CAREER MOVE OR NOT? 2

[onlyadrafter]

Hello,

I am a Mechanical Engineering draughtsman, having used Pro-Engineer for 4 to 5 years, I have come to realise that my expertise in this program is far too good for the products that our company manufacture.

For about a year now, I have been actively looking for a more fulfilling position as a draughtsman, I have had a handful of interviews, being offered one position (but not accepting) and coming close on another occasion.

In a few years time, my wife will be starting a career as a teacher (earning about the same as me in a short space of time), so my salary will not be as important as before. I have often thought about applying for positions as a contractor, due mainly to the pay, and also the possibility of taking more time off.

What I would like to know is,
1) has anybody had a similar experience?
2) are there any contractors, or self-employed people out there with some useful advice as how to get known?
3) what companies look for?
4) what is worth learning?
5) what contract agencies look for?
6) is being a contractor better than being employed?
7) how muck work is out there and what, if any, particular skill would be advantageous, e.g. Pro-Program, Surface Modelling, Assembly, Design Animation?

The reason I am now looking into contracting is that we had a contractor in our office (we were paying £30 p/h) and he was asking me questions!

I thank you in advance for any answers to the above, or any other advice you may have.



----------------------------------
Hope this helps.
----------------------------------

maybe only a drafter
but the best user at this company!

 

[DaveG16]

Can't address your questions 1:1, as my contracting is in helping technical people communicate... but, FWIW:

1. Pay: remember as a contractor you rarely get benefits, profit sharing, equipment, and the like. In the U.S., contractor pay has to be at least 40% higher than salary pay to compensate for these cuts.

2. Getting started: the only sure way is to lean on your existing contacts. In my case, a client had approached a group of which I was a part, but shied away due to the group's quotation/costs. Shortly thereafter, I left the group. I then contacted the person (with permission of the group, which did not want small jobs), and the person was happy to use me at a lower cost.

3. You'll definitely want to figure out your focus. Some days, anyone you approach will want something you don't have -- SolidWorks skills, or AutoCAD, or... you name it, from animation and rendering to engineering automation programming. I personally feel that PTC is losing share, borne out by PTC's sales numbers. The good news is that most people I know who have moved from Parametric to SolidWorks / Solid Edge / Inventor have had few problems learning the new package.

4. Factor in your investment monies. You'll have to purchase expensive programs and expensive computers to run them.

5. What prospects look for: value. Always. At first, you may have to work at a low rate, but once you've proved yourself in the marketplace as a contractor, you can begin raising rates. I'm not alone among contractors in this forum who emphasize the need to always add extra work, something above and beyond the assignment, free.

6. Other sure-fire means to ensure success: (a) completing assignments on time and on budget; (b) refusing assignments whose rates cannot keep you afloat (wish I could follow this advice... tough times result in tough assignments at tough pay levels...); (c) remaining dependable about everything from picking up and delivering assignments to arriving for meetings on time.

7. If your assignments are done entirely at home, you'll have to plan external meetings and field trips, or your people skills are going to suffer. Talking to your computer is nothing like interacting in a meeting.

Dave G.

 

[PLB]

Hey onlyadrafter,

I am a contractor designer. At this current position, I am really only using my drafting capabilities. As far as advice goes, I've always felt that the more you can learn from each place of work/type of work, the better for you. I would highly recommend keeping an open ear and eye towards learning anything new that you possibly can. I began as a Structural drafter in a Paper Mill, but there, found myself drafting and engineering everything from struct. framing to gears, to piping, to whatever needed to be done. After that I moved into a Consulting Engineering firm and focussed mainly on structural with a small mix of Civil Engineering. Since then I have done Architectural, Structural, Mechanical, Civil, and even telephone system mapping. I have also performed Structural and Mechanical DESIGN duties.

I would recommend that anyone who feels like becoming a contractor/freelancer always bear in mind that the company that you work for will see you as a valuable tool to use in order to complete a certain amount of work, and then after the work is completed, like most tools, you get "put away", meaning you are jobless. One of the things that I get concerned about is trying to work 40 (maybe more) hours for the current employer while you have to be looking for the next job at the same time. Fortunately for me, the current employer is looking at keeping me on for the next 2-3 years.

Also, keep in mind that as a trend, more companies are hiring temp. people because the commitment to the employee as well as the overhead of keeping the people long-term can be minimized. When times get tough financially, the Temps. are the first to go.

Another selling point for you is to develop all of the skills that you can in associated areas. What I mean by that is learn Visual Basic and/or Autolisp to improve efficiencies in Autocad. Learn database skills as some company may need you to work on graphics that are linked to a database (this is what I am doing right now). Maybe increasing your design skills would help. I have found that engineers love to work with a drafter that knows enough about the design to be able to find "glitches" in the drawings OR suggest appropriate design changes to help the project. Basically, always keep learning to improve yourself.

One last thing, keep good records of places worked and income earned for tax purposes AND to help fill out your portfolio.

Hope this helps,
Paul

 

[IRstuff]

An intermediate step is the sign on with a consulting house. In the semiconductor industry, there were groups of layout designers that formed companies to deal with outsourced layouts and to fill in during crunches. That might be a good way to get started and to get contacts in the biz.

TTFN

 

[TheTick]

re:maybe only a drafter
but the best user at this company!
Your tag-line seems to suggest that this is how you perceive your value to your employer.

How good are you, really? What do you do? What do you do well? (advanced surfacing, drawing, managing large assemblies, etc.) What gives you the impression that these skills are the best for your career foundation? Your post doesn't really answer any of these questions.

I am not trying to be arbitrarily mean-spirited. However, your attitude may be a bit myopic. Don't confuse CAD savvy with engineering skill. CAD-skills, especially software-specific, are actually a pretty thin skill set to build an entire career path upon. This is especially true if one does not have a well-rounded set of design and engineering skills and education.

"Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings."--C. D. Jackson

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

 

[GregLocock]

It sounds like you might have stars in your eyes brought on by thoughts of earning 30 pounds an hour as a draughtsman. From this you need to knock VAT off, and the agency's take, which you might get to as low as 8%, here in Australia. Also you will probably have a longer commute.

There is also the cost of running your own business.

When I was hiring I would have paid just 20 pounds an hour maximum over here for a CAD guy, but we only needed AutoCAD.





Cheers

Greg Locock

 

[sean01]

Only a drafter,

For what it's worth - here's my experience of working as a contractor / consultant engineer (please don't ask - I never asked for the title) over the last 7 years in the Uk and Korea.

1) Like you seem to be - I was lured into contracting by the apparently large amount of money you could earn - in my case, I could double my permanent staff salary by going contracting often doing the same job.

2) I joined a recruiting comapny who had a contracting division - these were pretty easy to find, but in the UK I went with Morsons eventually - but I did sign on with INCAT Multec and matchtech as well, to give me some options. For myself it was a good idea to sign on with as many as possible and to talk to other contractors, to get into the flow of information as to where the next job was coming from.
Signing on with an agency like this gave me a year of breathing space in finding an accountant, and getting expereinced in the subtleties of contracting. Once I had been there for a year, I was offered the chance to go out on my own, either using an umbrella company they had set up - or out and out on my own.

3) In general companies seem to recruit contractors for one of two reasons (a) They don't have a particular skillset in house (b) They don't have enough of a particular skillset in house to meet demand. In my experience there are only a few companies who tend to use CAD systems to their full capability (ie use all the functions and even use the system in accordance with how the training course trains them !) Therefore, I personally only tend to concentrate on really knowing the fundamentals of each system I learn, making sure I can use them quickly and effectively, rather than get immersed in the detail of some of the fancier commands - as most of the roles I have taken on can easily be accomadated within these.

Kind of a long winded answer - but I guess I am saying make sure you know, understand and can apply the fundamentals of your discipline and the software you use. This should mean that your skillset transfers across industries, which is a useful feature.

4) I personally looked at the software that was in use at the time of my decision and made it a priority to learn that. In my case AUTOCAD occupied about 75% of the UK market at that time - so I went out and bought a copy and attended training courses on it. Next came ANVIL, then CATIA, then PDGS and SDRC. In terms of qualifications, I was a craft apprentice and came up through the city and guilds route onto ONC and HNC, but it really doesn't do any harm to have a degree - everyone else seems to have one these days, and it seems to be the entry level qualification into a lot of jobs these days.

5) Contract agencies tend to look for work first, then people who have the experience and qualifications in the same field or ideally in the same company. But above all else - they look for someone who can reliably earn them the money they charge (ie they can do the job required), without damaging their reputation.

6) Is being a contractor better than being employed ? At the moment in the UK I would say not !! There is a huge exodus of design and development jobs to low labour const countries at the moment (following the manufacturing function) and work is really tight here. This has led to the rate coming down from low 30s to low 20s. When all things are rosey its not bad money and it can be fun claiming for tax - but for career development, benefits and security for your family its not the ideal choice !!

7) I think I've answered this question in general above - specific keywords you're looking for might be A and B class surfacing, solid modelling and detail design. I think as well it helps to have some sort of project management and development experience in there too

best wishes


sean

 

[Cheeseburger]

I agree with TheTick … while you may be the best at what you do (in your case being a Draftsman) … in a lot of medium sized companies that I’ve worked at (here in the U.S.) they never had any “Draftsmen/Draftspeople.” All of the Designers and Engineers did they’re own drawings.

I think the only need for drafters was in the Documentation Group for performing Engineering Changes (ECO’s / ECN’s). Not very glamorous work.

The other factor you need to take into account before going on to the life of a contractor is (from my experience) that it’s not very stable work. You could sign on for a nine-month contract job only to be let go after 3 months. And they don’t need to give you advance notice (again, from my own experience).

To say it’s tough is, I think, an understatement. But I’ve also known a few people who love that type of work. Personally, I would rather be a direct employee with all the benefits and semi-perks.

But that’s just my opinion … Cheers !!!

Brian

"Imagination is more important than Knowledge" A.Einstein