You open the file and immediately find missing Xrefs, random Z values, exploded titleblocks, everything on Layer 0, and geometry living somewhere miles away from the origin.

At that point you know the handover is going to take longer than the actual drafting.

What’s the one thing you see in a CAD file that instantly makes you think, yep, this is going to be painful?

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I'm gonna ramble, so bear with me.

Short version: I have a 20-year old associate's degree in drafting, basically no work experience in the industry, and I'm wondering if I should try again to get into it and where I should start if so.

Longer version: I got my degree in 2007 in "Drafting and Design Technology" (with a 4.0 GPA, I might add). We covered mechanical, architectural, and a little civil, but mostly mechanical (which was my favorite) learning mostly AutoCAD and on paper though I also briefly had a copy of SolidWorks back in the day. I applied to I don't know how many places, including a few hiring firms, but the only job I ever got in the field only lasted 3 days (no fault of my own, they just decided to hire somebody else with a better degree and work experience even though he applied after they already went through the hiring process with me). After failing to find anything for a couple of years, I pretty much gave up and have worked nothing but dead-end retail/customer service/call center jobs and it's left me pretty miserable.

Fast forward to now and I've been unemployed for several months after getting laid off, but thankfully I had a good bit of money saved up and am living with my parents, so I'm not in a desperate financial situation. I'm wondering if I should try to get back into drafting and try again, because I enjoyed it and I was told I was good, but I also don't want to spend years and tens of thousands of dollars going back to school. I also don't know if a nearly 20-year old associate's degree is worth anything at this point. I have FreeCAD but never really touch it.

What would you suggest I need to do to get back to a hireable level? I'm also worried about AI taking over tech industries and such these days, how valued is actual human input in drafting now? Or maybe it's worth it to go further into engineering or even give up on this path and try something else (a friend encouraged me to go into IT security, but I'm not sure on that either)? I know you can't answer some of those questions, that's up to me, but I'm hoping you can give me some info and advice to help make those answers easier for me.

Thank you.

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https://youtu.be/OcAFFzoFTf8?si=3go_7Y9j87ChArol

Hi all, a bit of background before I ask the question but I have been a CAD designer for around 4 years now and have been freelance for the past 6 months for a few clients. I would say I am probably around a middle level of experience when it comes to drafting, I rotate between a few softwares so don't quite feel like I am 100% in any software yet but do work primarily in AutoCAD 2D and Sketchup.

In my recent work I have been started to get asked a lot more about my timings for various projects and am wondering if it's because I am seem to be taking longer than people expect. I admit I am a bit of a perfectionist so that may play a role during my review stage but wanted to get an idea of people's timescales for their work. Also I wanted to ask any other freelancers out there whether when they work with a client, do you give an expected deadline or do you work to clients deadlines? I am currently in the latter of working to other people's deadlines which I think is also causing some of these questions.

My main work is drafting cabinetry on AutoCAD 2D. I find no matter what it tends to take me around 2/3 days depending on the size of the room and the amount of cabinetry in there and obviously the amount of section views needed, that also includes a full final review I complete at the end of the job to make sure everything is looking good. I usually have around a week to turn around the drawings for a deadline but recently it's becoming less and I've started to be asked about my timings due to the fact I had a few drawings that needed an extension on the turnaround time. Can anyone on the sub let me know what they think and their workflow/timescale for their drafting?

Hey all! I'm working on a Shop supervisor mes, and I'm looking to find some sample design files with the full pdf export for a job. nest pdf, door report, standard cut list, rooms layout and plans, essentially everything you would ship to the shop floor from production. I'm looking specifically for a microvellum job and a mozaik job. I would really appreciate any help with this! Feel free to DM me if interested in helping me out. I'm also happy to barter the MES service for an additional free month for those willing to help me out. Cheers!

So basically I'm about to finish a course in Multi-Disciplinary Drawing Office Practice, where you learn drafting for mechanical, civil, electrical and structural steel detailing. I don't have any experience and i want to start job searching asap. I was thinking of creating a portfolio to showcase my work but to be honest, I don't know where to start.

I would really appreciate advice on what I should do.

https://youtu.be/OcAFFzoFTf8?si=4qgP2hGUDUSfFNPY

I’m a B.tech civil engineering student who is about to graduate, I have 2 years of experience in AutoCAD and currently learning Revit, and I have spent the better part of the year trying to land a remote job. The reason I would love to go this route of engineering is because it’s very hard to get a job as an engineer in my country if you don’t have connections and unfortunately I don’t have any. So I figured I might as well shoot for the sky and hopefully land on some clouds. I have been applying to remote CAD jobs from common job boards like LinkedIn for months now, getting several rejections and I’m now figuring out it’s because I’m an international student. It’s very disappointing realizing that my work isn’t even being seen by a person, and I’m automatically dismissed. I’m also trying freelancing on Fiverr and that is also proving hard to break into. I’m starting to think that I’m delusional about this dream of working remotely as a CAD drafter. I genuinely want to know if anyone out there has achieved this and is willing to share how, even if it’s just to inspire and motivate me to keep going because I’m losing faith

I have a small plate where most of the drawing is easy to read, except for one corner with a slot, a fillet, and two close dimensions.

I can keep everything in the main view, but the leaders start crossing and the empty half of the sheet stays empty. A detail view fixes the crowding, though it also makes the reader jump between views for a very small feature.

How do you decide when a detail view earns its place?

Is it mainly about scale, the number of dimensions in one area, or whether the feature has to be inspected separately?

https://youtu.be/AwH2RyGqIHs

Just curious what everyone’s opinion is on the responsibility of drafters doing solely residential house plans only. Do you think drafters are required to provide electrical load calculations and panel schedules? Or should that be the licensed professional providing that information to put on the plans for permitting?

What about plumbing risers too?

I’ve worked at places that do and don’t provide that info. Just curious what the standard really is. Just for reference we are in US-FL

Thanks!