Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between technical design engineers and engineering technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a technical design engineer, becoming an engineering technician takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a technical design engineer has an average salary of $75,599, which is higher than the $60,273 average annual salary of an engineering technician.
The top three skills for a technical design engineer include design drawings, windows and infrastructure. The most important skills for an engineering technician are technical support, data collection, and test equipment.
| Technical Design Engineer | Engineering Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $75,599 | $60,273 |
| Hourly rate | $36.35 | $28.98 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 173,548 | 111,343 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Average age | 41 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
A technical design engineer specializes in designing a company's products and systems, ensuring quality and efficiency. Among their responsibilities include performing extensive research and analysis, understanding and identifying the needs of every project, developing prototypes and test structures, and coordinating with experts. There are also instances when they must conduct maintenance checks on current systems, executing repairs when necessary. Furthermore, as a technical design engineer, it is essential to maintain an active communication line with staff, coordinating them while enforcing the company's policies and regulations.
An Engineering Technician's duties vary according to the industry or company, whether mechanical, industrial, civil, agricultural, or more. However, most of the time, the responsibilities often revolve around resolving technical issues, working with and assisting Engineers in building, assembling, designing, gathering and testing data, and conducting more manual activities. Furthermore, Engineering Technicians can specialize and work in various fields after a certain training period, closely mentored or monitored by an engineer or someone with extensive expertise.
Technical design engineers and engineering technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Design Engineer | Engineering Technician | |
| Average salary | $75,599 | $60,273 |
| Salary range | Between $49,000 And $116,000 | Between $37,000 And $96,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Western Digital | Western Digital |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a technical design engineer and an engineering technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Design Engineer | Engineering Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Drafting And Design | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Carnegie Mellon University | Purdue University |
Here are the differences between technical design engineers' and engineering technicians' demographics:
| Technical Design Engineer | Engineering Technician | |
| Average age | 41 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 83.7% Female, 16.3% | Male, 85.9% Female, 14.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian, 10.3% White, 72.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 9.2% White, 59.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 6% |