A junior engineer is a trained engineering professional who works under the direct supervision of an engineer. The role is usually an entry-level position meant to equip the engineer with the necessary skills and experience to enable him/her to execute his/her /her duties successfully and professionally. Junior engineers are present in all engineering subsections, including civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, etc.

Under the senior engineer's supervision, a junior engineer's duties include developing project drawings, reviewing project plans and budgets, assisting in getting the required approvals, and delivering progress reports. A junior engineer spends half of the time working in the office and half of the time in the field.

A junior engineer typically works 40 hours a week, although you might be required to go beyond this due to the field's time. Also, tight project delivery deadlines might force a junior engineer to work extra hours.

What Does a Junior Engineer Do

There are certain skills that many junior engineers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed creativity, listening skills and problem-solving skills.

Learn more about what a Junior Engineer does

How To Become a Junior Engineer

If you're interested in becoming a junior engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 70.3% of junior engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 9.7% of junior engineers have master's degrees. Even though most junior engineers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Junior Engineer

Junior Engineer Career Paths

Average Salary for a Junior Engineer

Junior Engineers in America make an average salary of $70,653 per year or $34 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $91,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $54,000 per year.
Average Junior Engineer Salary
$70,653 Yearly
$33.97 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Junior Engineer

The role of a junior engineer includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general junior engineer responsibilities:

  • Developing a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with the business stakeholders
  • Project assignment involves working in a team environment to provide on-site construction management on behalf of the of client for a complex construction/renovation project washington, dc. Primary duties include preparation
  • Supporting macd (moves, adds, changes, and deletes) for our client's hosted collaboration system. This includes both systematic changes as well as physical moves. Partner with it staff at client locations to coordinate seamless support of desktop service. Candidates must be able to effectively work in a team environment

There are several types of junior engineer, including:

Engineer

Role:

Engineers design and develop new products in a variety of different industries. They might be mechanical or software engineers or create electric machinery, design chemical or geotechnical processes, or help to structure civil or management disciplines. Whatever the case may be, engineers are involved in creating the diverse technologies that facilitate the processes of our lives in different areas. Combining creative thinking with the principles of mathematics and science using a wide range of technical skills, engineers work on the design, manufacturing, installation, and maintenance of various products from machines, vehicles, buildings, and roads to software or social processes serving consumers, businesses, and societies.

Engineers are creative thinkers and brilliant problem solvers. They excel at mathematical, scientific, and mechanical analysis. They follow plans and blueprints with a strong focus, yet remain flexible and work well under pressure.

Engineers develop systems for solving various problems as members of a team. They know that a single component is worthless without their counterparts, so they have to be great communicators, as well, to be successful at their job.

  • Average Salary: $92,077
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Project Engineer

Role:

A project engineer is responsible for the planning and implementation of a project. In collaboration with the management of the enterprise, they review proposals and come up with project goals. They break down the process and create a viable schedule, and then coordinate and monitor the work.

The project, as such, sounds vague because it depends on the industry they work for. In any case, they go on regular meetings with clients to make sure the the evolution of the work matches their vision. It is their responsibility to carry out the work within the budget or to propose adjustments to it if they see fit.

The project engineer will analyze the performance of their team and present progress reports to stakeholders to make sure everyone is at the top of their game.

  • Average Salary: $75,050
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Design Engineer

Role:

Do you love technical work and want to pursue your creative side at the same time? Maybe now's the time to take your sketch pads out of your shoebox and see those designs come to life. If you feel excited, guess you're on track to being a design engineer in the future.

A design engineer sounds fun, if you love research and innovation. I mean, who wouldn't want to see their discoveries and projects come alive, right? Recognition is another thing, but self-accomplishment matters the most. Apart from that, design engineers build their careers around traveling (no, not a vacation, though), interacting with people, and more... more technical duties. They are computer-savvy humans who would throw a fit over a system crash and computer virus (Like, who doesn't?). Their schedules are, well, usually messed-up. They work like regular employees during weekdays but could go over weekends and holidays as their job requires. So if you're planning to have a coffee date with a design engineer, just don't expect too much as they may meet a client in that coffee shop, too.

Generally, this job sounds fun, regardless of the pile of work and deadlines that have to be done. If you're someone who's always up for new things and discoveries, this might be the sign you're waiting for.

  • Average Salary: $77,134
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Junior Engineer Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active junior engineer jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where junior engineers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Junior Engineer Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California7,103$87,376
2Texas2,990$70,513
3Virginia2,294$73,905
4New York1,961$72,962
5Florida1,838$62,813
6Illinois1,566$70,204
7Massachusetts1,514$82,677
8Maryland1,493$71,819
9Washington1,480$89,292
10Pennsylvania1,341$67,341
11Michigan1,264$71,510
12North Carolina1,263$63,551
13Ohio1,243$64,889
14Georgia1,167$67,296
15Colorado1,122$73,226
16Arizona983$73,696
17Minnesota911$62,365
18Oregon901$75,128
19New Jersey890$75,524
20Indiana730$63,797
21Utah655$61,483
22Alabama596$67,513
23Wisconsin595$60,683
24Missouri570$60,985
25Tennessee502$67,651
26Connecticut490$70,870
27South Carolina440$58,693
28Iowa410$62,341
29Kansas328$60,427
30Kentucky306$58,756
31Louisiana262$69,613
32Nevada261$70,097
33Oklahoma246$62,331
34New Mexico243$73,305
35New Hampshire243$67,445
36Nebraska236$63,164
37Delaware230$67,450
38Idaho220$66,640
39Arkansas219$54,683
40Rhode Island158$68,219
41Mississippi138$57,023
42Montana135$59,514
43Vermont126$69,952
44West Virginia125$79,203
45Maine125$74,264
46Hawaii114$76,908
47North Dakota110$61,026
48Alaska95$77,494
49South Dakota88$68,586
50Wyoming74$57,168

Junior Engineer Education

Junior Engineer Majors

Junior Engineer Degrees

Bachelors

70.3 %

Masters

9.7 %

Associate

8.4 %

Top Colleges for Junior Engineers

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,832

Enrollment

4,550

2. Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GA • Private

In-State Tuition

$12,424

Enrollment

15,201

3. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

4. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$59,430

Enrollment

8,216

5. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,740

Enrollment

5,567

6. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,465

Enrollment

6,483

7. University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX • Private

In-State Tuition

$10,610

Enrollment

40,329

8. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

9. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI • Private

In-State Tuition

$15,262

Enrollment

30,079

10. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

Top Skills For a Junior Engineer

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 11.1% of junior engineers listed control systems on their resume, but soft skills such as creativity and listening skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Junior Engineer Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Junior Engineer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Junior Engineer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Junior Engineer diversity

Junior Engineer Gender Distribution

Male
Male
83%
Female
Female
17%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among junior engineers, 16.6% of them are women, while 83.4% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among junior engineers is White, which makes up 67.8% of all junior engineers.

  • The most common foreign language among junior engineers is Spanish at 36.5%.

Online Courses For Junior Engineer That You May Like

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1. Data Engineering Capstone Project

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In this course you will apply a variety of data engineering skills and techniques you have learned as part of the previous courses in the IBM Data Engineering Professional Certificate. You will assume the role of a Junior Data Engineer who has recently joined the organization and be presented with a real-world use case that requires a data engineering solution...

2. Introduction to Data Engineering

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This course introduces you to the core concepts, processes, and tools you need to know in order to get a foundational knowledge of data engineering. You will gain an understanding of the modern data ecosystem and the role Data Engineers, Data Scientists, and Data Analysts play in this ecosystem. The Data Engineering Ecosystem includes several different components. It includes disparate data types, formats, and sources of data. Data Pipelines gather data from multiple sources, transform it into...

3. Data Engineering Essentials using SQL, Python, and PySpark

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Learn key Data Engineering Skills such as SQL, Python, Apache Spark (Spark SQL and Pyspark) with Exercises and Projects...

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Best States For a Junior Engineer

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a junior engineer. The best states for people in this position are Washington, California, Massachusetts, and West Virginia. Junior engineers make the most in Washington with an average salary of $89,292. Whereas in California and Massachusetts, they would average $87,376 and $82,677, respectively. While junior engineers would only make an average of $79,203 in West Virginia, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Washington

Total Junior Engineer Jobs: 1,480
Highest 10% Earn:
$119,000
Location Quotient:
1.35

2. California

Total Junior Engineer Jobs: 7,103
Highest 10% Earn:
$121,000
Location Quotient:
1.62

3. Massachusetts

Total Junior Engineer Jobs: 1,514
Highest 10% Earn:
$108,000
Location Quotient:
1.1
Full List Of Best States For Junior Engineers

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Top Junior Engineer Employers

Most Common Employers For Junior Engineer

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1IBM$85,847$41.2711
2General Electric$76,355$36.715
3Raytheon Technologies$75,900$36.495
4Fidessa$74,990$36.0513
5Larsen & Toubro Infotech Limited Inc$70,998$34.137
6Modal$70,994$34.135
7Elecon Engineering$70,908$34.095
8Siemens$70,734$34.019
9Punj Lloyd Limited$70,650$33.975
10Niagara Bottling$70,451$33.876

Junior Engineer Videos

Becoming a Junior Engineer FAQs

How Can I Become A Successful Junior Engineer?

You can become a successful junior engineer by planning early. First, decide on which field of engineering is of most interest to you. There are over 30 specialized engineering majors. Not all schools have the same offerings.

How Long Does It Take To Become A Junior Engineer?

It can take 3 to 5 years of college or university to become a junior engineer. Junior engineers are entry-level positions that provide support to their supervisors.

There are many subsets in the field of engineering, and requirements differ for each:

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