Mechanical design technician vs design drafter

The differences between mechanical design technicians and design drafters can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a mechanical design technician, becoming a design drafter takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a mechanical design technician has an average salary of $60,714, which is higher than the $50,021 average annual salary of a design drafter.

The top three skills for a mechanical design technician include CAD, revit and fire protection. The most important skills for a design drafter are layout drawings, auto cad, and engineering drawings.

Mechanical design technician vs design drafter overview

	Mechanical Design Technician	Design Drafter
Yearly salary	$60,714	$50,021
Hourly rate	$29.19	$24.05
Growth rate	2%	-3%
Number of jobs	62,685	39,125
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 59%	Associate Degree, 56%
Average age	41	45
Years of experience	6	4

Mechanical design technician vs design drafter salary

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

	Mechanical Design Technician	Design Drafter
Average salary	$60,714	$50,021
Salary range	Between $47,000 And $77,000	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 mechanical design technician and design drafter education

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

	Mechanical Design Technician	Design Drafter
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 59%	Associate Degree, 56%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Drafting And Design
Most common college	Northwestern University	LeTourneau University

Mechanical design technician vs design drafter demographics

Here are the differences between mechanical design technicians' and design drafters' demographics:

	Mechanical Design Technician	Design Drafter
Average age	41	45
Gender ratio	Male, 89.3% Female, 10.7%	Male, 80.1% Female, 19.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 10.4% White, 72.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	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	5%	6%

Differences between mechanical design technician and design drafter duties and responsibilities

Mechanical design technician example responsibilities.

Provide mechanical design and sustaining engineering expertise to troubleshoot manufacturing defect trends and achieve a more robust and producible product.
Design and model changes to drawings for support of fabrication and installation of HVAC, plumbing and major commercial/industrial/residential pipe systems.
Engineer air-conditioning, heating, refrigeration, plumbing, and electrical power supply for renovate building spaces.
Convert and clean-up architectural background drawings and establish mechanical and plumbing drawings.
Create BOM for the lines; compose design documentation utilizing technical drawings and engineering specifications.
Design and manufacture documentation for custom smart power distribution products including customer specifications and vendor BOM's.

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.

Mechanical design technician vs design drafter skills

Common mechanical design technician skills

CAD, 17%
Revit, 10%
Fire Protection, 9%
Solidworks, 8%
Assembly Drawings, 6%
BIM, 6%

Common design drafter skills

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

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Mechanical Design Technician
Mechanical Design Technician vs Design Drafter

Updated January 8, 2025

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