CAD Portfolio?

FIRST Career
1

Hey y’all,

I’m in a bit of a financial pinch and so I’ve been looking at pursuing drafting and CAD related work to suppliment or supplant entirely my income. My target is earning approximately $500+/wk so that I might be able to pay my rent, eat, and go back and take more classes toward my ME degree – even though I really don’t want an ME degree.

For those of you who have done CAD work, how did you market your skills? I approach it much like I would an art job and I’m not sure if that’s an effective approach. Is creating a portfolio of previously completed CAD projects useful? I was imagining that, since I’ll be applying for a job via e-mail, screenshots of different projects would be sufficient.

I just really am seeking some sort of guidance as to how I can best market my ability to do drafting work. I think I’m pretty good, but the people here have seen what I’ve done and have far more experience in professional environments, so perhaps you’d all be willing to think back to the work from me you’ve seen and offer advice.

Thanks.

2

Have you taken any courses or obtained certification?
Worked as a professional draftsman or designer?
What CAD software have you used?

These are the types of questions that an employer will ask. You will need a resume that gets you noticed to even get in the door. Most employers will want someone fully trained that with just a standard work can go to work for them.

There are many contract houses around that provide contract work to engineering firms and companies. I suggest sending your resume to them and they will shop it around for you. We get most of our draftsman/designers from Apollo engineering. We have used CDI and other contract agencies in the past.

Pete

3

I won’t be too much help here, but my current job that I’m working till I make some decisions is indrafting and various other things. I picked it up back in high school on a recommendation from my CAD teacher. Anyways, I’m working at an AV company drafting one-line drawings of the AV systems we install and occasional architectural detail drawings. I’ve picked up a lot of extra duties around the office thanks to being too good at picking things up quickly.

Anyways, I didn’t have a formal portfolio or anything much at all when I first got the job, just a recommendation from an experienced draftsmen. And the ability to catch on quick to what was going on. I know that’s probably not too much help, but still. Also, I’ll note that not all drafting positions are engineering related, so expand your search for a position accordingly.

4

It’s this sort of thing that I find most frustrating because it often makes me feel as if I have very little to offer.

I have taken classes in drafting using AutoCAD in both high school and college, but I have no formal certification in its use; or in the use of anything else, for that matter. I am, however, a very good draftsperson.

I’ve never done paid drafting work, but I have done drafting for FIRST robots for six years and have gained innumerable experiences from that, including design and drafting for production. I’m always unsure if the work I’ve done for FIRST “counts” as experience, though. I can try to dig up examples of my work if you’ve never seen anything I’ve posted here.

I have experience in a number of CAD programs and am self-taught in all of their operation. Therefore, I am confident that I can adapt quickly to other programs should the need arise. I have used SolidEdge, Solidworks, Inventor, AutoCAD, and the useless CADKey.

I’m a very intelligent, capable person and I’m a little frustrated right now with being told, over and over, that I can’t do something because I don’t have a little sheet of paper that says I can – and I can’t that paper unless someone gives me a chance to prove myself to so I can eat, pay rent, and go back to school :slight_smile:

5

Given your situation, I think you should:

  1. Work on your portfolio to demonstate what you’ve done, and
  2. Prepare to talk about your CAD experience and your role(s) in FIRST which would relate to the position.

If I were interviewing you for an entry-level position, I’d want to see a portfolio of clearly presented designs featuring design data, 3D models, assembly drawings and fully-dimensioned fabrication drawings (2D) with examples in AutoCAD and at least one of the major solid packages.

Screenshots alone would not be enough for me. Since you’re likely to be doing detail drafting to start with, I’d be most interested in whether your fabrication drawings will tell the shop what they need to know to make the parts (e.g. all features located & dimensioned properly, tolerances and finishes specified, etc.). You’ll also want to show assembly drawings, complete with bill of materials, all parts called out and any necessary assembly notes.

(Many places go direct from CAD to CNC without paper drawings, but I think most still generate 2D .dxf or .dwgs to call out the details. At least that’s how I work with one CNC shop I use. BTW, the 2Ds are also used by the shops to quote on before they see the solid model.)

I would ask you to describe your contributions in decision-making and how you worked out details and solved problems, and I prefer to work with team players, so I tend to look for evidence of that, too. In your case these might include things like brainstorming, working with other mentors, teaching team members and using “we” at least as much as “I” when talking about accomplishments.

You were going to teach robotics summer camp last summer, right? That might be a good example of leadership and technical communications.

Average pay for entry-level CAD with little experience appears to be about $15/hr according to Salary.com, but it may be a little higher in NY. So your target of $500/wk sounds possible for part-time, but could run to 30 hrs/wk.

Good luck!

[FWIW, my qualifications to comment: I do a little CAD (mainly Inventor these days), have interviewed about 20 or so people for R&D & design engineering positions in my group and have worked with mechanical designers on and off for over 20 years. But I’m sorry to say, we aren’t likely to be hiring any time in the foreseeable future.]

6

You should put a portfolio together of your CAD projects. If you get an interview at a place you will be able to show them the work that you can do. Even though you don’t have a certificate let them know you have taken college courses in drafting and you’re planning on continuing. I personally don’t see why the work you’ve done in FIRST wouldn’t count. Not only does FIRST give/gave you CAD experience but it also shows potential employers you’re willing to help out (community service).

We have a CAD department where I work. They’re responsible for designing all of the automation systems we build for the plastic injection molding business. 85-90% of the work is done in Solidworks while the remainder is done in AutoCad. I"ll ask some of the engineers tomorrow how they got started and if they have any tips I could pass on to you. :slight_smile:

Jason

7

well currenetly i work at a machine shop. and i do Autocad and mastercam to get the parts CNC’ed. In my position i would render my drawings make prints and take pictures of the finished parts. and include that in my portfolio. Right now on my computer i have about 30 Gigs of cad drawings that ive done for robots, projects , and anything that i plan to build even my hovercrafts are in cad to make shure everything fit togeather. if i dimentioned it all and made prints and renders of everything and also incvluded the finished product’s photo’s i think my portfolio wopuld about an inch think and look prety cool.

8

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’d love to see it! But the hard question is: if you only had five minutes to make your presentation, which examples would you show?

(I hope Brandon appreciates you keeping your sig under 200 pixels!)

9

I’ve managed a design drafting department now for 10 years. I’ve interviewed around 60 people and hired most of them. In the past I did most of the weeding out in the resume’s. Which I’ve usually solicited from local paper adds, but actually received about half of them from word of mouth - and some from recruiting services. I’ve given cad tests and asked lots of technical questions. I’ve gotten better at weeding through the actors. But I think my main 3 things I would suggest would be:

  1. A simple straight forward 1 page resume, listing your capabilities and past experience (and yes I think FIRST counts). But don’t bulk out your first contact info - because the employer is usually busy and not wanting to root through a giant pile of info.
  2. Word of mouth is usually the most successful route. Since you’ve posted this here, you may be on your way. But if nothing here happens, be sure to call on all the old friends you’ve made in FIRST and second cousins etc that know someone who knows someone. Because a personal reference is worth a lot and also catches the ear of the employer better.
  3. Be persistent. I can think of 3 people I’ve hired because they just wouldn’t leave me alone.

A catchy portfolio is nice, and having tons of experience is good. But some of my best employees didn’t even know CAD when I hired them. I’ve just learned how to spot talent. It’s the people who are smart, driven and focused who succeed in this business. Obviously they need all the relative experience they can get, and a propensity for “Mechanical, Architectural, Electrical” etc. Not people with lots of credentials and papers. I’ve had to let more of those go than I care to admit.

10

Don’t give up or get discouraged M. A lot of good advice in here, and I hope it helps show you that theres a lot of possibility for your talent (as opposed to a degree) to help you get a job in the CAD field. I think this is one field where your talent matters more than your degree.

Some companies will use the degree as a requirement. GM for example. But a lot of the smaller shops I think depend more on their assessment of your existing knowledge of the CAD/CNC software tools, your learning capability, and your work ethic.

You should find a directory of CNC, EDM, machine shops (anyone who depends on CAD in their workstream) in your area, put together your resume/portfolio, and visit them. Maybe give your “pitch” to an experienced engineer/manager who can give you some constructive criticism.

hth,
Ken