Lead drafter vs design drafter

The differences between lead drafters and design drafters can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a lead drafter, becoming a design drafter takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a design drafter has an average salary of $50,021, which is higher than the $47,538 average annual salary of a lead drafter.

The top three skills for a lead drafter include construction drawings, autocad and engineering drawings. The most important skills for a design drafter are layout drawings, auto cad, and engineering drawings.

Lead drafter vs design drafter overview

	Lead Drafter	Design Drafter
Yearly salary	$47,538	$50,021
Hourly rate	$22.85	$24.05
Growth rate	-3%	-3%
Number of jobs	3,266	39,125
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 65%	Associate Degree, 56%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	12	4

Lead drafter vs design drafter salary

Lead drafters and design drafters have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Lead Drafter	Design Drafter
Average salary	$47,538	$50,021
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $63,000	Between $37,000 And $67,000
Highest paying City	-	Cupertino, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Apple
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between lead drafter and design drafter education

There are a few differences between a lead drafter and a design drafter in terms of educational background:

	Lead Drafter	Design Drafter
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 65%	Associate Degree, 56%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Drafting And Design
Most common college	Carnegie Mellon University	LeTourneau University

Lead drafter vs design drafter demographics

Here are the differences between lead drafters' and design drafters' demographics:

	Lead Drafter	Design Drafter
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 83.6% Female, 16.4%	Male, 80.1% Female, 19.9%
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, 3.0% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 13.1% Asian, 5.7% White, 73.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between lead drafter and design drafter duties and responsibilities

Lead drafter example responsibilities.

Lead and train a drafting team in order to transfer all hand drawn layouts to a digital copy using AutoCAD.
Maintain ECO's numbers and BOM's.
Create and revise BOM's as required per drawings and specifications.
Program and operate CNC routers, including maintenance and general care of the machine.
Design with sheet metal, aluminum, and parts to be mill by a CNC machine.
Provide support regarding AutoCAD operation.

Design drafter example responsibilities.

Manage the ECN process by assigning the highest priority requests through coordination between engineering staff and drafting personnel.
Use Windchill for file management.
Develop pattern REVIT families for retail fixture manufactures.
Assist with implementation of Revit as main drawing application.
Draft and design mechanical and electrical windows for aircraft and yachts.
Work on plant location to sketch isometric drawings used for pressure analysis.

Lead drafter vs design drafter skills

Common lead drafter skills

Construction Drawings, 18%
Autocad, 18%
Engineering Drawings, 16%
Aided Design, 14%
Product Line, 10%
CAD Tech, 3%

Common design drafter skills

Layout Drawings, 10%
Auto CAD, 6%
Engineering Drawings, 5%
Aided Design, 5%
Assembly Drawings, 5%
Revit, 4%