Senior drafter vs design drafter

The differences between senior drafters and design drafters can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a senior drafter, becoming a design drafter takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a design drafter has an average salary of $50,021, which is higher than the $44,988 average annual salary of a senior drafter.

The top three skills for a senior drafter include autocad, layout drawings and cad standards. The most important skills for a design drafter are layout drawings, auto cad, and engineering drawings.

Senior drafter vs design drafter overview

	Senior Drafter	Design Drafter
Yearly salary	$44,988	$50,021
Hourly rate	$21.63	$24.05
Growth rate	-3%	-3%
Number of jobs	3,189	39,125
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 61%	Associate Degree, 56%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	12	4

Senior drafter vs design drafter salary

Senior drafters and design drafters have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Drafter	Design Drafter
Average salary	$44,988	$50,021
Salary range	Between $33,000 And $60,000	Between $37,000 And $67,000
Highest paying City	-	Cupertino, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Apple
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between senior drafter and design drafter education

There are a few differences between a senior drafter and a design drafter in terms of educational background:

	Senior Drafter	Design Drafter
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 61%	Associate Degree, 56%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Drafting And Design
Most common college	Carnegie Mellon University	LeTourneau University

Senior drafter vs design drafter demographics

Here are the differences between senior drafters' and design drafters' demographics:

	Senior Drafter	Design Drafter
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 75.4% Female, 24.6%	Male, 80.1% Female, 19.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 11.7% Asian, 7.0% White, 72.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 13.1% Asian, 5.7% White, 73.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between senior drafter and design drafter duties and responsibilities

Senior drafter example responsibilities.

Manage the design history of 3D part models, assemblies, and drawings using PDM software.
Produce design and construction drawings electrical and HVAC departments for commercial and residential projects per applicable national codes and regulations.
Create BIM design from concept.
Detail and draft structures in Revit.
Maintain an engineering change notice (ECN) system.
Design HVAC and plumbing layouts on existing architectural xrefs.

Design drafter example responsibilities.

Manage the ECN process by assigning the highest priority requests through coordination between engineering staff and drafting personnel.
Use Windchill for file management.
Develop pattern REVIT families for retail fixture manufactures.
Assist with implementation of Revit as main drawing application.
Draft and design mechanical and electrical windows for aircraft and yachts.
Work on plant location to sketch isometric drawings used for pressure analysis.

Senior drafter vs design drafter skills

Common senior drafter skills

Autocad, 25%
Layout Drawings, 7%
CAD Standards, 5%
Engineering Drawings, 4%
Aided Design, 4%
Revit, 4%

Common design drafter skills

Layout Drawings, 10%
Auto CAD, 6%
Engineering Drawings, 5%
Aided Design, 5%
Assembly Drawings, 5%
Revit, 4%