Drafting and Design

 

Career and Major Information
Earnings
Related Occupations
Related Web Sites

 

Career and Major Information:

Walters State's two-year concentration in Drafting and Design is designed to prepare successful graduates for entry-level employment in the field as drafters and designers.  Some drafters are referred to as CADD Operators because of the heavy reliance on computer-aided drafting and design techniques. Drafting work has many specialties, and titles may denote a particular discipline of design or drafting such as architectural drafter, electrical drafter, civil drafter, or mechanical drafter. Duties may include using design concepts and graphical techniques to produce engineering and architectural drawings and plans to build everything from manufactured products, such as toys, toasters, industrial machinery, and spacecraft, to structures, such as houses, office buildings, and oil and gas pipelines. Their drawings provide visual guidelines, show the technical details of the products and structures, and specify dimensions, materials, and procedures. Drafters fill in technical details, using drawings, rough sketches, specifications, codes, and calculations previously made by engineers, surveyors, architects, or scientists.

Jobs may be found in construction, architectural, engineering, and related services firms that design construction projects or do other engineering work on a contractual basis for other industries. Jobs may also be found in manufacturing industries, such as machinery manufacturing, including metalworking and other general machinery; fabricated metal products manufacturing, including architectural and structural metals; computer and electronic products manufacturing, including navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments; and transportation equipment manufacturing, including aerospace products and parts manufacturing, as well as ship and boat building.

The minimum educational requirement is that the applicant have the appropriate drafting and design skills; however, employers prefer applicants who have completed postsecondary school training in drafting, which is offered by technical institutes, community colleges, and some 4-year colleges and universities.  As a whole, employment of engineering technicians is expected to increase about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2012 with increased opportunities for those certified in more technically specific fields.

 

Earnings:

The Tennessee Career Information Delivery System website lists the salary range for a beginning-level position in this field in Tennessee as $25,980 to $29,915 annually.  With experience, the range increases to $39,095 to $61,855.  The national average is higher by about $2,000 to $8,000 per year.  Salary figures quoted are based on national figures. Local or regional salaries may be lower.

 

Related Occupations:

Architect

Landscape Architect

Engineer

Science Technician

Surveyor

Cartographer

Photogrammetrist

 

Related Web Sites:

Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology

            http://www.accsct.org

American Design Drafting Association

            http://www.adda.org

 

Much of the above information was collected from the 2004-2005 Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the U.S. Department of Labor.  For additional information on these and many other careers, please visit the following web sites:

 

Occupational Outlook Handbook - U.S. Department of Labor

www.bls.gov/oco/

 

Tennessee Career Information Delivery System (TCIDS)

http://tcids.tbr.edu/.

 

 

For information regarding specific degree program requirements, curriculum, or faculty, please see the department website at http://www.ws.edu/teched/default.asp.