Learn How to Become a Car Designer
Career News October 21, 2015Overview of How to Become a Car Designer
After reading this article, you will learn what it takes to become a professional car designer. Learn about the required educational background, the employment opportunities in this career and the remuneration that car designers receive on an annual basis.
What is Car Designing?
Car designing is the art of creating practical and innovative automobile designs, working with engineers to see that the design come alive and working on producing automobiles that will be both appealing to the consumer and environmentally friendly. Car designers have to however create ideas that will lead to the production of affordable vehicles.
Education Requirements for Car Designers
It is almost impossible to get a job as a car designer without a degree or a Masters degree in automotive or product designing. Even with a degree, the field is so competitive that only the exceptionally creative and outstanding car designers get the best jobs in the market. People with some background training in electrical engineering, mathematics, environmental science or computer aided drafting usually have a better chance of getting this kind of a job.
Skills for Car Designers
Car designing involves a lot of science and math skills. As such, if you never liked these two subjects while in school, your chances of succeeding in car designing would be slim. Moreover, car designers need a lot of knowledge in computer aided drafting and not forgetting proficiency in communication skills.
Job Overview of a Car Designer
Due to the increased concern about fuel economy and environmental pollution by automobiles, car designers that would help solve these problems are likely to get more jobs in coming years. In addition, as more people continue to accept electrical cars, and as more people continue to purchase automobiles, more jobs for car designers will continue to become available.
The US Bureau for Labor Statistics estimates that there will be jobs for about 220,000 people wishing to join a career in electrical car designing over the next 15 or so years. However, there might be a slowed job growth rate in the fields of industrial designing in the coming seven years.
As for the remuneration of commercial and industrial car designers, the average salary is $59,610 annually, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Alternative Career Choices
Mechanical Drafter
If you are interested in dealing with computer software and preparing schematic drawings, becoming a mechanical drafter would be a good career for you. The day to day job of such a person involves converting already drafted car designs into clear and better computer images, which can be used when designing prototypes for machines and other mechanical devices. The basic requirements for a mechanical drafter are an associate’s degree or a certification program in drafting. The BLS estimates a slight decline in the number of jobs for these people due to the decrease in manufacturing activities these days. Their average salary is roughly $50,000.
Industrial engineer
The work of an industrial engineer involves supervising and overseeing the manufacturing of cars. In this career, you are also likely to get involved in analyzing the production costs and ensuring that equipment in the manufacturing plant are working fine. The most important factor here is a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering or a related field and the salary may range anywhere between $75,000 and $78,000, according to the BLS.
