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The differences between piping designers and chief 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 piping designer and a chief engineer. Additionally, a chief engineer has an average salary of $108,050, which is higher than the $57,853 average annual salary of a piping designer.
The top three skills for a piping designer include autocad, p id and equipment layout. The most important skills for a chief engineer are HVAC, plumbing, and customer service.
| Piping Designer | Chief Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $57,853 | $108,050 |
| Hourly rate | $27.81 | $51.95 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 48,195 | 88,473 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 55% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A Piping Designer supervises and designs the construction of marine crafts and floating structures. They utilize computerized drafting systems, such as computer-aided drafting (CAD).
A chief engineer is responsible for monitoring the engineering department's overall operations, ensuring performance efficiency, and everyone's strict compliance with the safety standards and regulatory procedures. Chief engineers manage the distribution of the tasks to the team, communicate with the clients and management for instructions and specifications, monitor expenses and forecast sales reports, analyze and approve designs, negotiate contracts, and process disputes. A chief engineer must have excellent knowledge of the engineering disciplines and exemplary leadership skills to handle the team's performance towards the company's objectives.
Piping designers and chief engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Piping Designer | Chief Engineer | |
| Average salary | $57,853 | $108,050 |
| Salary range | Between $36,000 And $92,000 | Between $65,000 And $177,000 |
| Highest paying City | Benicia, CA | Palo Alto, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | e-Tech Solutions | BGC Partners |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Transportation |
There are a few differences between a piping designer and a chief engineer in terms of educational background:
| Piping Designer | Chief Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 55% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Drafting And Design | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Carnegie Mellon University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between piping designers' and chief engineers' demographics:
| Piping Designer | Chief Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 87.8% Female, 12.2% | Male, 96.2% Female, 3.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 10.3% White, 72.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 10.2% White, 71.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |