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The differences between senior design projects and project 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 senior design project and a project engineer. Additionally, a senior design project has an average salary of $92,208, which is higher than the $75,050 average annual salary of a project engineer.
The top three skills for a senior design project include solidworks, medical devices and prototype. The most important skills for a project engineer are project management, autocad, and construction management.
| Senior Design Project | Project Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $92,208 | $75,050 |
| Hourly rate | $44.33 | $36.08 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 70,865 | 176,689 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 86% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A senior design project worker is responsible for developing digital content designs and applications using various software tools, following clients' specifications and requests. Senior designers must be highly-organizational and communicative, especially on providing progress updates to the client and performing multiple design adjustments as needed. A senior designer should create and recommend designs based on the clients' budget goals without compromising the quality of the output. Senior design projects work closely with the design engineering team to maintain flawless layouts and achieve client satisfaction.
A Project Engineer develops the plan that the entire team or company will undertake. The project engineer develops the plans, strategies, and goals of a project and then gives it to the management for approval and allocation. The Project Engineer will also recommend material, equipment, and the type of personnel needed. This position is integral in the smooth flow of any project, so hiring someone to hold this position will decide the success of a project.
Senior design projects and project engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Design Project | Project Engineer | |
| Average salary | $92,208 | $75,050 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $120,000 | Between $55,000 And $100,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Richmond, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Washington |
| Best paying company | HDR | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Energy |
There are a few differences between a senior design project and a project engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Design Project | Project Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 86% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Georgia Institute of Technology | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between senior design projects' and project engineers' demographics:
| Senior Design Project | Project Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 80.3% Female, 19.7% | Male, 87.1% Female, 12.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 17.0% White, 67.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 14.5% White, 68.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |