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The differences between senior mechanical designers and designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a senior mechanical designer, becoming a designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a senior mechanical designer has an average salary of $103,765, which is higher than the $66,347 average annual salary of a designer.
The top three skills for a senior mechanical designer include CAD, mechanical design and GD. The most important skills for a designer are sketch, customer service, and graphic design.
| Senior Mechanical Designer | Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $103,765 | $66,347 |
| Hourly rate | $49.89 | $31.90 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 71,958 | 52,433 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 41 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 12 |
A Senior Mechanical Designer is responsible for creating effective mechanical designs for their company and developing mechanical concepts in accordance with project requirements. They assist the engineering manager in coaching other mechanical engineers to develop design skills.
A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences. Designers are creative thinkers with a great eye to configure the skeletal and structural properties of the targeted output. They work in several fields, such as fashion, architecture, web graphics, and user experience. In spite of the variety of professionals in the design industry, all of them are artistic, passionate, inspiring, and emotionally connected to their projects and brands.
Senior mechanical designers and designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Mechanical Designer | Designer | |
| Average salary | $103,765 | $66,347 |
| Salary range | Between $81,000 And $131,000 | Between $45,000 And $97,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Meta | |
| Best paying industry | Automotive | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior mechanical designer and a designer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Mechanical Designer | Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | Carnegie Mellon University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between senior mechanical designers' and designers' demographics:
| Senior Mechanical Designer | Designer | |
| Average age | 41 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 94.1% Female, 5.9% | Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian, 11.4% White, 71.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 13% |