CAD Employment outlook/options

Ive been doing voice and data structured cabling for about 14 years now,
and I am getting tired of it bigtime. Where I live in NY, my business
has been slowly eroding away to the bigtime union electrical contractors
in the NYC area. So, being stressed to the limit and just plain tired
of installing cabling, I am looking for a new career.

Before I got into the voice and data stuff, I was very interested in
drafting and CAD. I want to know if anyone here has any opinions
on the job outlook for CAD operators and drafters. I have not worked in
this field at all and havent even taken CAD instructional classes as of
yet. I have dabbled with on my home PC.

So, if anyone has any pluses or negatives on the job outlook please respond.

Thanks

Joe

 

If you are going to get into the field of CAD, get training in 3D (Inventor,
SolidWorks, or ProE). I was taught AutoCAD at the tech school and, from
browsing other job opportunities, I have found that everyone wants someone
with 3D training or experience.

Drafting doesn't pay the best, but in my company, drafters move up to be
designers. Designers are somewhere between engineers and drafters. They do
the same work as engineers but the pay is just a little more than what the
drafter gets.

Relz

 

I've been a CAD man for almost 16 years now, and I can say its been a
living but it can be as stressful as any job out there. Dealing with
deadlines, working with designers that at times make your drafting job
harder than necessary, constant revisions and communication problems
take much of the fun from the job.

You can make very good money in the field after you gain speed,
accuracy and ESP with your designer/engineer.

IMO most of the problems today are caused by the ease of sending plans
and updates via email. Instead of getting nearly completed documents
you now get many plans that are still in design process and will have
to change your designs each time a new set of plans arrives in your
email box, all the way to the deadline.

 

Try searching America's Job Bank;
http://www.jobsearch.org/seeker/jobsearch/keyword
Keyword: Autocad

You can search within x miles of you house, by state, or whole country.

Mountain Man