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Operating system designer vs interactive designer

The differences between operating system designers and interactive designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both an operating system designer and an interactive designer. Additionally, an interactive designer has an average salary of $97,929, which is higher than the $58,414 average annual salary of an operating system designer.

The top three skills for an operating system designer include co-op, CAD and facebook. The most important skills for an interactive designer are sketch, user experience, and UI.

Operating system designer vs interactive designer overview

Operating System DesignerInteractive Designer
Yearly salary$58,414$97,929
Hourly rate$28.08$47.08
Growth rate3%3%
Number of jobs68,08448,136
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 60%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age3838
Years of experience1212

What does an operating system designer do?

OS Designers are responsible for creating and developing customized operating systems geared to cater to a specific task type. These tasks may range from business management to medical-related applications to government and military defense systems. An operating system is the foundation and soul of any computer-based program, so OS designers apply computer science and analysis to develop these operating systems for efficiency and functionality. A typical OS Designer earns an average of $47,865 per year.

What does an interactive designer do?

An Interactive Designer takes the business product and transforms it into a product that the user interacts with perfectly. They support engineering efforts to develop designs and get the details right.

Operating system designer vs interactive designer salary

Operating system designers and interactive designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Operating System DesignerInteractive Designer
Average salary$58,414$97,929
Salary rangeBetween $34,000 And $98,000Between $67,000 And $141,000
Highest paying City-San Bruno, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-Meta
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between operating system designer and interactive designer education

There are a few differences between an operating system designer and an interactive designer in terms of educational background:

Operating System DesignerInteractive Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 60%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Operating system designer vs interactive designer demographics

Here are the differences between operating system designers' and interactive designers' demographics:

Operating System DesignerInteractive Designer
Average age3838
Gender ratioMale, 72.9% Female, 27.1%Male, 66.8% Female, 33.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage13%13%

Differences between operating system designer and interactive designer duties and responsibilities

Operating system designer example responsibilities.

  • Project managing special orders from corporate customers including custom zipper pulls, and embroidery embellishments.
  • Create production schedule for CNC machine.
  • Create and maintain database for site tracking and scheduling.
  • Execute sales from design to finalization using AutoCAD, Photoshop, and Sketchup.
  • Prepare and run a variety of tests on automotive heating and cooling systems.
  • Create a searchable database of competitor patents and providing summaries of each patent.
  • Show more

Interactive designer example responsibilities.

  • Manage website properties including design, content and marketing using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript.
  • Create, implement, and manage web content projects (HTML emails, web sites, digitizing audio/video).
  • Use ASP.NET and XML to automate common workflow tasks due to extremely high volume of designs to be create.
  • Develop a custom object-orient prototyping model in the design of a highly dynamic user interface.
  • Work primarily with JQuery to design/develop full screen overlays and dynamic forms.
  • Develop clean, table-less web sites using valid XHTML and CSS according to standards.
  • Show more

Operating system designer vs interactive designer skills

Common operating system designer skills
  • Co-Op, 27%
  • CAD, 25%
  • Facebook, 12%
  • Design Process, 9%
  • Autocad, 8%
  • Adobe Creative Suite, 4%
Common interactive designer skills
  • Sketch, 13%
  • User Experience, 7%
  • UI, 6%
  • Interaction Design, 6%
  • Invision, 4%
  • Visual Design, 4%

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