Have you ever wondered whose job it is to sketch and prepare technical drawings to use in the construction of buildings? If you have an eye for detail and a mathematical mind then maybe it’s time to start thinking about a career in drafting and design engineering, and put your drawing skills to good use!

Drafters translate the calculations and findings made by engineers, surveyors, and architects and put these into planned, technical drawings. They must take dimensions, materials, and methods to be used into consideration when generating these plans. Drafting and engineering students are able to create blueprints that are then passed on to construction workers, architects and product manufacturers to follow.

As a drafter, you have the opportunity to specialize in a number of fields, be it aeronautical, architectural, civil, electrical, electronics, mechanical, and process piping or pipeline drafters.
Computer Aided Drafting, or CAD, is the most useful and called upon software that drafting professionals use. Before the days of CAD, drafters had to manually produce sketches with the tools that were available to them at the time (e.g. drawing boards, pens, pencils, protractors, t-squares, and triangles). CAD is software that allows drafters to produce residential, roadway, commercial, and structural sketches.

Graduates will have an edge over their competitors when applying for entry-level drafting positions, as employers often stipulate that potential employees have at least two years of college training. Take the time now to explore the available drafting degrees provided by the Top Colleges search engine, and steer yourself towards a new career as a drafter!