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The differences between instructional systems designers and instructional design technologists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an instructional systems designer and an instructional design technologist. Additionally, an instructional systems designer has an average salary of $65,907, which is higher than the $64,845 average annual salary of an instructional design technologist.
The top three skills for an instructional systems designer include subject matter experts, instructional design and smes. The most important skills for an instructional design technologist are customer service, professional development, and curriculum design.
| Instructional Systems Designer | Instructional Design Technologist | |
| Yearly salary | $65,907 | $64,845 |
| Hourly rate | $31.69 | $31.18 |
| Growth rate | 7% | 7% |
| Number of jobs | 104,993 | 87,908 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 55% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
An instructional systems designer specializes in developing training solutions in adherence to the objectives of a program or project. Their responsibilities include identifying the needs of projects and programs, performing extensive research and analysis, gathering and analyzing existing systems' data to identify their strengths and weaknesses, studying feedback from various parties, and developing test structures. Moreover, an instructional systems designer must maintain an active communication line with the instructional systems team, coordinating while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.
Instructional design technologists are professionals who focus on the creation of curriculum for instruction solutions in companies. The technologists contribute to businesses' cost savings as they determine the opportunities of transferring facilitator lead training to eLearning. They create virtual assessments and offer feedback as well as recommendations to project teams. Their tasks may include collaboration with small and medium enterprises to better understand the systems and applications before documentation or training creation. Communication, people, and time management skills are necessary for this job.
Instructional systems designers and instructional design technologists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Instructional Systems Designer | Instructional Design Technologist | |
| Average salary | $65,907 | $64,845 |
| Salary range | Between $46,000 And $93,000 | Between $46,000 And $91,000 |
| Highest paying City | Baltimore, MD | Annapolis, MD |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Parsons | ServiceNow |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Health Care |
There are a few differences between an instructional systems designer and an instructional design technologist in terms of educational background:
| Instructional Systems Designer | Instructional Design Technologist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 55% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Business | English |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Harvard University |
Here are the differences between instructional systems designers' and instructional design technologists' demographics:
| Instructional Systems Designer | Instructional Design Technologist | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 64.6% Female, 35.4% | Male, 45.2% Female, 54.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.4% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 16.0% Asian, 5.3% White, 61.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 9.9% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 5.7% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 16% | 16% |