Draftsman/designer vs senior designer

The differences between draftsman/designers and senior designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a draftsman/designer and a senior designer. Additionally, a senior designer has an average salary of $102,058, which is higher than the $52,529 average annual salary of a draftsman/designer.

The top three skills for a draftsman/designer include design layouts, solidworks and shop drawings. The most important skills for a senior designer are sketch, graphic design, and human centered design.

Draftsman/designer vs senior designer overview

	Draftsman/Designer	Senior Designer
Yearly salary	$52,529	$102,058
Hourly rate	$25.25	$49.07
Growth rate	-3%	3%
Number of jobs	47,341	47,503
Job satisfaction	-	1
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age	45	38
Years of experience	12	12

Draftsman/designer vs senior designer salary

Draftsman/designers and senior designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Draftsman/Designer	Senior Designer
Average salary	$52,529	$102,058
Salary range	Between $30,000 And $89,000	Between $72,000 And $143,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	Washington
Best paying company	TalentBurst	Lyft
Best paying industry	Technology	Media

Differences between draftsman/designer and senior designer education

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

	Draftsman/Designer	Senior Designer
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 51%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Graphic Design
Most common college	Carnegie Mellon University	University of Pennsylvania

Draftsman/designer vs senior designer demographics

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

	Draftsman/Designer	Senior Designer
Average age	45	38
Gender ratio	Male, 92.2% Female, 7.8%	Male, 71.0% Female, 29.0%
Race ratio	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%	Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	6%	13%

Differences between draftsman/designer and senior designer duties and responsibilities

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.

Senior designer example responsibilities.

Identify, plan and lead brainstorming sessions for new blue-sky product opportunities across all boys' lines.
Design all marketing collateral within those standards including flyers, ads, conference materials, brochures, and design mailed pieces.
Implement HTML and CSS tags.
Format designs and media for use in print and web applications; deliver production-ready graphics in HTML and CSS.
Design and production of marketing materials, PowerPoint templates for pitch decks, event graphics, various collateral and HTML e-mails.
Lead the team in brainstorming sessions and assist with market research and testing.

Draftsman/designer vs senior designer skills

Common draftsman/designer skills

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

Common senior designer skills

Sketch, 15%
Graphic Design, 5%
Human Centered Design, 4%
User Experience, 4%
UI, 4%
CAD, 4%