new CAD career?

[amarlls]

hello i am 30 years old and am thinking to go back to school to learn new career. i come from construction background and am researching new careers such as draftsmen/ CAD designer? can this degree or certification be obtained in two years or less??? and also is this a career that will be around for awhile and is the pay good? also if i decide to take this route, what is the best school for this sort of degree??? thank you for your time and any info you may have helps, thank you

[StykFacE]

hello i am 30 years old and am thinking to go back to school to learn new career. i come from construction background and am researching new careers such as draftsmen/ CAD designer? can this degree or certification be obtained in two years or less??? and also is this a career that will be around for awhile and is the pay good? also if i decide to take this route, what is the best school for this sort of degree??? thank you for your time and any info you may have helps, thank you

Where are you from? my father went back for 2 semesters (one year) and obtained his draftsman cert, just for the sake of his job. he really didn't need it, just the updated training.

and yes, i know around my part of town (Dallas, TX) and surrounding areas, there's lots of 2 year degree plans, 4 semesters long. that's it.... most dont even require any pre-testing or anything. if you can work part time and do full time hours at a community college, you should be able to bust out an associates degree in notime. go to your local college and pick up a degree plan, or get online or something. you can call and talk to counselors as well, they'll direct you even more efficiently.

80% of the courses are using programs, such as AutoCAD. not a whole lot of core classes, because it's a specific degree plan. and i know my college allowed me to do almost all my computer classes online, which is nice because you usually get the entire course outline up front, with due dates. so, if you're quick.... you can kock out a whole semester class in a week.

hope this helps.

[TTALBOT]

I recieved my degree from a local technical college in about 2 years. My entry level pay wasn't fantastic but it's better than my last job. Most positions start around $12 an hour in Georgia and after a trial period you move up fast. I'm making about 40k plus full benefits right now, which I think is pretty average in your first 5 years or so. It also depends on your specialty. Mechanical and Electrical drafters make more than architectural and civil drafters in most cases. Figure anywhere from 35k-55k a year. The faster you are, the better. The demand is high right now and will be moreso in the years to come as everyone gets more dependant on computers. I recommend any technical college that uses Autodesk software and not microstation and has a full associates degree program. If they don't have an up to date computer setup for every student, then look elsewhere.

[amarlls]

im from central coast california and i dont mind moving too far from here but definatly want to stay on western US. are these online degrees credible? do they look good to employers versus a traditional school??

[Alan Cullen]

In Australia you would have to do a 4 yr course at a technical college or university. That would qualify you as a draftsman in a specific (your choice) field.

The alternative is to do an Autocad specific course (6 months to 2 years, depending on the hours you put in) at a local community college (here those colleges are called TAFE colleges). This only trains you to use the software, it doesn't train you for a specific field (e.g. Civil). However, with knowledge of Autocad and your construction background, you could probably get a job as a junior draftsman. But you would have to work your way up from there, and that could take 8-10 yrs.

[StykFacE]

im from central coast california and i dont mind moving too far from here but definatly want to stay on western US. are these online degrees credible? do they look good to employers versus a traditional school??

traditional schools offer classes online. they're MUCH easier, and if you start getting the hang of AutoCAD, you'll be independantly logical when reading the tutorials and books and what not. its the way to go in my book, especially if you're working and on your own.

[Ako]

I would look at the job advertisements and base the course on what the usual requirement is, or even set your sites a bit higher to give yourself an advantage. A degree course over here in the UK would be around four years (depending on your existing qualifications) in a speciality like civil or architectural. Then you would probably have to learn AutoCad separately.

Good Luck to you.

Dave

[amarlls]

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHATS THE BEST ONLINE PROGRAM OUT THERE?? I WANT TO GET MY CAD DEGREE AND THERES A MILLION ONLINE DEGREE PROGRAMS OUT THERE. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS ON THE BEST ONES OR DIFFERENT SCHOOLS THAT PEOPLE HAVE TRYED AND EITHER LIKED OR LOVED??

[amarlls]

waht does anyone know about the CAD degree at High Tech Institute in phoenix, arizona? any info may help? its acredited by the American Design Drafting Association and the professor is actually the exec vice president of the ADDA? what you think

[bone]

So where does that put me? Nearly at a years end of 9-5 autocad 5 days a week drawing anything and everything and yet still in awe of what some of you talk about.

Blimey, 55 now but I guess I will be useful by the time I'm 65.

Bone