well. got sick of computer stuff and want to do something else. my 2 intrests are either auto school or computer drafting. looked at honda specific training(PACT) and just regular auto school in my area. hard choise. if somebody works in any of the 2 fields can give recommendation and maybe their salary ranges and stuff like that. any help is apreciated
well, if your sick of computer stuff, then why do computer drafting? go with the honda specific training. plus that way you can fix your own car, and maybe even work for a tuning shop in the future as a honda tuning specialist.
im sick in way of fixing computers and doing networking stuff. drafting is more of designing on computer. i took it for 2 years in high school and loved that stuff. 3d wireframe and stuff. my friend took that stuff in college and said he got to 50k salary in 25 years then went to work for RCN. says they pay him 2-3 times more do to residential installs. he didnt like office job too much
Both good choices but CADD is a profession you can do without physical strain and working in an office environment. Car repair is obviously more 'physical' type work and you'd work in a different environment. But do what you love to do [Plan for the future, because that is where you are going to spend the rest of your life] Mark Twain
leaning toward CAD since it will require least amount of change as of right now and im sure its pretty good career.
Our CADD guys make a good living and it’s reasonably creative (or at least as creative as designing / drawing chemical plants) can be. And as you’ve said its not a ‘long way’ from what you’re doing now so it should be an easy transition
you said you're friend made it to 50k after 25 years of service???? Man , that's not very good IMO ! As has been said do what you love
ops. 2.5 years not 25 its creative i guess. i used to spend a lot of time in AutoCAD at home, did a lot of 3d drawing when was designing my watercooling system for my computer. it was fun, took it in penn state when i was there for a year. so i guess ill be going for drafting. looked at jobs thats avaliable right now and it looks pretty good as far as salary and benefits.
I LOVE drafting.. old school style. But everythings CADD now. I'd love to do it as a hobby but I'm not very artistic--though I wish I was!
Personally I would go with CAD. You get to sit in a nice air conditioned office and not covered in grease and oil day in and day out. Right now not many places are hiring. The architecture firms are dead and they concentrate on Autocad. The 3d parts which most stuff is now is Solidworks and Pro/E. I would go with pro/e only because the only people hiring anymore in any real number is the Fed. government and they use pro/e. You have to get in quick because the rumor is the current pres. is going to put in a fed. employee hiring free and start slashing budgets to make up for the deficit caused by TARP. For all the schooling you will have to go through you might as well get a four year engineering degree. If you go with souly CAD you will hit a pretty low ceiling. You might start out in a job shop at 85k a year but keep in mind you have no benefits what so ever so the numbers will really be closer to 50k to cover the missing benefits. And when they say 90 day contract unless you went way above and beyond don't count on getting hired as a permanent employee. If you are fortunate and get hired at a non jobshop company your starting salery will be tiny like 30-45k and hit a ceiling of 65-80k. In this day and age that is barely for someone to support a family on.
NOW he tells me. Where were you 20 years ago when I needed you? Me as well. We did drafting with pencils, rulers and paper. Awesome stuff. I love drawing. Drives my wife nuts because its always a garage! LOL
I think you are a little too young to be sick of doing something... but I will say it takes a certain type to want to get dirty every day and have your body beat to shit...
a lot of my friends do work at dealerships as mechanics. i work on my car when its warm and like it a lot as well. chcking out UTI and ATC schools near me.
I've been a drafter for the last about 12 years and have been drafting since about 1992. Actually got "Draftsman of the Year" when I graduated high school. LOL. I went to college for Mechanical Engineering and quite after a couple years. I thought I'd like it but everyone I knew getting jobs bitched about drawing and working on things that you never see, like gears and stuff inside the car door. So I ended up getting my degree in Applied Science in Architectural/Construction Technology. I worked for a small architect for 3 years and hates the place I worked but liked the work we did. Right now I am still a CAD operator but that's only 30% of my job. I go construction management, surveying, plan reviews, inspections and anything else they tell me to do. This job is decent, but the CAD drawings I do are horrible. REALLY REALLY boring with little detail. I was doing better stuff than this in high school by hand. LOL I won't tell my salary but I will tell you it went up when I went from just a drafter to doing more at this job.
I took 4 years of drafting classes in high school, setup my H.S. on their first AutoCAD station in my senior year. I then decided to go to college for my BSME, graduated and took a job as a "Mechanical Engineer" that was really a CAD job. Quickly was exposed to ProE and focused on solid modeling technologies. I excelled at it and began to take a leadership role in CAD Technologies. From there... 4 companies later, I have transitioned into IT Management for the North American Engineering dept for a global construction equipment manufacturer. I think it is a great way to launch a career. CAD can lead you into a lot of different options based on where exactly you excel.
nice to know fellow DB'ers offering good advice :thumb: to against the grain a bit, would you consider being diesel/heavy equipment mechanic? after going to mechanic school i worked 2 two shops doing the brakes/tune-ups/wheel align. etc... from 92-97. then from 97-current i've been a fleet mechanic for a garbage trucks. hourly, benefits, pension is good (depending who work for) work is steady all year long. Since the shop personal maintain the fleet. Also being a union shop we do all the welding/ fabrication, engine-trans-rear end swaps, hydraulic, electrical repairs, etc.... Just a thought if you plan on turning wrenches for a living
at this point i started to take drafting courses so gona be going into that for now. thanks for advice guys
