Assoc. drafting degree?

[jvoight]

Hello, I am a drafter for a small engineering firm. We now have three drafters. The new hire says he is a semester short of getting an assoc. drafting degree from a junior college. This guy can barley use the copy command and didn't know what hatch was... As you can imagine there are a few more common tools that he is now learning from me.

The question is, is it common place for people coming out of school to know very little and be extremely slow? I have an assoc. degree also, and its been a couple of years since school, but I know I had the common commands down plus some. I did have some release 11 training in high school also.

Am I out of place by saying something to my boss, he hired him. Boss is a engineer who knows everything about everything.

This is driving me crazy. This can't be right.

Dazed and confused

[david.kingham]

Depends on the person and the school, I was pretty fast right out of school but there were others in my class that could barely pick their nose. Say something now, it's only going to cause you to do lots of rework and potentially make you look bad.

[Mike.Perry]

Hi

Please note I've *moved* this thread from the AutoCAD General Forum to this one as I feel this particular Forum is a more appropriate place for such a topic.

Thanks, Mike

Forum Moderator

[jjdurett]

HI
I have to agree with David on this. I just started at a firm 8 months ago working with a guy who is supposed to be the CAD Manager and all I have done for the last six months is fix his work and try to teach the "manager" the correct and efficient way to draw. It is better to say something now or you'll be doomed to more work. "Speak now or forever hold your peace"

[purvisp]

The new hire says he is a semester short of getting an assoc. drafting degree from a junior college.

Now you know why he is a semester short of graduating. Probably wasn't going to make the cut. Those are basic commands. If he doesn't know them, chances are he doesn't know much about how to use Autocad. Sounds like you need to give the boss man a heads up. I know how it is too to have a boss that knows everything about everything. Its a tough call, but sounds like you may end up doing most of his work for him. Or, just let him fall flat on his face then your boss may not have a choice but to let him go. Sounds harsh, but hey, there's a line at the door of people looking for work; ( at least around here anyway).

[mtlynn]

That's why I like to give interviewers a autocad test during the interview.
Just give them a 10 min. test something simple to draw that requires the basic commands. If they blow thru it, then they know there stuff, If they struggle then your going to have to do some teaching if you hire them. I get real tired of people lying there way into a position.

[robert.1.hall72202]

Anything learned at the college level isn't worth its weight. I took a vocational school Cad course during high school (400 hrs experience). After taking college courses, I found that nothing is learned at the college level. I would be lost if I did not attend a vocational school. For anyone looking to get into to drafting, I would suggest taking a more serious training class. Any college course is just designed to give engineering curiculum 3 more credits while not having to think of a "real" class for the students to enroll. Colleges will bring anyone off the street to teach a Cad course.

[bbapties]

i interviewed at a small firm. It was just the one technician "cad manager"... he was looking for a cad monkey to do straight cad... It was when i first moved down to FL. He asked if I'd draw a quick 2d detail up so that he can check my knowledge of cad...So I said sure!, (planning that he'd ask) I pulled out my disc and said do you mind if I load my own profile and pgp file?..

He said... " a pg what file.....? I dont want you to draw a profile this is architectural work. I said for you to draw a detail...."

I promptly picked my resume off the desk and said "I'm sorry to waste your time, have a good weekend" and walked out...

[Wanderer]

yes, I think it is typical. I picked up most of my knowledge of cad in 3 years of high school drafting... college was a complete waste to me. We had people coming in to the classes because they thought they were graphics design programs, never used CAD before, and managed to pass and get some sort of certificate. ~shakes head~ Most of my instructors couldn't even tell you how to do basic commands, why would you expect the students to be able to ?

So, in short, I agree that a basic skills assessment test should be given. I was given a test when interviewing for this job where I had to do just basic things like setting up some layers, attaching and x-ref, etc... very basic, but, the engineer who gave me the test told me that some people just did really, really badly on it.

good luck

Hello, I am a drafter for a small engineering firm. We now have three drafters. The new hire says he is a semester short of getting an assoc. drafting degree from a junior college. This guy can barley use the copy command and didn't know what hatch was... As you can imagine there are a few more common tools that he is now learning from me.

The question is, is it common place for people coming out of school to know very little and be extremely slow? I have an assoc. degree also, and its been a couple of years since school, but I know I had the common commands down plus some. I did have some release 11 training in high school also.

Am I out of place by saying something to my boss, he hired him. Boss is a engineer who knows everything about everything.

This is driving me crazy. This can't be right.

Dazed and confused

[bruce.adams]

College cad courses are running about 3 years behind the curve. Most instructors have never used AutoCad in a practical sense. Today's college hiring of instructors require a college teaching degree and a engineering degree to teach these courses. If I have a teaching degree and a engineering degree can you guess what type of career path I'm going to take? Hence you get instructors with little or no practical experience in Cad design. This is a black mark on college campus's all over, and these students are paying for a skill they never acquire. It's a crying shame.