Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between laser engineers and product design engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a laser engineer, becoming a product design engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a product design engineer has an average salary of $94,827, which is higher than the $85,319 average annual salary of a laser engineer.
The top three skills for a laser engineer include MATLAB, data collection and labview. The most important skills for a product design engineer are CAD, mechanical design, and GD.
| Laser Engineer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $85,319 | $94,827 |
| Hourly rate | $41.02 | $45.59 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 4,901 | 170,485 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
A laser engineer is one who specializes in making and developing laser devices or machines that is for laser purposes. They supervises the laser team in operating and ensuring that all laser-related equipment is functioning well. They can also specialize in doing advanced optics or optic devices. Their responsibilities include the regular monitoring and optimization of laser outputs as well as finding out a reasonable solution on how to handles laser issues that will be arising.
A Product Design Engineer designs new products that customers will want to purchase. They are responsible for designing, modeling, and testing prototypes for products.
Laser engineers and product design engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Laser Engineer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Average salary | $85,319 | $94,827 |
| Salary range | Between $62,000 And $116,000 | Between $69,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | Redwood City, CA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Booz Allen Hamilton | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a laser engineer and a product design engineer in terms of educational background:
| Laser Engineer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Most common major | Physics | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between laser engineers' and product design engineers' demographics:
| Laser Engineer | Product Design Engineer | |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 94.8% Female, 5.2% | Male, 90.9% Female, 9.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 10.5% Asian, 18.0% White, 62.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 16.2% White, 67.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |