CAD technician

Hi all,

I have a B.Sc. not really intrested in the whole area.

I have recently taken city&guilds cad courses and was going to take the plunge and try to get work as a CAD technician, planning to keep studing at night in architecture/construction.

I am intrested in this sector and have practical exp. was wondering is this a bad area to be going into considering the downturn in construction. There seems to be lots of work in this area once you have 1-2 yrs exp. at the moment.

just wondering if this will take a nose dive over next few yrs.

hoping to here from some people working in this area

CHICCO said:

I have a BSC not really intrested in the whole area

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What area? B.Sc. in what?

CAD technicians (even those with little experience) were in great demand at the height of the boom, however with a downturn in construction I think CAD technicians (with little formal building construction knowledge) will find it hard to compete with architectural technicians for work. CAD Technicians won't really compete with qualified and experienced arch. techs. for salary either; with increased regulation and complexity in building now you have to have either formal education in the area or years of experience.

ClubMan said:

What area? B.Sc. in what?

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hI,
thanks for reply, I have a food science degree worked in quality and production in food industry. im not financially constrained no dependents no morgtage etc. to go back re-train at something else.

Carpenter said:

CAD technicians (even those with little experience) were in great demand at the height of the boom, however with a downturn in construction I think CAD technicians (with little formal building construction knowledge) will find it hard to compete with architectural technicians for work. CAD Technicians won't really compete with qualified and experienced arch. techs. for salary either; with increased regulation and complexity in building now you have to have either formal education in the area or years of experience.

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That's my experience as well.

Interesting points jmdesign1, I think your experiences with underskilled techies are symptomatic of the boom we've just had: newly qualified and inexperienced technicians (CAD and Architectural) were thrown at jobs for the simple reason that they were available. Nothing beats experience and a proven ability to problem solve. Unfortunately many colleges are producing graduates who are very technically and computer literate but perhaps their "feeling" for building and problem solving is not so well developed. Good technicians are problem solvers, a draughtsman is limited by their practical knowledge. To get back to the OPs query I suggest they get a two week stint of practical hands on experience with an office to see if that's what they really want to do. It can be a ruthless business too.

Thanks jmdesign for ur positive reply, i've come across a few people with a similar background, but as with urself they have all got a few years work experince now do you think it will be more difficult now to be starting out with no drawing exp. apart from fas course than 5or6 yrs ago when the industry was busier. Any tips on getting first job or leg in the door would be much appreciated.

I would not employ a draughtsman/woman or CAD technician who did not have at a practical understanding of how what he/she designs is made. In jmdesign1's case I suspect that he knows the machines that produce his designs and how the timber frames are assembled on site. As far as I am concerned this is an absolute prerequisite for any designer. An engineering or Architectural qualification is not necessary for this to happen but it often helps.