Cad Design Jobs

Drafting jobs have gone through amazing changes in the last four decades. Drafting jobs used to be about sketching and drawing with paper and pencils.  Nowadays cad drafting jobs have taken over most, if not all, of those original drafting jobs. The most obvious difference between cad drafter jobs and the traditional method is the use of computers.

Cad stands for ‘computer aided design’. All cad drafters work on computers with the help of different cad programs. The move from paper and pencils in the drafting industry to virtually only using computers has many advantages and of course some disadvantages as well.  Cad drafting is much faster for editing and copying drafts but it also means that drafters no longer have much to do with the design of the elements.

Today virtually all working drafters need to be trained in some kind of cad software. Different kinds of cad software are used by different industries to create drafts. A cad-trained drafter will likely have a specialty in one sort of drafting – be it civil, mechanical, architectural or other.  Cad drafting is offered at technical schools, universities, and colleges and most drafters attend one of these institutions for their certification before ever working as a drafter.

Cad drafting can only be expected to increase in efficiency in the future. New programs continue to emerge on the market with new options and features to aid drafters. One of the biggest changes in drafting programs has been the jump to 3D drafts from 2D drafts. The 3D images make it much easier for the professionals to picture what the actual building, piece of land, pipeline or other structure will look like when it is completed.

One aspect of drafting that has not changed very much is the role of the architect, engineer, or other professional who gives direction to the drafter. In the past, these professionals rarely did any drafting and instead gave the instructions to the drafter. This is still very true today as few of these professionals are trained in the use of cad programs.