CAD Drafting: An Interesting Career Choice

CAD technicians, also known as CAD draftsmen, play an important role in many professional sectors where communicating a design is intrinsic to the business. Common industries where CAD drafting is heavily used include architecture, building engineering, construction, automobiles, heavy equipment manufacturing, and machine design. More often than not, CAD drafting professionals form a vital link between those who visualise the design and those who bring that design to fruition whether it is a building, a machine, or an electrical system. Since using CAD in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sectors is a given, it is worth exploring the role of draftsmen for building design and construction projects.

Professionals ranging from architects and building design consultants, to MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) engineers and building systems installation experts frequently hire the services of talented CAD draftspersons. In fact, many firms have in-house teams dedicated to CAD draftsman jobs. Different companies use different programs and tools for computer-aided drafting; however, a draftsperson is expected to have in-depth knowledge of popular applications, including AutoCAD, MicroStation, and CATIA. In addition to this, those wanting to pursue a career in this field should know terminology used by architects, MEP engineers, and design consultants. Know-how of CAD standards is another crucial requirement to handle this responsibility.

As far as the academic qualifications are concerned, a minimum graduate degree is advisable along with completing a specialised course in CAD drafting from a reputed CAD training centre. Nevertheless, the most important aspect for anyone looking forward to CAD drafting as a career is that his technical basics related to annotation codes, design specifications, material lists, and documentation standards are strong. Another factor that adds weight to his/her professional prospects is an industry certification or professional accreditation, such as an Autodesk certification for excellence in using AutoCAD.

A day in the life of a CAD draftsman would include communicating with diverse creative professionals. At times, you would be turning the concept sketches provided by an architect into full-fledged floor plans, sections, and elevations complete with dimensions, scale, materials, annotations, and descriptions. At others, you would be converting 2D floor plans into 3D AutoCAD models to prepare ground for 3D rendering and visualisation experts to develop photorealistic walkthroughs. If you choose to work in the engineering domain, you would be communicating with MEP contractors and preparing HVAC schematic designs, duct installation drawings, spool drawings, and coordinated multiservice drawings, among others.

CAD draftsman’s role involves problem-solving and needs the right mix of software application expertise and analytical ability to understand the feedback from architects, designers, consultants, building service professionals and implement required mark-ups while sticking to the deadlines. a CAD expert would require to opt for the most efficient alternative out of several ones available in order to keep the project on track by reducing the turnaround time. Working in CAD draftsman jobs will essentially involve implementing multiple iterations of suggested design improvements. As a result, the diverse nature of this job role combined with a need for analytical thinking and an eye for design make CAD drafting an interesting choice.

Prabhat Singh heads Grey Edge, a leading Autodesk Revit MEP Training Centre in Mumbai. Prabhat has been instrumental in designing many types of curriculum related to domains, such as architecture, interior design and web designing and development.