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The differences between senior design projects and senior design 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 senior design engineer. Additionally, a senior design engineer has an average salary of $104,698, which is higher than the $92,208 average annual salary of a senior design project.
The top three skills for a senior design project include solidworks, medical devices and prototype. The most important skills for a senior design engineer are CAD, project management, and RF.
| Senior Design Project | Senior Design Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $92,208 | $104,698 |
| Hourly rate | $44.33 | $50.34 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 70,865 | 127,035 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 86% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| 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 senior design engineer is responsible for creating mechanical and electrical designs for machines and systems, following clients' specifications and business guidelines. Senior design engineers also assist junior design engineers with their tasks, sharing best practices and techniques, and suggesting adjustments as needed. They also oversee the manufacturing process, inspect possible inconsistencies, and revise plans without exceeding the agreed budget or compromising the quality. A senior design engineer must be keen with details and highly organizational, especially on meeting deadlines with the highest client satisfaction.
Senior design projects and senior design engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Design Project | Senior Design Engineer | |
| Average salary | $92,208 | $104,698 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $120,000 | Between $80,000 And $136,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Cupertino, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | HDR | |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior design project and a senior design engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Design Project | Senior Design Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 86% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Georgia Institute of Technology | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between senior design projects' and senior design engineers' demographics:
| Senior Design Project | Senior Design Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 80.3% Female, 19.7% | Male, 91.8% Female, 8.2% |
| 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, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 17.1% White, 67.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |