best software for to test cad applicant's skills

HI, can anybody advice if what is the best software in the market for CAD draftsman/technician applicant to test & assess their skills in autocad before hiring them to make use we are picking the good cad candidates.

thanks,

the courage dog

Not to sound ignorant or cheeky, but wouldn't it be best to make up your own aptitude test specific to the job requirements that the applicant is applying for?

it is not about the ignorance. Maybe it's not known to you that many big companies are using softwares to test cad applicants skills. One of the software i know i AutoTEST Pro 2.0 which can customised the questions, another one is the CADsmart which is expensive.

Definitely you can easily assess cad applicant by your self but this is only initial & standard procedures, i believe it will be more worth if you use cad test software, this is the reasons why orgaized & big companies are investing for it.

How does the software differentiate between a person with 2 years of experience and 10 years of experience? And how does it assess the skills of someone who has been using 2007 for the last 3 years versus someone who has been using 2010 the last 9 months? Does the software test for knowledge of the specific field the applicant will be working in as well?

it is not about the ignorance. Maybe it's not known to you that many big companies are using softwares to test cad applicants skills. One of the software i know i AutoTEST Pro 2.0 which can customised the questions, another one is the CADsmart which is expensive.

Definitely you can easily assess cad applicant by your self but this is only initial & standard procedures, i believe it will be more worth if you use cad test software, this is the reasons why orgaized & big companies are investing for it.

While there are some good programs for testing out there, spending some time developing your own based on your company is probably best. But please don't make it a trivia test, IE: what color is pen 11?, etc. Better to have a practical test where they have to open a drawing and perform tasks using the program.

At a trade expo which involved Autodesk they had a competition to find out how good a CAD guy you were.

You had to just draw a preset example the guy who won just blew the competition away 2mins versus next at 6mins others 20mins etc but was the guy at 6 mins maybe a better employee ?

A cad test would at least show he can use CAD but doesn't mean he knows anything else, should be just part of the application test.

Well we had a guy apply for the position of a draughtsman once.

Sure, he had a degree in Architectural design, but the guy didn't know what a piece of flatbar looked like.

Also we had an Architect telling us that the steelposts are to be "Welded to concrete".

Using a left handed screwdriver....

Super glue welds steel to concrete,

If you dont believe me, do you have a window facing a street, glue a coin to the footpath, let the fun begin !

Hmmm,... that may be but I am unable to find that in the NBS!!!

If he used sky hooks, no structural - only a positional - connection would be required.

When I got hired on my old company, I was sat down with a drawing in front of Autocad and told to draw it. They came back in 20 minutes and I was done. They said no body had ever finished it before! I was hired. lol

Are you looking to hire a cadd tech or a designer? Cadd tech, they just need to know how to use the program you use. Give them a standard drawing (of something you do) to replicate and see how they do.

About a year ago, I was interviewed for an AutoCAD Operator (hate that worse than Technician) position with a well established 30 year old design/build firm in my area. It was a new position, brand new AutoCAD 2009 on a brand new hotrod monster computer. They had decided to purchase AutoCAD, and hire an Operator, so they could do more room additions and remodeling without having to contract out for real plans.

These guys didn't know a great deal about AutoCAD, but had been using a sorta custom package of Vector Works to layout decks, porches, sunrooms, and the like. Kinda like outdoor 20/20 Kitchen design.

Anyway, they tested me even though I had brought in a load of drawing samples, and Design Review on my laptop (which is not up to running AutoCAD or I would have had that too).

They pointed me toward the hotrod computer - "Here, draw this Family room addition floor plan with dimensions. You don't have to finish, let's see how far you get in one hour." Well, on my computer with my AutoCAD, it might have been done in 45 minutes, but.....

I started the program up and realized that I was the first one that had opened the program up on this particular computer with any intention of drawing anything. The mouse was not even configured in Control Panel very well. The "What's new in AutoCAD 2009 tutorial" pop-up and "hint of the day" balloon were still there. In no way was it prepared to do architectural drawings, at least not in the way I was used to doing it. I tried anyway, and did not do very well. I just didn't think ahead of time about how long it takes for just minimal set up, and how hard it is to draw quickly when most of the time is spent looking for things. I spent more time making two layers, changing a few Drafting Settings, and "Options" than I did on the drawing.

I told the guy, respectfully of course, that I was not familiar with the way the program was set up and it was difficult for me to use without a little more refinement.

He seemed to understand, but told me about another applicant who had AutoCAD on his laptop, and finished the drawing except for about half the dimensions.

He liked me, liked my work, but hired the other guy. I guess he figured I was not as prepared as that other guy. What WAS he testing?

I am not sure what my response would be if I were to be "Tested" again. You can be dang sure I will have a laptop fully ready to go, because I will never get caught in that hole again, but I probably will just walk because the whole idea leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

At the time of the test I had only been using AutoCAD for three years. I have been drafting since 1971. I am still a beginner in AutoCAD, but experienced enough to have my own AutoCAD environment that I would be almost helpless without. I am a toolbar and menu guy because I learned on NEW autoCAD.

I can't think of a way to construct a fair computer drafting test.

The test should be about whether or not the applicant knows the software. Some claim to know the software but don't really. Second would be whether the applicant has specific knowledge in the discipline they are applying for. The test shouldn't be all about who finishes first.

As others have said, for pure CAD Knowledge then KnowledgeSmart (formerly CADSmart) at http://www.cadsmart.net/ is a very good application.

I have used it previously when assessing staff training requirements as well as at interview stage and it always worked very well.

Of course, there is not a single stand-alone option because people work in different ways and a piece of software is just unable to track every option. However, it is a good base to start from.

If you currently have a drafting department, I would strongly suggest you discuss with them what kind of day-to-day CAD things they do.

For example: do they commonly have to work with hatches, and/or possibly need to do minor layout math, like having an assigned width, and have to make three separate panels with a set space between them.

Once you have a basic list, you ask the applicant about those specifcs ("yes, I'm familiar with how to do this" or "not sure"). If they still seem to be viable candidates, set them down in-front of CAD with an exercise created by your CAD department to make use of those skills.

It's FAR too subjective to just determine if someone "knows autocad," they need to demonstrate flexibility and the ability to "do things your way".

I once worked with a guy that was an excellent drafter, but he had an issue with using company standards, and seemed unable to do things any differently than he had be trained to do at his previous job.

He was a monster to work with, and eventually quit, with a big long letter talking about how stressful it was for him to work there and how we'd be hearing from his lawyers, since we forced him to do things the wrong way all the time.

That's an extreme example, but he would clearly have beaten any standardized testing you threw his way.. The guy was amazing, in terms of intelligence and knowledge, and it was clear to me he should be an instructor somewhere, but he was completely inflexible.

If you sit someone down in-front of CAD.. they either know how to do the basics, or they don't. If they have a rudimentary understanding of it, and otherwise seem hirable, you weigh their training time versus whatever else they bring to the table, and try to determine if they are teachable or not.

There's always going to be a learning curve, even with an expert, as long as there is an established drafting department.. they may know AutoCAD, but do they know YOUR AutoCAD.

I've been on CAD in a working environment since I was about 15 years old (I'm 38 now). There is still chunks I don't know about the program because there are aspects I've never needed to use.

If your company focuses on those elements, I'll need to learn them, but even if I knew them, I'd need to learn the drawing conventions used in that office, etc..

A standardized test won't spot that for you, and that's really the key to being an effective draftsman. It's not what you know, but how willing you are to learn, and adapt methods to meet what's expected of you.

At the same time I was dealing with "Mr. inflexible" we also hired a draftsman who had no CAD experience, was 48 years old, and had VERY little computer experience at all, but plenty of mechanical drafting experience. I taught him enough within a week to get him going on CAD, and by about his 3rd week, he was doing drawings for our clients. He had his eyes on the end result, and just needed to know how to get there.

In a working cad environment, the shortcuts are incredible. I do nothing from scratch, I have other jobs I've done previously that I grab off the server and alter them to meet my needs. You can stick just about anyone in that position and get them to do that.. assuming they're flexible.

I just want to chime in and say that I agree with those who said that you should create your own test suited to the tasks that are specific to your department. For us, good layer management skills and the ability to work well with paperspace and modelspace are very important, as are a proficiency dealing with blocks and attributes. I wouldn't want a test that focuses on 3D or dimensioning or a number of other things that we don't use much (our details are already standardized). I'd rather get down to the basics of what they know in relation to what we specifically need them to know.

Good luck finding (or developing) a test that works for you.