Draftsperson

[Madison]

Help!

I've been looking for a position as a draftsperson to fill my long, lonely days and maybe make some money, too. I just showed interest in an advertisement placed locally and I'm waiting to hear (or not hear) back from them about that position.

It's part-time, working with AutoCAD 2000LT.

I've been working with CAD since I was a sophomore in high school. That's about 7 years. I'm self-taught, but I took classes in both college and high school, earning an A in both. I've been using AutoCAD 2000 and 2002, and more recently, Autodesk Inventor, to design parts and robots for teams for 5 years.

I have no paid experience as a draftsperson..

So, all of you folks who work in industry already, what should I expect as an hourly rate of pay? If I get an interview, I don't want to price myself out of the job, but I don't want to undervalue my work, either.

I've been previously offered similar drafting work at $20/hr. However, that was with a team sponsor, and I don't know how that may have affected what I was paid.

Your help is appreciated.

[Brandon Martus]

When I went full time, I needed to know what to bargain for, so one tool I found helpful was on salary.com:

http://www.salary.com/salary/layouts...ll_display.asp

It's a salary calculator that takes region & experience into account. It was pretty close (+/-) to what my employer offered me.

I'm not sure if they give hourly rates, but you could do the math on the salary they give you, I suppose.

[Andy Baker]

$20 per hour WITH benefits is a good start.

Traditionally, at Delphi, we hire draftspeople from contract design companies. We will sign a contract with a "contract house" for 4-6 months (or a year), paying $30/hr. or so... then the company supplied a draftsperson and pays them their wage ($20-25), provides them benefits and overhead (management, etc.).

So... $20 is a good start. But, if you show your skill, show speed, and do quality work, you can get as much as $22-24/hr.

Andy B.

[Andy Grady]

Man...I'm so depressed...ive been a draftsman for 7 years now, and I just now realized how underpaid I am! THANKS ALOT GUYS!!!

"M" my advice to you...take the offer and run with it!

Peace,
Andy Grady

[Madison]

Thanks, everyone.

I hope this comes through. I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to prepare some sort of portfolio?

Are the things I've done with FIRST requiring reasonable skill? I work fast, I think, but I don't have any real experience to compare my work against that of other people.

[Greg Perkins]

i would like to go into drafting for a company, i have had experience in autocad R15, and 2000, Pro-E, Inventor. I have made some robots in autocadd and inventor, mainly for fun, as if i would actually build them...thats another story. this pic is a bot i designed in about 10 minutes, it is made in inventor. its pretty low quality in detail but the idea is given about what i can do.

[petek]

Originally posted by M. Krass
Thanks, everyone.
I hope this comes through. I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to prepare some sort of portfolio?

Definitely put together a portfolio! I think it would be hard to get a job without one unless your prospective employer already knows what you can do.

Ideally you should have a variety of model screen shots, detail and assembly drawings, preferably of the same parts. An Inventor Award submission would provide good material, if you've worked on one.

When interviewing candidates things I've looked for include photo-realistic rendering of models, correctly applied GD&T dimensioning, clarity and neatness of dimensions and completeness of the bill of material on assembly drawings. Of course, if you are going for an entry level position, you might not be expected to meet a high standard in all areas, just show your best work

Really, anyone looking to get into an engineering or design career or change jobs should have a portfolio to go along with their resume. Even though I've been with my present company for 9 yrs and am not looking for a new job, I still keep my portfolio and resume up to date. You never know...

[Madison]

Originally posted by petek
Definitely put together a portfolio! I think it would be hard to get a job without one unless your prospective employer already knows what you can do.

Ideally you should have a variety of model screen shots, detail and assembly drawings, preferably of the same parts. An Inventor Award submission would provide good material, if you've worked on one.

When interviewing candidates things I've looked for include photo-realistic rendering of models, correctly applied GD&T dimensioning, clarity and neatness of dimensions and completeness of the bill of material on assembly drawings.

Really, anyone looking to get into an engineering or design career or change jobs should have a portfolio to go along with their resume. Even though I've been with my present company for 9 yrs and am not looking for a new job, I still keep my portfolio and resume up to date. You never know...

Thank you! I don't have an Inventor Award submission offhand because I wasn't eligible to enter as a non-student. I did make all of the models and assemblies for our robot, however, and I have all of those files on my laptop computer.

I'll go through and pick out some of the more unique parts and designs and clean them up some so I can present them if I need to.

Is something like this noteworthy? My biggest fear is that I'm grossly underestimating the quality and complexity of the work commonly done. My next biggest fear is that I'm selling myself short.

[petek]

That looks like some really good work! You've got a good start with that. You should do some detail drawings of some of the individual components. The side plate with all the cutouts, properly dimensioned, would be a real selling point.

When you go to an interview, be prepared to talk about what was challenging to do and what constraints were used in the model assembly. If you were involved in the decisions about how to make that part of the robot, you should talk about that and why you decided to build it they way you did.

[Madison]

Thanks again.

All of this is new to me, really, so I have a lot to learn.

That is a side project I've been working on for a friend. It's not finished yet, so I haven't begun to think about dimensioning the drawings for it. Incidentally, it's something that, when it's finished, I plan to make available through freelanceFIRST.

How much time would it take for an experienced draftsperson to make that? So far, that represents about 5 hours of solid work by me. Of course, I'm also responsible for designing the entire thing as well. It was designed on-the-fly, so to speak, so that may also account for some of the time it took me to get this far.

[petek]

5 hrs sounds reasonable for the work there. That shows proficiency in modeling in Inventor. Now you "just" need to convey your idea to a person who would make the parts, which means detail drawings. Inventor isn't the strongest package for 2D design, but it will do the job.

If you have other designs which you did in AutoCAD, you should put them in your portfolio, too, since many companies still do a lot of 2D CAD.

[meaubry]

I would also suggest thatyou include drawings that demonstrate your capability in dimensioning (GD&T preferred). Component details (multiple) that are intended to be manufactured using different processes - ie; an injection molded part and a formed part, like a bracket. Include an assembly drawing, with at least one section view on it if you can, to round out the portfolio. Another thing to remember is that the ability to create models (solids or wire frame) demonstrate the ability to utilize a specific software program. You should also be able to demonstrate some level of knowledge in drafting standards and drawing creation. One last thing, even though the job is about communicating graphically, it is very important to communicate well verbally in the interview. I support my comments from experience - Delphi Design Group Manager for 5 years and Baker College Drafting/Design instructor 4 years. That's what I'd be looking for. I wish you the very best of luck in your endeavor.

[Greg Perkins]

i made this in inventor, its simple, but oddly perplexing...

[Madison]

Thanks, everyone, for your help. I think you may have saved me from undervaluing myself.

I heard back today from the company that placed the Help Wanted advertisement looking for a draftsperson. We had an interview, I guess, on the phone.

It's a small company, and when I mentioned $20/hr, they laughed at me and offered $12. Seeing as I don't have any job at all, $12/hr is better than nothing right now.

I told them I'd beeing working as a volunteer and mentor for the past several years using AutoCAD 2000, 2002, and Autodesk Inventor. They seemed satisfied and mentioned nothing at all about seeing the work I've done in the past.

My responsibility would be to create floorplans of commercial buildings and then overlay fire alarms and protection systems, security systems, etc. They said I'd have to familiarize myself with local firecode and that there was a chance I might have to go out on site to take measurements or make changes to the plans. Whatever plans I made would be shown to an architect and a fire marshall for building approval. I felt a bit uncomfortable about being the last leg in the process to getting approval for installation. That seems like a lot of responsibility to put upon a part-time employee that you've never met.

Then, the "interview" got really strange. They asked me for my height and weight, and whether I had any body piercings or tatoos. They asked about the length of my hair, too. My hair was too long for their standards, apparently, and they said I'd have to have it cut shorter before they'd hire me.

Now, I understand that companies might have a dress code, and even grooming standards. Asking someone their height and weight is, to my knowledge, illegal. My mother works in human resources and agrees.

They asked me if I'd cut my hair. I told them that I'd have to think it over. (I like my hair, and it has no effect whatsoever on my ability to move a mouse.) I've had a few hours to think this over now, and it doesn't seem like things here are kosher or entirely on the up and up.

They're expecting me to call them back on Monday with a decision.

[WakeZero]

Originally posted by M. Krass
They asked me if I'd cut my hair. I told them that I'd have to think it over. (I like my hair, and it has no effect whatsoever on my ability to move a mouse.) I've had a few hours to think this over now, and it doesn't seem like things here are kosher or entirely on the up and up.

Ummm, that seems a bit odd. I would look elsewhere in the meantime to keep your options open =)