CAD Newbee requires path to enlightenment

hours & hours of cad time.. as far as standards .. they seem to be pretty different everywhere you go, depending on who you talk to. make sure you can build whatever you are drawing from the information on your screen & you got it whooped. good luck.

Thanks for this, but I was after the wisdom of your experience. A short cut to truth, an idea from one who has travelled the many paths of frustration and has found his Nirvana...

Speak Cad masters, humble novice listens.

there's a lifetime of wisdom in that short paragraph, if you don't believe me, print it out & place it in a sealed envelope & open it in 15 or so years. Then my son, you will understand.

The one piece of advice I can give, and I give it full in the knowledge that I do not class myself as a CAD professional, NEVER, ever let someone tell you that what you do is easy and that you are easily replaced. If an employer thinks that, let them get someone else, and find yourself another job. It is not worth trying to show them that you are any good, they would never believe you, instead, cut your losses, and put your energies into finding an employer that appreciates you and your skills.

Bigjobs

WOW. I was gonna say just about the opposite. .. do your job , keep your mouth shut , because you are easily replaceable. if you think you are under compensated then find a better offer. when you give your notice, your employer will make you an offer you cant refuse to keep you, if you are all that. I have seen about 20 stupid people come & go through this office, in the last 10 years. some were cad wiz that knew it all. if you act like that , you won't last long.

My motto: use your head. My favorite resource: this group. My favorite site: see the sig below ; ) My advice: when asking questions about CAD standards replace the words "CAD standards" with "underpants". If the question is then ridiculous, then the question is ridiculous.

Fair enough comment, although, my point stretches to any dicipline of any career really, and was more pointed to the fact that an employer that doesn't value their employees is not worth having.

I started my working life as an engineer, both manual machinist and CNC programmer/operator. It took me seven years to learn that I was actually quite good at what I did, and that my empoyler didn't know what the frell they were talking about in respect to my abilities.It was all so that I wouldn't ask for a rise and he could get away with paying me what was sweat shop rates really. The killer is that I worked for my father's company, but that is another story altogether. :)

I would never accept an offer to make me stay in a position when I have handed my notice in, in fact I have turned down 2 so far. The point being that if I am worth X now, why wasn't I worth X 3 months ago when I asked for a rise?

And as for being a CAD whizz, I design the internals of offices and shops. I class myself as good at it, I can transfer my ideas to the screen in a modest amount of time in 3D, this is done with no mess and no fuss. I don't shout from the rooftops how good I am, (sorry this is going to sound so twee) I let my drawings and the time they are done in do my talking.

The point I was (not very well either) trying to make was that, if you are any good, then find a job that you enjoy doing, for a company that respects you and pays you accordingly. Then you will indeed be a happy human.

Bigjobs

Hmmm.. that's completely different if you stuck it out for 7 years.. :o) the guys I'm talking about come in & know so much already there's not room in their brains to learn to do it the way this company wants it done I work for an Industrial construction company , in the mechanical/ sheet metal dept & do a bunch of everything. Mostly I measure & make prints of anything a customer needs fabricated when they don't supply a print. that includes piping, ductwork, motorbases, structural, .ect.. I spend most of my time solving problems...

the guy that trained me 10 years ago is now the president & I run this dept. Out of the 20 plus guys that have been hired to do this job, one remains.. the rest were sent to the shop as laborers & then quit or were fired.

I have seen several that were very intelligent & were cad whizzes, they were the worst to try & train. I'd rather take a guy that used to be a carpenter or millwright & teach him autocad. common sense is hard to find

The thing is that i REALLY miss my job as an engineer, the job satisfaction was second to none, and whilst I love the job I do now, the problems I meet are not that difficult compared. All i need to do is know the building regs to a detail. then anything I can think of that fits into them is fair game. Funny thing is that my engineering background helps me no end, I only draw stuff that I know can be built.

Another thing I didn't say previously, but should have done was this. I have always been open to learning from people that know more than me. I know that I don't know everything, but i can't forget when in my last job, they sent round the chief trainer from one of the best architects firms in Liverpool to teach me 3d. He showed me what he had brought, i showed him what I had already done. He left. Funny as frell.

Bigjobs

I am hereby asking permission to use this as my sig, giving credit to yourself of course. :)

Bigjobs

1) CAD is a database that happens to have a graphical interface. CAD is NOT an electronic Etch-A-Sketch. 2) Don't work too hard: let CAD do what CAD does.

-- "Who we are and who we become depends, in part, on whom we love."

-- "A General Theory Of Love" Thanks, Mom ______________________________________________________________ Glen Appleby snipped-for-privacy@armory.com

It's yours. Just promise to wash it once a week at least.

EXCELLENT excellent advice!!

I amjust watching all the series in order, and it is sort of affecting me.

Bigjobs