Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between lighting engineers and instrumentation engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a lighting engineer and an instrumentation engineer. Additionally, an instrumentation engineer has an average salary of $88,783, which is higher than the $85,362 average annual salary of a lighting engineer.
The top three skills for a lighting engineer include A/V, technical aspects and STARS. The most important skills for an instrumentation engineer are PLC, autocad, and analyzers.
| Lighting Engineer | Instrumentation Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $85,362 | $88,783 |
| Hourly rate | $41.04 | $42.68 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 38,070 | 45,735 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A lighting engineer oversees everything that is happening in a tv show, concert, play, or theater production. This is the person responsible for ensuring that the lighting and the visual effects are operating just right. Their skills are essential because this will set the mood for the audience with the lighting effects that they provide. Also, they monitor the work of the flight crew and technicians.
An instrumentation engineer specializes in designing and developing equipment to optimize business processes. Their responsibilities revolve around performing research and analysis to identify the needs of a company, coordinating with different departments to gather data, devising strategies to create new processes, and preparing reports and presentations for the executives. An instrumentation engineer mostly performs installations and repairs; they also conduct regular maintenance to ensure the efficiency of facilities. Furthermore, they must answer inquiries and resolve issues and concerns, all in adherence to the company's policies and regulations.
Lighting engineers and instrumentation engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Lighting Engineer | Instrumentation Engineer | |
| Average salary | $85,362 | $88,783 |
| Salary range | Between $61,000 And $117,000 | Between $65,000 And $119,000 |
| Highest paying City | Los Angeles, CA | Cupertino, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Government |
There are a few differences between a lighting engineer and an instrumentation engineer in terms of educational background:
| Lighting Engineer | Instrumentation Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northeastern University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between lighting engineers' and instrumentation engineers' demographics:
| Lighting Engineer | Instrumentation Engineer | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 93.5% Female, 6.5% | Male, 91.2% Female, 8.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 14.3% White, 64.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 15.5% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |