Draftsman Skills, Needs, and the Freelancing Job Market
Draftman- Who is the Draftman
Draftman is the person who take the thoughts of the designer and translate them into reality by making complex visual representations of the plans.
Most Draftmen work with Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Software aviable in the market, especially, AutoCAD, Revit, etc.
Both in developed and underdeveloped contries draftmen require formal preparing and graduation holding a diploma or degree from formally recognized institutes.
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Earning a Diploma or Associate Degree as a Draftsmen
Students can typically complete a drafting degree program in two years.
Due to the emphasis on drafting using CAD programming, numerous students have to take drafting courses on the web or online.
This implies that students who do not live near a degree-awarding school or institute are still ready to get experts in ‘draftsman training’.
Courses incorporate fundamental drafting, civil, mechanical, and electrical designs, residential CAD, construction documents, and 3-D AutoCAD.
Students who transfer from a college with a drafting degree can frequently apply their coursework towards an engineering or architectural degree.
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Jobs Market of Draftsmen
Students with degrees in building or structural engineering and drafting knowledge can seek after various professions.
Career choices or finding jobs for recent drafting graduates may incorporate positions in civil, electrical, mechanical, and architectural drafting.
Drafting experts may work for structural planning or manufacturing firms, government offices, or a mixed bag of different associations.
Draftsmen are frequently required in Consultancy Services providers especially related to the field of Civil Engineering.
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Draftsmen Jobs in Freelancing Market Places
Freelancing Market Places are emerging trends of modern jobs. Job patterns have changed magnanimously in the recent era. Jobs are getting more and more virtual these days.
Draftsmen or persons with drafting skills are frequently required in Freelancing Market Places such as;
All you need to do is sign up to these sites and create a profile. Once you have, you can start applying for freelance work that people have posted.
Alternatively, you could check out this list of more generic job sites—you just need to choose your keywords, e.g. ‘CAD’ and ‘Freelance’, and start searching!
Just make sure that you research carefully into prospective clients and projects—you don’t want to rush into something, only to find that you’re not capable of following through. As always, research is key—there are opportunities out there, you just need to be patient.
CAD freelancers are typically hired by engineering or architectural firms, or individual clients, to work on particular projects. These projects may take mere weeks to complete, or they may take months—it’s all circumstantial. You might also be asked to work remotely from home, or to travel to the client’s location. For a better idea of what to expect, here are a few potential tasks in the day-to-day life of a freelance CAD professional:
- Designing or re-designing drawings from client specifications.
- Communicating with the client or project team for task requirements, or approval for design concepts.
- Liaising with teams, e.g. to obtain reference information, or to resolve issues with existing designs.
- Getting designs approved by clients, or creating alternative concepts to meet new requirements.
- Producing CAD drawings for products using industry standards.
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Weightage of Drafting Skills?
Anyone who wants to explore new job trends and learn drafting skills needs to work enthusiastically on learning how to draft. Drafting Skills practically need a grasp on few fundamental concepts regarding that particular field of study and practical skills required to bring that idea into reality on paper/screen. By weightage, theoretical knowledge encompasses 20%, while 80% practical skills are required for being a good draftsman.
CAD freelancers should seek to improve their skills as much as they can, to stand out to potential clients. You need to put in the time and the effort to really reap the rewards in the future. Here are a few typical skills that you will need with freelance CAD:
- Adaptability with different CAD software. Some companies will work with Autodesk software, others will work with SolidWorks—you should try to be as versatile as possible. (NB. If you are a SolidWorks user, be sure to check out our guide to SolidWorks Careers.)
- Familiarity with both 2D and 3D design.
- Ability to work remotely. You won’t have a boss breathing down your neck or motivating you to complete your work—you’re on your own, so you have to make sure you’re comfortable with that.
- Speed. Deadlines are set in stone—so if you miss them, the odds are that the client won’t return to you for later work. You need to make the best impression possible, and good timekeeping is essential. (That said, no one likes a rushed job, either—you shouldn’t be sacrificing quality for speed!)
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Key Subjects Required for Becoming a Good Draftsman
Drafting skills are required in the manufacturing and construction sector mostly or any sector which works on perfect calculations.
Certainly, draftsman should be covering the following subjects;
- Mathematics of Secondary School Level – Matric Level – 10th Grade: with the knowledge of areas, volumes, space, distances, etc.)
- Creativity and Critical Thinking: Though these are intrinsic skills they can be enhanced through study or experience.
- Drawings Fundamentals: How to read drawings, and how to name, adjust sizes, RF, and various concepts of scales need to be learned from traditional drawing books.
- CAD – Computer-Aided Design: Manual drafting is never required in current times. Everything is digitally required. AutoCAD General version in enough to master the drafting skills; however, Revit in recent times is providing many more features of drafting plus quantity surveying plus BIM technology.
- 3D-Max: An excellent software for 3D rendering of 2D plans. In most of the drafting skills, this is a positive point in your bid or resume.
- Fundamental Nomenclature: Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, etc. Engineering requires few fundamental know-how of technical naming.
The following book, although extensive but in a month it can easily be finished, covers whole knowledge of Civil Engineering and its required Nomenclature;
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Download Books on Civil Engineering
You can download these books from the “General Civil Engineering Books” Category given in the following link;
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Draftsmen Practical Skills – Learning
For practical skills of CAD, you can learn a great deal from the following free course available online on youtube.
Just watch and practice. Remember, any CAD software can be used to generate the reuired design. But fundamentally all CAD softares are same in working priciples and output.
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Learn Drafting with DigiSkills – FREE in Urdu / Hindi
AutoCAD is an emerging field that combines creativity with technical skills.
This course will help a trainee to acquire a basic introduction to Computer-Aided Design (CAD).
AutoCAD is the pioneer software in leaving behind the cumbersome ways of drawing on a sheet/paper by hand to CAD designing with a technical approach.
This course will help learn this software step by step from beginner to professional level.
The goal is to develop planning and designing skills starting with the fundamental theory and practice of AutoCAD and quickly advancing to draw Polylines, fillets, chamfering, gradient, layers and hatching etc.
3D Max introduction and modeling will also be discussed in collaboration with AutoCAD software. This course puts you on the track of accomplishment by providing complete instructions on how to start your AutoCAD career as a freelancer and get the best AutoCAD jobs.
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Earn Money with CAD Skills
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How to bid for CAD Projects?
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Less women than men in many CAD-related Industries
Here’s a breakdown of the percentage of women working in some key, CAD-related job roles:
| Job role | % women |
| Construction and building trades n.e.c. | 3.17% |
| Design and development engineers | 4.02% |
| Mechanical engineers | 5.5% |
| Civil engineers | 5.5% |
| Draughtspersons | 12.38% |
| Programmers and software development | 13.6% |
| Architects | 31.14% |
*Data for people who do not define themselves as male or female is insufficient at this time.
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Common Mistakes Made By Freelancers
Navigating the world of freelance work can be difficult—there aren’t really any rules or official guidelines for it. So, more often than not, freelancers will find themselves tripping up over small (or large) mistakes. If you want to be really successful as a CAD freelancer, you need to learn from your mistakes—check out a few of the most common ones below.
Charging Clients Too Little
You don’t have the benefits of full-time employment anymore, so you need to take into consideration holidays, sick days and extra expenses. You (quite literally) cannot afford to charge too little for your work.
Taking on too many clients
With the lack of security in freelance work, it’s easy to feel pressured into taking on too many clients. But that doesn’t mean you should—it can lead to low-quality work and missed deadlines. The important thing is to build up a solid client base.
Taking deadlines as guidelines
Especially when starting out, you can’t afford to miss deadlines, even if it’s just by an hour or a day. Your client is depending on you to get the job done in the chosen time frame—if you miss it, you look unprofessional, and the client will likely never return.
Not maintaining a client base/network
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t worked with a particular client in months—send them an email, and see if they have any work for you. Creating and maintaining strong relationships is a vital aspect of freelancing.
Not creating terms and conditions
Your client will have terms and conditions, and so should you—whether it’s your payment preference or your conditions regarding out-of-hours phone calls. This will prevent any issues along the way should your client prove to be difficult.
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Increase Your Chances of Success
In addition to avoiding the above mistakes, there are steps you can take to increase your likelihood of success. You have to remember that you need to put in hard work and effort to succeed in any job—especially in freelance work.
Offer Minimum-Fee Projects
If you’re only just starting out, you should offer clients cheap projects. This will help you build up a base of clients. Once you’ve got a few prospects, you can start charging a typical hourly rate.
Create your own Website or Blog.
This is the perfect way to advertise your work or portfolio. It gives potential clients an idea of what you’re capable of.
Advertise your work and projects on Social Media
It’s a great way to self-endorse and reaches out to potential clients.
Try to build up your skills in CAD
Whether it’s learning how to use new CAD software, or obtaining a new CAD license, this will give you the option to broaden your skills and diversify your qualifications.
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Pros & Cons of Freelance CAD
Thinking of taking a career in freelance CAD? Check out the pros and cons below to see if it really is the best fit for you…
Pros
- Freedom of job choice. You get to pick and choose which clients you want to work for—everything is up to you.
- Chance to build up a network. Freelancing gives you the opportunity to work with a lot of different people, which can build up your overall network.
- Possibility of higher pay. If you build up a big enough client base and you’ve accumulated enough experience, you could be making more money than you would in a company job.
- More job opportunities. You’ll have a more diverse range of jobs and projects to work on—some clients might even rehire you if you’ve made a big enough impression.
Cons
- Lack of stability and no consistent paycheck. Job opportunities aren’t a certainty—so you might find yourself short on work some months, which is troubling if you have no savings.
- Menial jobs. Some clients will want you to do basic jobs that are more in the field of broad IT than CAD—and without a consistent paycheck, you’ll probably have to accept the job.
- No employment benefits. You won’t have a company paying for your holidays or healthcare—which is a lot to fork out for.
Obviously, the pros and cons will differ depending on how long you’ve worked in the CAD industry, and what qualifications you have. Undoubtedly, you’ll experience more of the cons when you start out, while the pros will most likely increase once you’ve found your footing in freelance work.
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Key Note
Drafting Skills can be learned by anyone to everyone. Females are getting hired to a greater extent in current market, as this relates to soft-technical but imaginative skills set.
Get excited to learn this new skill set and welcome to the field of Freelancing.
Keep Learning and Keep Earning More…
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