CAD and Entry level CE Jobs

Edwards Finance > CAD Drafting

Q. I have been told that I should be AutoCAD proficient in order to make it easy to get my first job. However, I didn't spend all that money and years at college to get my BSCE in order to become a CAD drafter. I don't mind using CAD, but I want to do real engineering problem solving. Have I been correctly informed? Should I expect to be doing a lot of CAD work my first year or so as an entry-level project engineer? Or should I avoid companies that require mostly CAD work from me?

A. -I'm a 54 year old self employed consulting engineer and I use CAD to communicate. Think of it as a communication tool like Word or Excel and it'll be easier to use. The easy way is not to go back to school for it (you've had enough of that) but rather buy AutoCAD LT 97 and go through the learning package. I had to do it and trust me CAD wasn't invented when I started in this business and neither was the pockect electronic calculator (yes I still know how to use a slide rule....no cracks about seeing one in a museum once). Most, if not all, of my professional clients use AutoCAD LT as a tool to communicate base designs from the engineer to the CAD drafter. I don't think too many prospective employers will want you to do pure CAD drafting. They can hire CAD drafters for alot let than a graduate engineer. -First off, not many engineering companies are going to hire you to design anything until you prove you can handle the basics. That means, in today's high-tech engineering, you are going to need some experience using the computer drafting programs. Secondly, if you expect to become a manager of computer engineering technicians, you'd better know something of what the program could and should be capable of doing. That means in most cases being able to do the work in the first place. -If they require a lot of "CAD work", you should JUMP on that opportunity...that hard line between "designer" and "drafter" is disappearing...and it will make you all that much more valuable. CAD is a tool (a BIG tool), and the more tools that you have, the better you are at completing the job. You should probably expect to spend your first year or two doing drafting, research, and calc verification...contrary to what your professors may have lead you to believe, you only learned 1/2 (and that's giving the benefit of doubt) of what you actually need to know...

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