[RightWhale]

One thing I learned, which I already knew anyway, is that AutoCAD does not make the draftsman. A draftsman can adjust to the machine and be up to speed and then some in a few months, but a computer operator cannot become a draftsman unless he has an undiscovered drafting talent to begin with.

[js1138]

My son taught himself CAD while getting an architectural design degree. The university required the purchase of an expensive laptop computer and expensive CAD programs, but failed to actually place CAD courses in the curriculum.

My son ignored the bias toward manual drafting, did most of his work on the computer. His grades suffered, but once out of school he had a design job in New York within a couple of weeks. He continued his schooling at CUNY and developed a presentation for the recent AIA convention.

As far as I can tell, many of his classmates that didn't teach themselves computer skills are stuck in low-level drafting jobs, or have moved out of architecture altogether.

[Elsie]

A draftsman can adjust to the machine and be up to speed and then some in a few months, but a computer operator cannot become a draftsman unless he has an undiscovered drafting talent to begin with.

There you go!

Autocad® is a tool, just like a compass.

I was in an outfit that designed circuit boards during the transtion from mylar and tape to using computer programs. Similar problems occured.