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Draftsman/designer vs structural designer

The differences between draftsman/designers and structural designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a draftsman/designer, becoming a structural designer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a structural designer has an average salary of $63,273, 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 structural designer are revit, structural design, and BIM.

Draftsman/designer vs structural designer overview

Draftsman/DesignerStructural Designer
Yearly salary$52,529$63,273
Hourly rate$25.25$30.42
Growth rate-3%7%
Number of jobs47,34151,432
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 51%Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Average age4541
Years of experience126

Draftsman/designer vs structural designer salary

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

Draftsman/DesignerStructural Designer
Average salary$52,529$63,273
Salary rangeBetween $30,000 And $89,000Between $47,000 And $84,000
Highest paying CityWashington, DCSan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateNew JerseyCalifornia
Best paying companyTalentBurstTesla
Best paying industryTechnologyConstruction

Differences between draftsman/designer and structural designer education

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

Draftsman/DesignerStructural Designer
Most common degreeAssociate Degree, 51%Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Most common majorDrafting And DesignDrafting And Design
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University

Draftsman/designer vs structural designer demographics

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

Draftsman/DesignerStructural Designer
Average age4541
Gender ratioMale, 92.2% Female, 7.8%Male, 87.4% Female, 12.6%
Race ratioBlack 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, 4.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.7% Asian, 12.8% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage6%5%

Differences between draftsman/designer and structural 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.
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Structural designer example responsibilities.

  • Field route pipe systems; manage line and pipe support list; ISO s for fabrication / installation.
  • Assure compliance with refinery and OSHA safety requirements in selecting, locating and hookup of equipment.
  • Develop record system, QA & QC policies and procedures, peer review system to reduce installation errors.
  • Provide general arrangement, detail, and design drawings of ladders, platforms, and frame structure for the following projects.
  • Prepare AutoCAD engineering drawings of structural components for natural gas turbine compressor stations.
  • Programme PLC, VFD and SCADA equipment.
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Draftsman/designer vs structural designer skills

Common draftsman/designer skills
  • Design Layouts, 16%
  • Solidworks, 10%
  • Shop Drawings, 5%
  • R, 4%
  • HVAC, 4%
  • Customer Specifications, 3%
Common structural designer skills
  • Revit, 14%
  • Structural Design, 10%
  • BIM, 5%
  • Navisworks, 5%
  • Ladders, 4%
  • Engineering Design, 4%

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