Mechanical contractor vs staff engineer

The differences between mechanical contractors and staff engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a mechanical contractor and a staff engineer. Additionally, a staff engineer has an average salary of $107,530, which is higher than the $72,882 average annual salary of a mechanical contractor.

The top three skills for a mechanical contractor include plumbing, CAD and preventive maintenance. The most important skills for a staff engineer are java, python, and architecture.

Mechanical contractor vs staff engineer overview

	Mechanical Contractor	Staff Engineer
Yearly salary	$72,882	$107,530
Hourly rate	$35.04	$51.70
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	28,897	277,011
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	6	6

Mechanical contractor vs staff engineer salary

Mechanical contractors and staff engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Mechanical Contractor	Staff Engineer
Average salary	$72,882	$107,530
Salary range	Between $53,000 And $100,000	Between $69,000 And $167,000
Highest paying City	-	San Mateo, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Flexport
Best paying industry	-	Telecommunication

Differences between mechanical contractor and staff engineer education

There are a few differences between a mechanical contractor and a staff engineer in terms of educational background:

	Mechanical Contractor	Staff Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 43%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Most common major	Mechanical Engineering	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Michigan Technological University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mechanical contractor vs staff engineer demographics

Here are the differences between mechanical contractors' and staff engineers' demographics:

	Mechanical Contractor	Staff Engineer
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 90.3% Female, 9.7%	Male, 87.9% Female, 12.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 10.3% White, 72.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 16.8% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between mechanical contractor and staff engineer duties and responsibilities

Mechanical contractor example responsibilities.

Lead all CFD and FEA (shock and vibration) efforts, including product-performance optimization and impact of DFMA.
Lead weekly toolbox safety meetings, and monitor work to ensure full compliance with OSHA / HAZWHOPPER compliance requirements.
Manage paperwork associate with HVAC procedures.
Perform service calls on all types of heating and a/c equipment.
Service A/C units up to 40 ton.
Install 2 to 4 PVC and CPVC piping for wastes off of equipment.

Staff engineer example responsibilities.

Manage complete design flow: schematic creation, layout design, PCB fabrication, parts procurement and assembly.
Develop and manage technical procedures for quality control to comply with ISO laboratory accreditation.
Implement a process for reusing SilverStream Java custom reports and UI code on a ColdFusion server saving 1.5 man-years of development.
Develop and document communication stack API, enabling parallel development of third-party stack and UI interface.
Participate in relocating network infrastructure, server farm, network monitoring and IP telephony to another data center.
Web pages contain HTML and JavaScript.

Mechanical contractor vs staff engineer skills

Common mechanical contractor skills

Plumbing, 14%
CAD, 9%
Preventive Maintenance, 8%
Mechanical Systems, 7%
Ice Machines, 4%
Heat Pumps, 4%

Common staff engineer skills

Java, 15%
Python, 10%
Architecture, 7%
Software Development, 4%
Project Management, 4%
API, 3%