RE: AutoCAD Certification
Quote:
Originally Posted by rclayton
Certification is a good way to show a prospective employer that one is knowledgable in a given piece of software, but by no means says anything about proficiency. I would take an operator with 5 years of experience over someone with 10 certifications and no practical experience any day.
Same here.
I have taught acad for 7 years in a formal situation (and many more years informally).
I sometimes get to see other teachers teach - and, more importantly, to hear student's opinions of teachers. Most of the the teachers are just that - they learned just enough about acad to teach the syllabus. That doesn't mean that they are good at using acad; most could never hold down a job even as a cad operator. So, what chance do their students have unless they are also getting real experience outside the classroom?
RE: AutoCAD Certification
Skunk Werks?
Is it because we smell?:smile:
Well back to the topic at hand...
Hey group,
Here is my thoughts. If I were to hire someone I usually look at someone who has understanding of the subject to be detailed, like in my situation I do engineering for steel decking and its detailing. When I hire someone I find someone with something like a associates int Civil Engineering Technology degree. I have looked at ITT tech for candidates but they focus on the CAD side so much that their candidates don't have the mathmatics experience in things like steel design and reinforced concrete design that gives a deck detailer the basic understanding of the systems that is so critical to detailing.
I don't believe in dumb detailers, (although I know they exist) who just run software and draw pictures. I believe that detailers should be designers who understand what they are drawing.
In my experience I hire smart degreed technicians who have had a little AutoCAD and then I teach them what I need them to know about drafting. Much of our detailing is running in house custom software to the point that we need to train them anyway.
Certification sounds like something that the Autodesk Training Centers and Colleges could use to gage the caliber of their graduates. In that sense the certification would be good, but would I hire a certified draftsman over a degreed technician, no.
2 cents
Peter Jamtgaard P.E.