Senior drafter vs draftsman/designer

The differences between senior drafters and draftsman/designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a senior drafter and a draftsman/designer. Additionally, a draftsman/designer has an average salary of $52,529, 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 draftsman/designer are design layouts, solidworks, and shop drawings.

Senior drafter vs draftsman/designer overview

	Senior Drafter	Draftsman/Designer
Yearly salary	$44,988	$52,529
Hourly rate	$21.63	$25.25
Growth rate	-3%	-3%
Number of jobs	3,189	47,341
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 61%	Associate Degree, 51%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	12	12

Senior drafter vs draftsman/designer salary

Senior drafters and draftsman/designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Drafter	Draftsman/Designer
Average salary	$44,988	$52,529
Salary range	Between $33,000 And $60,000	Between $30,000 And $89,000
Highest paying City	-	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	-	New Jersey
Best paying company	-	TalentBurst
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between senior drafter and draftsman/designer education

There are a few differences between a senior drafter and a draftsman/designer in terms of educational background:

	Senior Drafter	Draftsman/Designer
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 61%	Associate Degree, 51%
Most common major	Drafting And Design	Drafting And Design
Most common college	Carnegie Mellon University	Carnegie Mellon University

Senior drafter vs draftsman/designer demographics

Here are the differences between senior drafters' and draftsman/designers' demographics:

	Senior Drafter	Draftsman/Designer
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 75.4% Female, 24.6%	Male, 92.2% Female, 7.8%
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, 3.1% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 11.7% Asian, 7.0% White, 72.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between senior drafter and draftsman/designer 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.

Draftsman/designer example responsibilities.

Manage and supervise other draftsmen.
Assist with structural steel detailing, machine design, CNC graphics and ceramics machine design projects.
Detail preliminary design drawings to create BOM's, production use shop layouts, and specific details.
Travele to various work sites to dimension and sketch details of the projects.
Develop and maintain current Revit templates for consistency and overall visual quality of projects.
Design and draft building components from red lines create by MEP engineers with revit software.

Senior drafter vs draftsman/designer skills

Common senior drafter skills

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

Common draftsman/designer skills

Design Layouts, 16%
Solidworks, 10%
Shop Drawings, 5%
R, 4%
HVAC, 4%
Customer Specifications, 3%