Should I teach myself AutoCAD to improve resume? 2

[MEGrad123]

I graduated in May 2010 with a mechanical engineering degree and have been actively job searching. I want to get into HVAC and sustainable design, and work for an engineering firm. I have not had an internship and am not proficient in AutoCAD, but I have a high GPA. Should I take a couple of weeks to teach myself AutoCAD to improve my resume? Any tips or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[bridgebuster]

When I started working in the 70's, slide rules had pretty much been replaced by calculators. Although I still know how to use some features. All of our drafting was done by hand. I was fortunate to have hade three years of drafting and detailing in high school. In college, we had one 2-credit course on drafting. When I started work, engineers did full sized drawings in pencil and the drafting department made them look nice in ink.

I never got the hang of ink - I still have a ruling pen - even with a Rapidograph pen. I still have drafting equipment - T-square, adjustable triangles, dividers, compass, Ames lettering guide, French curve, protractor (or as one young engineer asked me a few years ago: "do you have one of those things that measures angles?")

In the early 90's I taught myself Autocad from a book. My boss didn't mind giving people the disks if they wanted to study at home. He didn't consider it piracy so long as it was for learning and not moonlighting. Of course, I was sent to field job and when I returned a few years later the office was using Microstation. Intergraph did a good job of selling their product to the state DOT's. In the 90's Microstation was a difficult program to learn. I eventually got the hang of it for what I needed - reviewing drawings and making minor edits.

Presently, I don't any CAD programs on my computer. I was told I don't need them as a project manager. I sometimes wonder about the need for CAD operators. For the past 10 years, where I was, the younger engineers have been doing their own drawings. We had some CAD people to assist those of use who aren't very proficient, but our CAD people weren't that good. Most didn't have any real manual drafting skills. They didn't have an eye for presentation or if something was wrong they wouldn't notice.

Now, after being sold again, the CAD people in the department I was assigned to are pretty sharp and produce quality work for the most part. However, I really don't know if the majority of engineers in our department do their own drawings.

 

[MEGrad123]

I appreciate all of the input and experiences. I will probably try to learn AutoCAD Revit on my own as my former university has a lab with it, instead of spending over $1000 to learn it. This will give me the versatility needed so that I can meet the needs of any firm.

 

[Paulusgnome]

As others have said, it certainly can't help to have some familiarity with AutoCad.
Also, if you get the chance to learn about other CAD packages, that too may be very helpful.
The really important skill is largely independent of the software package being used : the ability to produce clear, easily-understood, complete drawings with sufficient detail to enable the reader to fully understand what you intend to communicate. If you can demonstrate that you can do this, then your needing to learn how to use a new cad package should be much less of an issue.

 

[Qshake]

I'm an old school engineer who had to work on the boards before being allowed to analyze or design. Once CADD had become mainstream in the industry (i.e. not just at Boeing or McDonnell Douglas) I took a course in CADD at the local community college. Not every one of my peers did and I have loads of experience over them and the experience also made learning other CAD packages much easier.

I wouldn't worry about an engineer being stuck at CADD thus wasting an engineering education. I would worry about being an engineer without CADD - that might lead to unemployment.

As IRSTUFF pointed out the industry has done away with a number of positions that were at one time valuable and that one could make a career of: word processer/typist, drafting techncian, and technologist.

For many years when I first came into the industry we had a pool of typist and later word processors that developed engineering specifications based on mark-ups provided by the engineers. It's probably been 15 years since that group was eliminated. Now engineers do their own specifications, with a simple "save as" and run through some mark-ups. Turns out this is just as economical than having the engineer re-read and red-up the hardcopy. Now they're expected to read and mark-up at the same time.

We also had a separate drafting department with a manager. Though for structural work we still have detailers/technicians, we don't have a drafting manager as it falls under engineering now. Our civil group no longer has technicians for drafting as the thier roadway programs do pretty much everything the engineer needs.

Times are changing! Hop on and enjoy the ride!

Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

 

[KENAT]

I just want to stress again the 'learn to draft' aspect.

Find out what the industry drawing standard for what you do is and get to know it, as well as learning what is perceived as the most common CAD program in that field.

If I understand what you mean by HVAC correctly, then ASME Y14.5M-1994 probably isn't the correct spec.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[cry22]

You have a chance to learn revit - go do it and fast.
if you can grab somthing on BIM, do that too.

Needless to say that without ANY CAD, no one will hire you in the HVAC industry that you're trying to target.

To be productive as an HVAC engineer, and be trusted with a project, you need a minimum of 5-years, and before those 5-years get here, someone needs to pay you, and you need to justify your paycheck. CAD WILL justify your paycheck.

No one will hire you to sit around and wait for you to learn the trade.

For Inormation, some people are being taught Revit and BIM in HIGH SCHOOL, and here you're entering the market as an engineer with no internship? and no CAD? where have you been man? you need to look for intership positions.

 

[shadow401]

If your interests are HVAC and sustainable design than maybe you should look at going for a LEED AP certifiction.

 

[KM]

Yes--do it. See if you can take a short course on it, makes the learning more efficient.

I took a three-weekends-in-a-row crash course in AutoCAD at the local community college and it was the best thing I ever did for my career. Ended up using it right away on several projects. Should have done it years ago.