Design drafter vs draftsman/designer

The differences between design drafters and draftsman/designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a design drafter, becoming a draftsman/designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a draftsman/designer has an average salary of $52,529, which is higher than the $50,021 average annual salary of a design drafter.

The top three skills for a design drafter include layout drawings, auto cad and engineering drawings. The most important skills for a draftsman/designer are design layouts, solidworks, and shop drawings.

Design drafter vs draftsman/designer overview

	Design Drafter	Draftsman/Designer
Yearly salary	$50,021	$52,529
Hourly rate	$24.05	$25.25
Growth rate	-3%	-3%
Number of jobs	39,125	47,341
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 56%	Associate Degree, 51%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	4	12

Design drafter vs draftsman/designer salary

Design drafters and draftsman/designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Design Drafter	Draftsman/Designer
Average salary	$50,021	$52,529
Salary range	Between $37,000 And $67,000	Between $30,000 And $89,000
Highest paying City	Cupertino, CA	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	California	New Jersey
Best paying company	Apple	TalentBurst
Best paying industry	Finance	Technology

Differences between design drafter and draftsman/designer education

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

	Design Drafter	Draftsman/Designer
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 56%	Associate Degree, 51%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Drafting And Design
Most common college	LeTourneau University	Carnegie Mellon University

Design drafter vs draftsman/designer demographics

Here are the differences between design drafters' and draftsman/designers' demographics:

	Design Drafter	Draftsman/Designer
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 80.1% Female, 19.9%	Male, 92.2% Female, 7.8%
Race ratio	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%	Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 11.7% Asian, 7.0% White, 72.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between design drafter and draftsman/designer duties and responsibilities

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.

Draftsman/designer example responsibilities.

Manage and supervise other draftsmen.
Assist with structural steel detailing, machine design, CNC graphics and ceramics machine design projects.
Detail preliminary design drawings to create BOM's, production use shop layouts, and specific details.
Travele to various work sites to dimension and sketch details of the projects.
Develop and maintain current Revit templates for consistency and overall visual quality of projects.
Design and draft building components from red lines create by MEP engineers with revit software.

Design drafter vs draftsman/designer skills

Common design drafter skills

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

Common draftsman/designer skills

Design Layouts, 16%
Solidworks, 10%
Shop Drawings, 5%
R, 4%
HVAC, 4%
Customer Specifications, 3%