New CAD Manager Training

[sandeepg]

Hey guys,

Here's my situation: I completed an undergraduate computer engineering degree in December 2005, and just graduated this past December with a Masters in MIS. I've been working at a local engineering firm for the past year. I started as a student intern and moved into a full time IT analyst role this past January.

The company is small (about 50 employees including admin staff). When I was hired for this position, I was told that my role would start out in IT, but I would eventually be trained to take up a CAD manager role, to manage everything related to our AutoDesk suite of applications - hardware considerations, network issues, compatibility issues, CAD standards, etc. I made it clear to the company that I had (and still don't have) zero experience in AutoCAD. They said that's exactly what they needed, because they didn't want the CAD manager to be dragged into production.

Right now, it seems like the main holdup is that the company is unable to find the right kind of training for me. So, I come to you guys for help. I can honestly say I have no idea what my next moves should be. Thus far, I've been able to make my stay with the company useful by keeping myself busy with all the IT issues that constantly come up. However, I'd really like to take the steps necessary to be trained for the CAD manager position. How do you guys think I should proceed?

[Harold Pei Jr]

The first step should be to learn the programs that your company uses. If you can't use them to do the simplest of tasks, you can't manage the people who can. If they can't come to you with their CAD problems, you'll be no use to them as a CAD manager (not to mention the lack of respect; just imagine working under an IT manager that didn't know how to disable an anti-virus, let alone how to manage a $20K server system).

[sandeepg]

The main CAD programs that my company uses are Civil 3D, Revit, and AutoCAD, all versions 2008. Is a basic tutorial in each of these enough to get me on the CAD management route, or would I need to get more in depth? Are the loads of free CAD tutorials available on the Internet enough to enable me to accomplish this, or would I need to hire a certified trainer?

[Harold Pei Jr]

See what your company is doing, and go after some kind of training based off of what you need. Civil 3D and Revit, I believe you'll need a trainer for those (definitely Civil 3D, I'm not sure about Revit as I've never used it).
You can see if you can bring in a trainer, to help not only yourself, but others in the company that may be struggling with the programs.
If you're not sure about bringing in a trainer, I would suggest something like vBooks (http://www.myvbooks.com/ac55jsp/stores/1/Design_C1.jsp?UserID=694077&ACBSessionID=3935D36441D45BB32212) to help with your training. It's not AS great as having someone there teaching you so you can bounce your questions off of them, but when used with the discussion groups, you'll be able to get along very well.
Even after training though, one thing you should remember is that as a CAD manager, if anything goes wrong, you'll find that you need two skills: being able to work with the program and being able to research very efficiently.

[guitarchitect7]

I was reluctant to reply in the thread as I'm just learning myself. But because I've had to consider some of this just recently, I thought I could add to the discussion.

Although my degree and schooling have been in learning the CAD software, learning how to manage it is different. I would suggest the following:

Learn the software as discussed above. Its the only way you'll understand how to effectively do anything CAD related for the company. It's unfortunate they want to grab someone with no experience because I feel that hurts them more than helps them. Just my opinion. The basic tutorial will get you started, but you will need to be more familiar with the programs than what they show you. In this case, knowledge is power. You might not need to be as skilled as the most skilled draftsman/egineer, but you need to be able to understand them when they come to you for questions.

Talk with your upper managment on what they hope to accomplish as a compnay by putting you in the CAD manager role. Get specific as you can with questions, because the better you understand the perspective on the role, the better idea you'll have on which direction to take first. For those who just allow CAD Managers to have free reign, I think hurts a little beause there is just so much to cover that it can become overwhelming. Besides, you need a clear definition of how much control you have and the responsibilities of the job.

Get organzied.It's one of the best things you can do for yourself. Its where everything begins. For myself I've created a few things. I have a specific folder for only me to access which then I keep all the tools, updates, backups, etc all in there as my CAD Management resource center. I then had a Developement folder on the network which is where I store work in progress. I keep a cad log of my work done throughout the week, and have a repair and upgrade document for me to keep a list of things to work on.

Once you learn the software, talk you with your upper management, and get organized, then deciding on what to do should become a bit easier.

Hope this helps.

[tsigler]

Another suggestion for training, before you begin classes become as familiar with the program as you can. Pay special attention to where the icons, etc are located. More training time is wasted searching around for the commands than one would imagine! Also, unless you are in a one-on-one training situation you can easily miss directions while searching and fall way behind. Even if you don't know how to use the commands, just knowing where they are is a big advantage during training!

FWIW

Tom

[sandeepg]

Thanks a lot for the replies; all great food for thought. Time to jump right into learning CAD!

[dxarhoulakos]

Hey guys,

Here's my situation: I completed an undergraduate computer engineering degree in December 2005, and just graduated this past December with a Masters in MIS. I've been working at a local engineering firm for the past year. I started as a student intern and moved into a full time IT analyst role this past January.

The company is small (about 50 employees including admin staff). When I was hired for this position, I was told that my role would start out in IT, but I would eventually be trained to take up a CAD manager role, to manage everything related to our AutoDesk suite of applications - hardware considerations, network issues, compatibility issues, CAD standards, etc. I made it clear to the company that I had (and still don't have) zero experience in AutoCAD. They said that's exactly what they needed, because they didn't want the CAD manager to be dragged into production.

Right now, it seems like the main holdup is that the company is unable to find the right kind of training for me. So, I come to you guys for help. I can honestly say I have no idea what my next moves should be. Thus far, I've been able to make my stay with the company useful by keeping myself busy with all the IT issues that constantly come up. However, I'd really like to take the steps necessary to be trained for the CAD manager position. How do you guys think I should proceed?

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but most CAD Managers at one time, started out working on projects using the CAD software deep in the trenches. To me, its the only way to learn all the intricacies, ins and outs of a software that are required to properly manage it.

Myself, I worked as a drafter / job captain / designer / cad manager for 8 years before becoming a full time CAD manager (0% billable).

You just wont be able to answer all the given questions thrown your way, unless you've used the software on a real project. For example: Whats the system variable that controls my layer visability? Sure you can check the HELP file, or maybe even these forums. But shouldnt you be able to give the person the answer right away most of the time? Do i consult these forums from time to time? of course.....but only for the most rare of questions, or for bugs...

I think your firm needs to reconsider what a CAD manager needs to be. And maybe they have different definition then what I layed out here. But i just dont see how someone with NO AutoCAD experience can be a CAD Manager.

[jaberwok]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but most CAD Managers at one time, started out working on projects using the CAD software deep in the trenches. To me, its the only way to learn all the intricacies, ins and outs of a software that are required to properly manage it.

Myself, I worked as a drafter / job captain / designer / cad manager for 8 years before becoming a full time CAD manager (0% billable).

You just wont be able to answer all the given questions thrown your way, unless you've used the software on a real project. For example: Whats the system variable that controls my layer visability? Sure you can check the HELP file, or maybe even these forums. But shouldnt you be able to give the person the answer right away most of the time? Do i consult these forums from time to time? of course.....but only for the most rare of questions, or for bugs...

I think your firm needs to reconsider what a CAD manager needs to be. And maybe they have different definition then what I layed out here. But i just dont see how someone with NO AutoCAD experience can be a CAD Manager.

I'm inclined to agree.
There are so many variables in both CAD and Windows that there often isn't a single, simple answer to any question of "why does ....?" You only learn those answers when you experience those problems.

It sounds like the company wants an IT manager who will also control CAD. This is often a recipe for, not a disaster, exactly, but a large degree of unhappiness among the CAD users.

[cadtag]

Sounds more like a CAD Systems administrator is what management is after here, not a manager of CAD drafting/production per se. That can be a useful role, albeit one that's inherently pretty limited in scope. but it ought to give you access to budget planning...

As far as learning Acad and related products, it's probably well worth doing as long as you realize that just leaning the tutorials really isn't a patch on actually using the applications on a daily basis to produce usable product. Producing a workable set of drawings for a project is a lot more involved than just drawing lines, and will take a lifetime to master. Rather like Go (with a lot more arbitrary rules :-)

[Beancud]

Myself, I worked as a drafter / job captain / designer / cad manager for 8 years before becoming a full time CAD manager (0% billable).

You just wont be able to answer all the given questions thrown your way, unless you've used the software on a real project. For example: Whats the system variable that controls my layer visability? Sure you can check the HELP file, or maybe even these forums. But shouldnt you be able to give the person the answer right away most of the time? Do i consult these forums from time to time? of course.....but only for the most rare of questions, or for bugs...



Nice to hear stuff like this...

Did you take any I.T courses or obtain a qualification to become a CAD manager? Because just by using ACAD everyday seems insufficent to get to a CAD manager position.

[dgladfelter]

Being a CAD Manager is far from a textbook career. While the responsibilities of a CAD Manager will vary from firm to firm, one constant is the number of variables you'll be managing on a daily basis.

Speaking from my experiences, I started as a CAD Tech and worked my way through the ranks. I was generally seen as a power user, and oftentimes helped fellow colleagues even before getting the CAD Manager title.

Even with that past experience, when I became a true 40-hour-a-week CAD Manager I soon learned I hadn't learned the half of it. While I was supporting users, I was also working on standards, developing Civil 3D styles, documenting stuff, managing license servers, and the list goes on.

AutoCAD is just so complex, the simplest tweak can oftentimes have unforeseen consequences down the line. While I have had to develop a number of Business Management skills, my most valuable skill remains my knowledge from my days in the trenches.

It's simply a matter of time before a user comes over asking if they can do such and such, pose a compelling arguement for why their way makes sense, and then a week later call you to fix some seemingly unrelated problem. A classic example in the old Land Desktop was text styles. "I think we should make all of our text styles have a height of 0 because AutoCAD prefers that method with linetypes, dimensions, etc"

Sounds reasonable, until none of your LDT text comes in correct because it needs those text styles with a static text height assigned.

Of course, one may argue that you could read text books, sign up for a class at the local community college, etc, and posses the needed knowledge to be a CAD Manager. The harsh reality is there's a big difference between knowing how to use the software, and being able to support it. It's hard to verbalize other than to say it's a 6th sense of sorts that affords you the ability to innately know what a user did to get a certain error message.

[Admiral McAwesome]

It's hard to verbalize other than to say it's a 6th sense of sorts that affords you the ability to innately know what a user did to get a certain error message.

This "6th sense" usually comes from having made that exact same mistake at some point or another. I've never worked for a company large enough to have a CAD manager as a full time position, but I've been doing it part time for the last 4 years as well. My experiences have been that if you don't know AutoCAD, intimately, then you won't be able to effectively manage a CAD system. Not to mention, that if you don't have any drafting experience, then establishing CAD standards are going to be a nightmare. Both for you, and the users.

[Ryder76]

I have had different types of supervisors/managers and the best are the ones that know AutoCAD. I had one supervisor that used ACAD, but didn't really know much about it, nor did they want to. Not insurmountable , but they should have had the intelligence to believe the workers in their group that did have the knowledge. Nothing got accomplished in the way of standards, efficiency increases using lisp routines, or automated scripts, Even those of us who knew how to do this were told to be quiet and just live with things the way they were.

Back to the topic - A CAD manager should know how use the software and not from reading or going through tutorials or even taking some kind of training class. He should have hands on experience otherwise he will not know how to put out the fires that come up many times a day.

[cadpro78]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but most CAD Managers at one time, started out working on projects using the CAD software deep in the trenches. To me, its the only way to learn all the intricacies, ins and outs of a software that are required to properly manage it.

Myself, I worked as a drafter / job captain / designer / cad manager for 8 years before becoming a full time CAD manager (0% billable).

You just wont be able to answer all the given questions thrown your way, unless you've used the software on a real project. For example: Whats the system variable that controls my layer visability? Sure you can check the HELP file, or maybe even these forums. But shouldnt you be able to give the person the answer right away most of the time? Do i consult these forums from time to time? of course.....but only for the most rare of questions, or for bugs...

I think your firm needs to reconsider what a CAD manager needs to be. And maybe they have different definition then what I layed out here. But i just dont see how someone with NO AutoCAD experience can be a CAD Manager.

I AGREE 100%. CAD Managers defintely should have used some sort of CAD/BIM software prior to being called CAD Managers. It just makes sense. Maybe the person who started the article is looking at more IT Manager/CAD support type of role.

[Misteracad]

...manage everything related to our AutoDesk suite of applications - hardware considerations, network issues, compatibility issues, CAD standards, etc.
This is exactly the type of responsibilities I have at my firm, but I would've never been hired to do the job at hand without the 20+ years of hands-on CAD experience I have to build on.


I made it clear to the company that I had (and still don't have) zero experience in AutoCAD. They said that's exactly what they needed, because they didn't want the CAD manager to be dragged into production.
Sounds like a recipe for failure if you ask me, sorry :(


Right now, it seems like the main holdup is that the company is unable to find the right kind of training for me.
That's because it doesn't exist...you can't buy or order the necessary experience from a book or college course offering.


Thus far, I've been able to make my stay with the company useful by keeping myself busy with all the IT issues that constantly come up.
Yeah, no kidding. Even though I am "dedicated" to the engineering applications side of the business, I am a member of the IT dept as well, and there is ALWAYS something coming up that pulls me away from focusing on the CAD side of things (training, standards, etc.). Depending on how you look at it, you could consider it a curse, a neverending cycle, and the ride never ends lol :?


Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but most CAD Managers at one time, started out working on projects using the CAD software deep in the trenches. To me, its the only way to learn all the intricacies, ins and outs of a software that are required to properly manage it.


I think your firm needs to reconsider what a CAD manager needs to be. And maybe they have different definition then what I layed out here. But i just dont see how someone with NO AutoCAD experience can be a CAD Manager.
I too must agree with dxarhoulakos, jaberwok and cadpro78 on this one. 'Course, as old as the original post is, the person who originally asked the question has probably already figured all of this out and 1) adapted the best they could, 2) found a mentor and/or some training that would help, or 3) ran for the hills screaming bloody murder lol :roll:

Personally I'd love to hear from that person and get an update on how they made out, what they did or are doing, etc.

[indydrafter]

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a minute, so bear with me:

Using your I.T. skills and going through a couple of courses, you may be able to get away with first focusing on deployment, program and option pathing, user profiles, etc. In these ways, you will at least be able to contribute at this time. You can then work on organizing all of the company's current standard drawing files, templates, blocks, and details. Document everything you do and keep an open line of communication with the CAD staff on everything. Doing so will only help in the future.

The real barrier, though, is that you will only have enough know-how to work with the information and standards that already exist. Organizing them and making them easier to use is a task in and of itself, but you will ultimately have to build on what already exists and develop new standards and procedures. To do this, I suggest getting in some serious time on the programs and going through tutorials. That won't be enough, though. You need to get a committee together consisting of your power users and senior drafting staff that will advise you on their suggestions, issues, and solutions. Any CAD Manager, whether experienced with AutoCAD or not, has a real need for a panel of other drafters and designers to rely on.

Everyone else is right, however. There is no replacement for years of hardened experience with the program, but you can make due with what you have now and adapt to the situation. It isn't a perfect world and there is no perfect solution, but you can make the best of it.

[Misteracad]

You need to get a committee together consisting of your power users and senior drafting staff that will advise you on their suggestions, issues, and solutions. Any CAD Manager, whether experienced with AutoCAD or not, has a real need for a panel of other drafters and designers to rely on.
I completely agree. Taking this approach will no doubt be rewarding in various ways, not only for you, but it will most definitely earn you some respect from the users I would think. If you are the new guy coming in to an existing situation, the users themselves will appreciate your willingness to listen and take their suggestions. Any good CAD Manager who wants to make it in this business, could benefit from this approach ;)

[nelsonclassic]

Hello friend,
You said you were hired at a position of IT Trainer,but you are solving problems regarding CAD Manger,I think if you are getting something extra from your company then what's the problem.You are a graduate from IT so you must be having knowledge of your field,so you will be able to do any job related to your field,but it's difficult that any company will hire you for CAD management..but when you will be efficient in CAD Management then you can try for IT in some other company with your experience and degree.I think you will get benefit out of it.
Try to give extra time on IT related problems and you will get it's help from your seniors in your workplace.

Regards,
Nelson

[oliveoil182411]

Sounds like they want you to do it all. I am not a cad manager, but I do know, depending on the size of the company, it can be a challenging career in & upon itself. I thought about it myself for a while, and decided that it wasn't for me. From the experiences that I have had with the total of four cad managers that I have worked with in the past, I'll tell you that you both have to be a good mechanic(troubleshooting) and a good manager. Some can't do both, or neither. I'm a good mechanic with good organizational skills, but I think I would be too willing to give in to every random request presented to me. It is cad geek syndrome, and very difficult too cure. If you are still working with cad techs, you probably have noticed that they like to tweek things to death. It is great for speed, poor for company standards (which is why many companies who can afford a cad manager, do). My company has IT and Cad Management separated into two departments. Cad Management handles drafting related software installation and maintenance. IT handles all other software and server issues. Cad Management sounds like they have it easy... Far from the truth. Many companies use multiple software packages that ride on top of one another, and very rarely like to play well together. It will likely be your job to fix these issues. Good luck! Our Cad Manager at my current company; the best that I have ever worked with; has told us on multiple occasions that a database issue with our attachment software was corrupting a number of our cad files, and that we would have startover. By the way, breaking bad news is also part of the job. But don't break the news without doing your research first. Highly evolved cad monkeys like to tinker and fiddle with the software to the verge of breaking it. You don't want to look the fool in front of your boss when Speedy Cadster in the next cube figures out that instead of starting from scratch, you can just run 'this' LISP routine, or change 'this' setting.

Judging from the date of your post, you probably have already made your decision on the job. I know you have an IT backround, and many in the previous posts state that you can't be a Cad Manager because you haven't been in the trenches. I'll let you know from experience that AutoCad itself is probably one of the most flexible programs that I have ever used and allows for vast differences in the way people use it. Logically, even, if you spent ten years in the craft, you may be doing 60% of the tasks of a cad tech. the same as the guy or gal in the cube next to you (stab in the dark). I say, if you decided to take on the job, do as the cad geek does. Try to break the software. It will get you alot farther than any class or textbook. Then talk to the techs that you will be managing to get a feel for their styles. Maybe schedule a meeting, if management approves. Again.... Good luck!

As post thought, I think after our current big project is over, our cad management will be looking for a new attachment package.

[sandeepg]

Ah wow, more than a year later, this thread's still alive! I really do appreciate everyone's input.

Long story short, everyone in here was right; the CAD Manager transition never happened. You guys were right - you don't just jump into a role like that without knowing a thing about CAD. I've essentially grown from an IT analyst into a Systems Administrator role, with some influence/responsibilities in our CAD environment. Since the company's still small (about 45 employees), I do everything IT related - user support, network and server administration, hardware and software maintenance, Intranet web design and database development... basically a one-man IT shop. My biggest strength right now is that I'm a very good Jack of all trades, and that's proven to be very beneficial to the company. I do plan to specialize as a server administrator, and am probably going to start taking a few Windows Server 2008 AD & Exchange Server 2007 exams soon.

All that being said, I'm still very involved in several issues that I would classify in a gray area between IT & CAD Management. Here's a few examples of what I'm talking about:

-- Maintaining updates, relationships and contracts with all of our engineering software vendors. We are a multidiscipline firm with about 25 production staff, so this includes AutoDesk (CAD, Civil 3D, Revit Arch, Structure & MEP), Bentley (RAM Structural System, CONSPAN, WaterCAD, SewerCAD etc), Motive Systems (M-Color), and a few other smaller programs. It may sound simple, but ensuring that everyone in the office is running on the same updated version of a program, and even making sure we're in license compliance or not buying more seats than we need, can all be a nightmare at times.

-- I am responsible for creating and customizing Autodesk product deployments. The heart of this task is basically configuring everything that appears in the -options menu. I typically get one of our CAD techs to help with some of the more specific options, but I do have it mostly down.

-- We have all of our AutoDesk licenses on subscription. Historically, the company has upgraded to the latest version every 2 years in order to cut down on downtime & hardware costs (I don't necessarily agree with this, and they're aware of it). Anyways, I was put in charge of upgrading our production staff from 2008 to 2010 this year. One of the decisions I made was moving everyone from a 32-bit environment into XP 64-bit, especially since Civil 3D can now run on 64-bit machines. I also chose to move the company away from using Dell & Gateway for our hardware needs, and researched a few smaller vendors that build workstations designed for CAD (We went with @Xi Corp., who have been nothing short of phenomenal. Ask for Robert, tell him Sandeep at A2H referred you!). User response to these implementations have been VERY positive. Hindsight tells me that I probably should've gone with Vista 64-bit over XP 64-bit because the former apparently has superior memory management, but I didn't learn about that till after making the decision. Regardless, we've had no problems with our CAD workstations in XP 64-bit the few months we've had them for so far, so I'm not going to worry about it too much!

-- When the company laid off a CAD technician who had been responsible for supporting our KIP 6000 plotter/scanner and HP Designjet color plotter, that task basically fell on me. I'd never worked with plotters before, so it was a huge pain, haha! Luckily, we do have a service contract with the guys that sold us the plotters, so whenever there is an issue with the plotters that falls outside my scope/experience, I just call them up and they send out a techie within the day to come fix them.

-- Dealing with the KIP brought about another responsibility that I feel is probably as close as I've gotten to CAD management - dealing with PC3, PMP and PLT files. It took me a little while to understand the functions of these. Right now, we have custom PC3 files on a network location that all of our production staff access when creating plot files. From an administrative standpoint, keeping up with these files is HELL. I have had to maintain several PC3 files for AutoDesk 2008 & 2010 products, and for 32-bit and 64-bit machines, for each of our printers (the 2 plotters, a color printer, and a few black and whites). I've also discovered that a few users have begun plotting to PDF's instead and skipping the PLT file process. This seems like the way to go, because our end electronic product is a PDF anyways, and print quality on them versus PLT files is perfectly fine in our experience. So, I'm considering moving ALL of our production staff towards plotting to PDF's, because the process seems to work better, and I'd like everyone using the same methodology.



So, you guys can see what I mean when referring to the gray area. I understand that a true CAD manager would also be in charge of things like drawing standards, templates, blocks, details, layers and all that kinda stuff. Issues like those will probably always be outside my scope because I'm not a CAD user - heck, I'm not even sure I fully understand what block and layers are! But I've definitely been involved with CAD management issues that somehow tie in to IT.

Again, a big "Thank You" to everyone for posting in this very informative thread, and I would love to hear all of your feedback/comments/criticisms on my experience so far.


TLDR Version: I'm not a CAD Manager, just an IT systems administrator. However, I'm willing to bet I know a LOT more about CAD software than the average IT techie!

[Misteracad]

Congrats Sandeep, it sounds as though you've found a niche and are fitting in nicely 8).

If it's any consolation, I too am in a position very similar to yours. I basically do and support everything you mention (and more!), but for 200+/- users :?. Fortunately I am not alone...there are two of us here who share the title Engineering Application Specialist and split the responsibilities company-wide. We like to think of ourselves as CAD Administrators...a step above the responsibilities of typical CAD Managers...but in reality even that doesn't cover all the gray areas you mention without further explanation LOL. Nevertheless, I wish you well and good luck!

[oliveoil182411]

sandeepg,

Sounds like you are doing well. If you can get along with the CAD techs, you will continue to do well. This can be an interesting business, even if you are on the outside looking in.

I understand what you mean about dealing with PC3, PMP and PLT files. This is something that is a constant concern, problem, and annoyance for engineering firms. Every engineering firm that I have worked for has tryed to get a handle on plotting problems, and always encountered a bumpy road. Management of these files can be tricky. And, ultimately, CAD techs will need to make copies of standard plotter configuration files to modify for special projects or presentations. This starts to balloon, and you end up with many plotter configuration files that you may never use again.

Circumventing .plt files was probably a good move. Instead of going to .pdf, try to see how you company feels about .dwf. They are very versitile, and very Autocad friendly. They also take up less disk space. It can be a tough sale because many non-engineering companies (i.e. your clients) have never heard of .dwf. However, many .dwf viewers, such as Autodesk's Design Review, can be downloaded for free off of Autodesk's website. Check it out.

I hope you continue to do well in your position.