be able to work in a team and communicate efficiently with their team members.

Most employers require their Deputy Project Managers to have a college diploma. Degrees in Drafting and Design, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering are among the most sought after and the most commonly held by American Design Checkers in the current workforce.

A Design Checker in the United States earns an average yearly salary of roughly about $116,864. That's more or less $56 an hour. There are plenty of career advancement opportunities in the field, with many Design Checkers moving up to more lucrative positions such as Senior Designer, Project Manager, and Engineering Director.

ScoreDesign CheckerUS Average

Salary

5.9

Avg. Salary $75,126

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.3

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.16%

Asian 5.73%

Black or African American 3.03%

Hispanic or Latino 13.06%

Unknown 4.14%

White 73.89%

Gender

female 7.91%

male 92.09%

Age - 45

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 - 45

Stress level

5.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.2

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.7

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a design checker

Explore design checker education requirements

Most common design checker degrees

Associate

51.4 %

Bachelor's

27.8 %

High School Diploma

10.2 %

Start to develop specific design checker skills

Skills	Percentages
GD	10.62%
Engineering Drawings	10.46%
Creo	9.53%
Aided Design	6.96%
Engineering Design	6.37%

Complete relevant design checker training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New design checkers 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 design checker based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real design checker resumes.

Research design checker duties and responsibilities

Manage and execute all aspects of tool design processes, development along with the build follow-up and delivery sign-off with customers.
Develop custom macros for SolidWorks to automate many redundant processes.
Verify PCB master drawing, schematics, and assembly drawings for accuracy and completeness.
Work with ASME, ANSI, JIS and PED standards.

Get design checker experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a design checker. The most common roles before becoming a design checker include designer, piping designer team lead and senior piping designer.

Prepare your design checker resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your design checker 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 design checker resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable design checker resume templates

Build a professional design checker 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 design checker resume.