What are your thoughts on the value of Autodesk certification to a PE with less than 10 years experience? Does the level (Associate/Professional) make a difference? Is Civil 3D more impressive than AutoCAD?
Very little. I didn't know Autodesk had brought that back, even when they were pushing it hard, it didn't really matter much to employers. Few of them actually knew what it was. Nowadays, most employers are more interested in a college degree with some fluency in a cad package. I'm speaking primarily from an automotive point of view so civil may be much different. Just my $.02.
I don't know if it would help in Arch or Civil. It probably will not make a difference elsewhere.
Go with the 3D apps like Civil 3D or Rivet.
AutoCAD is used primarily as 2D.
Thanks everyone, that's what I thought. Turns out I was able to get the Professional level certification in Civil 3D without pulling an all-nighter, but I won't rush out to get that Autodesk logo put on my business cards.
Nope, never tried RiverCAD, sorry. I have, however, used HEC-RAS quite a bit in stand-alone and can't fathom why someone would want to pay for it. The input files are plain text, so easy to output your x-sections in the right format.