Should Engineers have access to CAD 1

[Ussuri]

We have an ongoing discussion in my office whether Engineers should have access to AutoCAD. There are two schools of thought.

No: As Engineers we should provide sketches to a draftsperson/technician and they should develop the drawing. The Engineer should then mark up checkprints, so never has any need to a drawing package. Working with CAD is not part of the Engineers Job

Yes: As Engineers we do drawing as part of the design process, visualisation, checking geometry, conceptualising etc. A person can do more accurate sketches with CAD, and a lot quicker as well. The sketch can then be taken an worked up into a full drawing. The art /skill of the draftsperson is taking the bones and scribbles from an Engineer and turning it in to a professional document.

I personally fall into the Yes category but I would be interested to hear other members opinions.

 

[loosestring]

Ideally engineers should have access to cadd drawings so long as they are trained to use it well. With the later packages of Land Desktop/Civil Design, and now Civil 3D, if an engineer is able to use them he can enter design and let the drafter work with the cosmetics. Alternatively, if an engineer is not schooled (or refuses to learn) in the software it is best to train the drafters to be designers and then let the engineer qc their work. I think it's most efficient if the engineers are trained to use the software effectively, utilizing all of the design tools available.