Getting a cad drafter job.

How did you get your start doing cad drafter work, and what career moves did you make to get to your current position?

Do you need a particular educational background?

You are sort of drawing on the wrong layer, Chad. It is unlikely an employer will read what you wrote here. Click on the Indeed logo upper left of page and search for job listings that have the word "Auto-Cad" in them.

Chad Mullenberg in Tucson, Arizona said: I am looking full-time Architectural Drafting job. I am a graduate of Vatterot Colleg with an Associate Degree. I am highly experienced in Windows-based operations, Microsoft Word/Excel, Auto-CAD, Inventor, and Works. I am an honest hard working person and will do my best to be a help to your company,

I'm searching for:
CAD IT skilled High integrity person.
More than 1 location and a couple of different specialties.

SpringfieldNow@yahoo.com

CADD is a dead end job. RUN to anything but CADD.

My objective, to obtain an enttry level office support position, utilizing my AutoCad knowledge, while advancing within the organization

Host said: How did you get your start doing cad drafter work, and what career moves did you make to get to your current position?

Do you need a particular educational background?

No I have my AutoCad certification at Florida National College.

Objective: To obtain an entry level office support position, utilizing my AutoCad knowledge, while advancing within the organization.

Host said: How did you get your start doing cad drafter work, and what career moves did you make to get to your current position?

Do you need a particular educational background?

No.I have 12 years expirience in CAD drafting.

Host said: How did you get your start doing cad drafter work, and what career moves did you make to get to your current position?

Do you need a particular educational background?

The career move I took was to accidentaly brack my Back in a few places. Because of where I live, I ended up starting my own business
which is hit and miss, More MISS, than any thing. I would suggest you go to a school that offers a bachelors degree and offers some really math classes, supporrt yourself by working in the field in want to draft for. Think this through, It is a big commitment. Be ready for a lot of turn downs, It was 3AND A HALF YEARS BEFORE I GOT A 90 day intership in an office,oout of state.

manuel rivera in Hialeah, Florida said: My objective, to obtain an enttry level office support position, utilizing my AutoCad knowledge, while advancing within the organization

Cad is being tought in h/s, Look beyond cad, thats just process like walking, you something to go with it, Get BA in someting.

Jason Tyson in Baton Rouge, Louisiana said: Hey, can anybody give me some advise on the careers in CADD. I've been in federal law enforcement for 8yrs and I'm not the "corruptable" type so I decided not to re-enlist and look in CADD for a new line of work. It seems interesting and I have a little experince in engineering design after I got my first patents last year for a wrist watch and a compact rebreather for Navy SEALs. So any guidence is greatly accepted thanks.

think of cad as a secondary skill to something larger, It is a process
cad schools are turning out grads like CDL mills are turning out wanna be truck drivers, expand your horizon, if you don't you expect NOT much in return for your effort.Employeers want and need experience in the big picture, not a mole.

Sorry for the spelling in the above comments. My experience has not been real welcoming, Inshort, the more technical the field you choose, ie, engineering,survey,mechanical engineering, aircraft,etc,the more in demand your skill will be, Many architects"small shops" do thier own drafting. And the larger ones use Temp staffing agencies, which is like being unemployeed,as far as work history is concerned in the credit dept. Drafting is only a leg to walk on,so to speak, yo to have someting else to go with it. Interior design etc, Granted everything we use today is first drawn on the board, You need to look beyond JUST drafting.

I have a bachelors in Fine Arts, and am considering getting a CAD certificate. Is it worth it? Would my BFA put me ahead at all or is the work strictly engineering related?

I've been in CAD drafting for 30 yrs and did not need a B.S.
With the economy the wat it is, you really need the experience AND that good ols B.S. 6 years from retiring? Maybe now is the time, except you still need to pay the bills. Desingers and Engineers are doing most of the drafting themselves. Good luck to everyone.

Don't do this. There are hardly any jobs in the field anymore
due to the economy, outsourcing and young engineers doing their
own cad work. Now, a cad degree from a technical school is
nothing but a scam to take your/gov't money.

Besides, right now any jobs you do find, don't
pay decently. I did this for 15 years and the job
classifcation as a cad drafter/designer/operator won't
be around in the future in any large numbers. As American
industry/manufacturing continues to decline, so will the
need for drafters. Become a nurse or a truck driver, etc.;
the U.S.A. doesn't make things anymore.

I just got out of Auto Cad 2009 certificate program back in May of this year. And for the life of me, I am having problems getting any leads in Entry Level Auto CAD...

My father uses Auto CAD for his Accident Reconstruction business. And it obviously looks like the two technicians aren't willing to take me under there wings. Foolish on my father's part for not wanting me to get into his business.

My 1st degree is Floral Design and finishing up in Photography and Interior Design. I plan on using all of them by working together. Why hasn't anyone discovered me? I am on 4 search engines for jobs and additional 4 more just for Auto CAD.

Retail experience, I have about 14 years of interacting with customers in Florists, wedding event specialists,giftshop- furniture and lighting store. The only retail I do not have is "Corporate".

There is only one thing that I refuse to ever be- Car Salesman. They don't care "how" they sell there cars, long as they make there quota. NOT ME! I Network the business I am in... for instance- if I don't have what they are looking for- then I direct them to a store that fits there needs. After all- they have to live with the product- not me!! And in the long run- it's the word of mouth and referals with the Computer reviews that turns out to be very important selling insentive!! Reguardless that I have never taken any classes that leads to any of the degrees in Marketing or sales. It's clearly obvious that it's very important to make not only a 1st impression and a last impression. But an impression that reminds them of who I am and wanting them to come back for more.... products!!!!

I can't emphasize enough on interviews on how IMPORTANT it is to concentrate on the needs of customers. In the long run to why I never get hired... I am over qualified. I am yet to find an employer that follows up on a Thank you letter if I did or did not get the job- WOW... that would be appreciated!!

I have 17 years in AutoCAD and I can't find a job anywhere in the country.
Keep up the possitive self-talk, network, pray, and look around your & be grateful for what you do have . . . until the economy revives.

I've been a cad operator for 20 years and today I work in an engineering office in Orlando. I've been screamed at by "superiors" half my age and am currently looking for a new position elsewhere. The Autocad software (Civil 3d 2009)has become so buggy that I have to fight it every day to get any amount of production at all. Years ago you could work for temp agencies until you were known and finding work was fairly simple. Today, most of those agencies are gone and the remaining ones have no jobs available. If you don't have any ties here (dependents,mortgage,) you might think about selling your car and leaving the country. Good Luck!

Years ago, I earned an A.S. degree in Mechanical Cad / Design Technology from a local 2yr technical school. I became a much sought-after cad "specialist" and worked for major engineering firms up and down the east coast; making good money (for a cad operator), and traveling a great deal chasing those dollars. I knew my craft inside out; I was conversant enough in the major cad software programs of the day to mentor other cad personal and young engineers; I gained multi-faceted cad experience in diverse engineering environments. However, I arrived at the point where I realized I was going to become trapped as a cad operator. The work is always the same; no matter what discipline you are or how experienced you become, you could never get past the "cad operator" stigma. As if this were not bad enough - the engineers began to do the work typically handled by cad the operators. As soon as companies discovered cad was not some magical ability to complete engineering drawings on computers, for which engineers did not have the skill to do - the gig was up. I did not want to be a 30 yr old cad drafter / operator trying to eek out a living...and I had already hit the top of the pay ceiling as far as cad operators go. So I earned Bachelors and Masters degrees and moved further up the ladder. Now I probably couldn't even boot up AutoCAD much less create engineering documentation. It was only a matter of time before the "cad operator", designer, drafting-engineer, specialist or whatever you want to call it now, was usurped by engineers.

Today I would not honestly advise someone to get into that line of work - as the "cad guy without a 4yr science degree days" are over, for good.

I graduated from ITT Tech (Indianapolis) in September 2008 with an Associates of Sci Degree and worked for Verizon Design Center for a year and a half before being laidoff. Now I can't find anything thats even close to drafting work. So I decided to start freelancing Drafting work and consulting with architects and developers until some jobs pop up..... so now im stuck with a $76,000 STUDENT LOAN, AND FOR WHAT!! Im starting to wish I didn't even enroll.

I would stay away from the ITT Techs of the world. Diploma mills they are. At least you got hired by Verizon. Stick with the freelancing.

You are right about that Upenn02, Im in the process of building up clientele, and haveing a hard time doing it, ANY advise would be helpful as to how to get a freelance business up and running. However I just finished drawings on a 3 story house, so I am thankful for that!

Upenn02' in Voorhees, New Jersey said: Years ago, I earned an A.S. degree in Mechanical Cad / Design Technology from a local 2yr technical school. I became a much sought-after cad "specialist" and worked for major engineering firms up and down the east coast; making good money (for a cad operator), and traveling a great deal chasing those dollars. I knew my craft inside out; I was conversant enough in the major cad software programs of the day to mentor other cad personal and young engineers; I gained multi-faceted cad experience in diverse engineering environments. However, I arrived at the point where I realized I was going to become trapped as a cad operator. The work is always the same; no matter what discipline you are or how experienced you become, you could never get past the "cad operator" stigma. As if this were not bad enough - the engineers began to do the work typically handled by cad the operators. As soon as companies discovered cad was not some magical ability to complete engineering drawings on computers, for which engineers did not have the skill to do - the gig was up. I did not want to be a 30 yr old cad drafter / operator trying to eek out a living...and I had already hit the top of the pay ceiling as far as cad operators go. So I earned Bachelors and Masters degrees and moved further up the ladder. Now I probably couldn't even boot up AutoCAD much less create engineering documentation. It was only a matter of time before the "cad operator", designer, drafting-engineer, specialist or whatever you want to call it now, was usurped by engineers.

Today I would not honestly advise someone to get into that line of work - as the "cad guy without a 4yr science degree days" are over, for good.

I have to disagree. From my experience (20yrs), there's nothing more dangerous than an engineer fooling around with the drawings. They know just enough about cad to screw everything up. It has become so bloated and buggy that I can barely do it.

"bloated & buggy" engineering drawings . . . what other kind is there?
- from the architectural CAD Gorilla

chastua in Eustis - not sure where you work; but in most modern, fairly large organizations there are no "cad operators" as there were (20yrs) ago. "We" are all engineers and/or engineering designers, or managers.

where I work the engineers spend their time attending meetings, writing reports, scheduling, etc. They don't draft because they haven't got the time, knowledge of the software, or skill to do it. Maybe you work in an office that has a lot of engineers and few projects. The notion that drafters are obsolete or will become obsolete is nonsense. There aren't many jobs in the field right now because of the economy.

PART I, to chastua in Eustis - the organization I work for is a worldwide conglomerate with literally thousands of different contracts and projects in various stages of completion. I’ve been involved in aerospace, military shipbuilding, telecommunications, and DOE / DOD nuclear power projects. I own a small consulting practice on the side, I possess three degrees and I am certified by the state I live as a technology educator. I've held various roles in the profession since 1985. Not to gloat; just the concrete facts so I can speak legitimately. Having said that – I’m sure you’ll agree that individuals who traditionally came in as drafters 20 years ago (“drafters” defined as individuals who came to engineering from trade school or blue collar allied discipline) could not do the same now. Thiers was the “heyday” of CAD training - training being a singular ticket into the corporate engineering environment. An example of this (as I have seen numerous times) would be pipe fitters / mechanics becoming piping “drafters” simply by completing a crash course in AutoCAD. This method of entry is dead, if not dying now. Over time it was killed ultimately because engineers and drafters were charging billable time to the same documents. Any organization driven by profit margins (can’t find any who are not) will find a way to have the least amount of personnel touching engineering drawings as possible.

PART II - to chastua in Eustis - Furthermore, clients are extremely savvy these days and they watch the bottom line at every milestone, drop dead date, deliverables date, yada yada, constantly - and want explanation for anything that looks extraneous. I know for a fact, based on the responsibilities placed upon them - that many engineers would rather cut their own throats than let someone else, who is not a “degreed” peer - create, change or work on drawings their own “John Hancock” will be on somewhere down the road. Yes, of course they can go back and check for drafting errors – but then I would refer you to the “duplication” thing. I guess my main point is to dissuade those looking to get into engineering as a cad drafter or drafter. Drafting just is not an “art” as someone else here has posted. Artists use their artistic “license” to keep themselves employed by propagating the notion only “they” can do the work properly because of some specialized skill. However, such just is not the case here. It is extremely irresponsible to “romanticize” the occupation. My advice is to use drafting gig (if you can find the work) as a pit stop towards positions with more bargaining power.

A lot of cad work is what I call "graphics grunt work"
i.e. running plots, putting drawing sets together, running last minute submittals and addendums to the building dept. and/or client, and doing redline revisions,particularly on a set of as-built/record drawings which takes a lot of time. Any office manager paying a "degreed" person to do that kind of work should be fired for wasting the company's money. I'm not trying to dissuade cad people from trying to better their situation, I'm just saying that the mundane part of the job will always be there. Is it a dead end? Probably so if you work for someone else, but you can do it in your home if you have a few busy clients. I did it for a year once. Duplication? Files are date and time stamped on the computer. Guess you didn't notice, and our engineers always look over a set of plans several times and then hand them to another engineer to look over so by the time they are signed and sealed there is a lot of confidence that nothing is going to come back and bite them. Its a simple procedure. I would suggest implementing it where you work.

..And that "graphics grunt work" is exactly why the drafting career is a dead end job, albeit all the tech training schools would deny that. There is no better example of what not to do when starting a career then seeing some old timer sitting in front of a cad tube all day long; not to mention the fact that one can only make some much as a cad operator / drafter. Lastly, I will not degrade myself by commenting on what you think I should and should not do where I work, at length. That would be absolutely ridiculous; even more so since its coming from someone who has been a cad operator for twenty years. That in itself says everything that needs to be said. I'm just happy others will read this and realize they don't want to join the band on the Titanic.

I wish I would have read this before I starting a civil drafting degree program this year. I should have done my homework better. I have been a carpenter for the past several years and unemployment approved this Civil Drafting program for training benefits because it was an occupation that was reasonably considered to be "in demand". It sounds like the Washington state occupational info was a little off. I can't turn back now though. I am committed. I know things are slow for everybody but are my prospects really as hopeless as the above comments sound? I can see how CAD drafting can be 'dead-end', but I am OK with that. I pretty much knew that going in. I am just hoping to work part time to supplement my husband's income when I finish school. I appreciate the brutal honesty of many of the comments above but it would be nice to hear more suggestions or encouragement for those of us already stuck in this avenue of job search.

JR- Do not fret. It is a good that you are "committed" to your education/training; many cannot say that. The bottom line is this: you make of your education/training what you make of it. If you want to be a civil drafter than go for it, and be the best at it.

Upenn02' in Voorhees, New Jersey said: Years ago, I earned an A.S. degree in Mechanical Cad / Design Technology from a local 2yr technical school. I became a much sought-after cad "specialist" and worked for major engineering firms up and down the east coast; making good money (for a cad operator), and traveling a great deal chasing those dollars. I knew my craft inside out; I was conversant enough in the major cad software programs of the day to mentor other cad personal and young engineers; I gained multi-faceted cad experience in diverse engineering environments. However, I arrived at the point where I realized I was going to become trapped as a cad operator. The work is always the same; no matter what discipline you are or how experienced you become, you could never get past the "cad operator" stigma. As if this were not bad enough - the engineers began to do the work typically handled by cad the operators. As soon as companies discovered cad was not some magical ability to complete engineering drawings on computers, for which engineers did not have the skill to do - the gig was up. I did not want to be a 30 yr old cad drafter / operator trying to eek out a living...and I had already hit the top of the pay ceiling as far as cad operators go. So I earned Bachelors and Masters degrees and moved further up the ladder. Now I probably couldn't even boot up AutoCAD much less create engineering documentation. It was only a matter of time before the "cad operator", designer, drafting-engineer, specialist or whatever you want to call it now, was usurped by engineers.

Today I would not honestly advise someone to get into that line of work - as the "cad guy without a 4yr science degree days" are over, for good.

You hit the nail on the head. I've done "drafting" design in many diciplines in the last 16 years. I got laid off in Aug. 09 when a P.E. mechanical engr was hired. Can't find a "cad" job antwhere, and am about to find a 7-11 store to work at.

Look outside the country, if you can: the canadian frontier up near the arctic circle has oil related opportunities for anyone hardy enough live there. Cold? yes, six month darkness? yes....BUT your making a decent buck and eating.

As I mentioned before (Graduating from ITT Tech in 2008), one of the recruiters approached me recently and mentioned I should come back for a Bachelors Degree in Construction Management......which I don't think is a good idea at this time, maybe in a few years; I replied. So is this a good Idea about going back maybe in 2012 or 2014, Or Like Upenn02 said "just stay away from ITT". But the problem is that credits that I have earned already from ITT do not transfer to say IU or Purdue and if they do.. it will be a very small amount. A little help please....

Jason Tyson in Baton Rouge, Louisiana said: Hey, can anybody give me some advise on the careers in CADD. I've been in federal law enforcement for 8yrs and I'm not the "corruptable" type so I decided not to re-enlist and look in CADD for a new line of work. It seems interesting and I have a little experince in engineering design after I got my first patents last year for a wrist watch and a compact rebreather for Navy SEALs. So any guidence is greatly accepted thanks.

Drafting is basically a dead-end job thanks to the likes of auto-cad and billy gates. But the schools keep pumping them out. I can't tell you how many times I,ve been laid off and spent several years trying to find another which only lasts a few months. Computers have basically turned a hard earned skill into a production job

mikr in Hillsboro, Oregon said: Drafting is basically a dead-end job thanks to the likes of auto-cad and billy gates. But the schools keep pumping them out. I can't tell you how many times I,ve been laid off and spent several years trying to find another which only lasts a few months. Computers have basically turned a hard earned skill into a production job

so why don't you learn Autocad if you enjoy drafting? If you did you would quickly realize why hand drafting is no longer done. I was recently laid off myself but I blame the economy,
not the occupation.

Upenn02 in Swedesboro, New Jersey said: ..And that "graphics grunt work" is exactly why the drafting career is a dead end job, albeit all the tech training schools would deny that. There is no better example of what not to do when starting a career then seeing some old timer sitting in front of a cad tube all day long; not to mention the fact that one can only make some much as a cad operator / drafter. Lastly, I will not degrade myself by commenting on what you think I should and should not do where I work, at length. That would be absolutely ridiculous; even more so since its coming from someone who has been a cad operator for twenty years. That in itself says everything that needs to be said. I'm just happy others will read this and realize they don't want to join the band on the Titanic.

First of all, you admitted in an earlier posting that you probably couldn't do cad anymore. That's my point exactly.
Engineers don't have time to RTFM. I make no apologies for being a cad operator all these years and you arrogant guys who need our skills should just accept the fact that we are just as necessary to the process as the ones who seal the drawings.

It was not my point to be arrogant; but if it is taken that way, so be it. My goal was to paint a realistic and accurate picture to someone considering a career in cad drafting as cad operator / drafter. They need to know about the not so pretty underside of the occupation before being able to make an educated decision which will no doubt affect the rest of their career (as well as ability to earn and therefore station in life). The saddest thing in the world is to see someone "stuck" in a career or position they've come to regret and yet cannot move because they have been a cad operator/drafter for 15 or 20 years. Most people want to traverse upwards in their respective careers and become an irreplaceable element. That is not the typical profile of cad operators / drafters no matter how well they know the trade. I've seen up close and personal entire cad/drafting departments get axed b/c management felt they could bring in new people cheaper to complete the same work. People who were very good at what they did. They had no bargaining power since the "Tech" institutes (jokes) are pumping out new "CAD" graduates day and night.

i agree with some of the comments above, if you want to get into cad, use it as a way in (if you can even get in), but look for higher, better and more specialized fields using Autocad. Find a field or a cad job that cant easily be replaced. If you are using autocad and only autocad, you can be replaced.

Push your way into a design field. Or find a cad job that uses some sort of addon program where special training or some sort of project management is required. This way, the fresh graduate cant just step in and take over.

I agree with the diploma mill comments, I am out of work for 11 months now and have 20 YEARS CAD/design experience using Solidworks, Pro-e, Inventor and Autocad

hardly any companies want drafters we do all that in one package...even worse my global company had me send my models to India to get drafted

this SUCKS

sounds to me like you need to teach. beats the hell out of all the crap that goes on in an office.

Designer: perhaps you can get a teaching certificate to teach secondary school?? I know a few guys who did that instead of going full tilt back to school for undergrad or graduate degree. They teach are teaching for a living. You might even reel in a gig teaching at the same diploma mills...it would seem irony is not without a sense of humor.

You'll need a degree in architecture to become a registered architect; but you don't need that to start your own architectural business - hire your own architects while you focus on bringing in clients. You will of course, need to know how to keep your business profitable.

So any suggestions for someone wanting to move from WA to Alaska in regards to jobs available? Companies to avoid? Area's of expertise that seem to be the most viable? Obviously the gas and oil industry but I don't have any experience in this type of drafting but with 16 years of experience, there should be something, right?

I met a petroleum engineer who told me that Alaska will forgive student loans if you stay and teach for a few years. You could teach drafting and finish that Bachelor's degree perhaps.
Just a thought.

The only teaching (adjunct) jobs I've seen require a Bachelor's degree.
I've resigned myself to the fact theat there are NO drafting jobs available - not til the economy is going full boil.
I do see jobs for 3D modeling, but htey are always industry specific - and want their favorite software- of which there are hundreds nowadays. So, again, ho do you get trained for one of these positions - I don't see these advanced technical trades addressed in Community Colleges.

Weitgiest,

I hope someone can prove me wrong but you wont find a community college that will teach you a specific software outside of the mainstream Microstation and Autocad. Solidworks is also pretty popular.

Training for industry specific software comes from within the company and you have to show that you are detail oriented enough to sit in that seat.

Construction in general is way way down. The company I work for is down to a skeleton crew in all departments.. inside and out. And I'm sure our competitors are also feeling the strain.

Try a vocational school. They are looking for experience mainly
and a BS is not required in a lot of them.