Mechanical design technician vs senior mechanical designer

The differences between mechanical design technicians and senior mechanical designers 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 design technician and a senior mechanical designer. Additionally, a senior mechanical designer has an average salary of $103,765, which is higher than the $60,714 average annual salary of a mechanical design technician.

The top three skills for a mechanical design technician include CAD, revit and fire protection. The most important skills for a senior mechanical designer are CAD, mechanical design, and GD.

Mechanical design technician vs senior mechanical designer overview

	Mechanical Design Technician	Senior Mechanical Designer
Yearly salary	$60,714	$103,765
Hourly rate	$29.19	$49.89
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	62,685	71,958
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	6	6

Mechanical design technician vs senior mechanical designer salary

Mechanical design technicians and senior mechanical designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Mechanical Design Technician	Senior Mechanical Designer
Average salary	$60,714	$103,765
Salary range	Between $47,000 And $77,000	Between $81,000 And $131,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Google
Best paying industry	-	Automotive

Differences between mechanical design technician and senior mechanical designer education

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

	Mechanical Design Technician	Senior Mechanical Designer
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Mechanical Engineering
Most common college	Northwestern University	Carnegie Mellon University

Mechanical design technician vs senior mechanical designer demographics

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

	Mechanical Design Technician	Senior Mechanical Designer
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 89.3% Female, 10.7%	Male, 94.1% Female, 5.9%
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, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian, 11.4% White, 71.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between mechanical design technician and senior mechanical designer 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.

Senior mechanical designer example responsibilities.

Lead FPGA development of key digital communication component used in successful demonstration of spacecraft radio link.
Create and modify very large assemblies in Creo which are used to create drawings for top level spacecraft assemblies.
Generate fabrication and assembly drawings for fabrication of commercial/Industrial water heaters and boilers base on ISO 9000 and AWA standards.
Perform complex interference fit checks, motion studies, and tolerance stack-up analysis on large assemblies using Pro/E - Creo software.
Verify all design factors including performance, tolerances, fitting, materials, surface finish and BOM for components and systems.
Improve dynamic response of microscope using ANSYS vibration simulation.

Mechanical design technician vs senior mechanical designer skills

Common mechanical design technician skills

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

Common senior mechanical designer skills

CAD, 12%
Mechanical Design, 11%
GD, 5%
Creo, 5%
Autocad, 4%
FEA, 4%

Mechanical Design Technician vs. similar jobs

Mechanical Design Technician related careers

Mechanical Design Technician related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Architecture and Engineering Industry
Mechanical Design Technician
Mechanical Design Technician vs Senior Mechanical Designer

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse architecture and engineering jobs