Aarrrgh...I'm going crazy...

[Anonymous]

...'just had to check out for a while - 3 new interns started today, to
supposedly help me bring our details and layer standards up to date. Well,
they just hired some people with a Civil Engineering career in mind, (no
AutoCAD background yet!), and I'm expected to get them going on this
stuff??? Like put them to work updating our standards???

OK - this is how you start AutoCAD - what's a layer?? Well....

'just had to let off a little steam - this is going to be a LOOONG
summer....

John

[Anonymous]

Rudy-
that reminds me of my college days-- learning structural steel design....
One semester with a good designer/bad teacher.
Following semester with an excellent designer, great teacher... said to us:
"forget everything you learned last semester!"
(We were in such a hurry to do that!)

His firm's portfolio included Ingall's hockey rink (Yale U.), Madison Suare
Garden roof (suspended on cables), Ford Foundation HQ., The arch in St.
Louis. Not too shabby, and disproved the old "...those who can't, teach."

His class Taught us something!

[Anonymous]

I'm with you, there, Jan!
A drawing that's "good enough" today, and Not tomorrow isn't good enough At
All!

Standards are more for reading a drawing than creating them... but to read a
CAD drawing it MUST conform to a standard. Especially true if the product
is used 6 years later, or recycled into a "revision" project... picking up
the old design as an as-built dwg.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if they can figure out my "standardiszation" shortcut....

Collect all desired details into 1 massive dwg ... (not Too massive,
though).... go through the Style table and collect all text styles
(dimension styles, too, if you need).

Make 1 template dwg... define a "Standard" style with fixed height & width.
Insert each "Old" detail into it.... purge all styles... "Standard" will
probably survive... it's a default in old ACAD setups... and now they all
match the Desired "standard"

Take Collected styles names... do the same for each.

[Anonymous]

Chris-
I had a young "engineer" co-worker at an old job... just out of HS...
His boss once said, "we should fire you now, while you still know
everything!"
;-)

[Anonymous]

We've tried that. The problem is that I can teach them in a few day what it
will take them 6 weeks to learn at the local college. And what do I do with
them in the mean time? Also since there are at least 3 ways to do everything
in Autocad I then get a lot of "That not the way the instructor showed me
how to do it".

It's difficult brining inexperienced people, especially Engineers, up to
speed. I try to hold a few "mini classes", a couple of hours, in our
conference room when we have a couple of new people.

I have no idea how John is going to get interns up to a point that they can
help with CAD Standards before their gone.

Allen


"Jamie Duncan" wrote in message
news:F211567279756FAF4FFED5C9D149054C@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I would talk with these interns and recommend to them that they enroll in
a
> neighbourhood college course in basic AutoCAD - also you might mention
this
> idea to your manager. This would be cheaper than having you teach three
> people for 6 weeks.
> --
>
>
> Jamie Duncan

[Anonymous]

Well, I first started them out on changing the text in the details to our
standards. I have them run a script that sets the styles when they open the
drawings - it also adds all the standard detail layers we're using. I also
showed them how to scale the drawings for the way they're going to be used.

After they get the drawings open, they scale them correctly for our usage,
and the text is adjusted to the correct style and height. Next, I've got a
set of sample drawings that shows the appropriate use of layers for our
details. So they modify a few, then run them by a reviewer for checking.

All I've had to show them so far was how to open drawings, run the script,
modify the text styles, how to change objects to different layers, save, and
print for proof sheets. With ~1000 details, this will keep them busy for the
next few weeks, (hopefully), then I'll have to show them more.

We're all for having them learn AutoCAD, but management expects them to be
productive right away. All I can do is grin and bear it right now, but I'll
have to demand the time for educating them on AutoCAD if management expects
more...

John

"Allen Jessup" wrote in message
news:3FE167ADA0E98B47168AA1E82906D374@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> We've tried that. The problem is that I can teach them in a few day what
it
> will take them 6 weeks to learn at the local college. And what do I do
with
> them in the mean time? Also since there are at least 3 ways to do
everything
> in Autocad I then get a lot of "That not the way the instructor showed me
> how to do it".
>
> It's difficult brining inexperienced people, especially Engineers, up to
> speed. I try to hold a few "mini classes", a couple of hours, in our
> conference room when we have a couple of new people.
>
> I have no idea how John is going to get interns up to a point that they
can
> help with CAD Standards before their gone.
>
> Allen

[Anonymous]

Doesn't your management come from the ground-up?
Ok, so now we know. If management doesn't come from the ground-up and the
company is doing good then that tells me something.

I don't know what that tells me.

Somebody tell me, what does that mean?

John, what demands do you want for the next round?

Later
Kirk

John Schmidt wrote:
> 'No choice in the selection process - employees, (NOT Cad employees),
> would tell management their son, etc. would work for peanuts -
> management figured "how hard can working on details be?" and dropped
> them in my lap...grrrr.....
>
> At least I know what to demand before the next round...
>
> John

[Anonymous]

Basically one simple request if I'm expected to use them as AutoCAD
interns - that they've had at least a level 1 class in AutoCAD. I expect
interns to have a basic ability to help in the areas they're needed - IMO,
we pay them for what they can do. Why should we pay them to take my time to
teach them AutoCAD from the ground up, then have them leave before any real
work gets done?

I know that's an extreme example, because we obviously need to show them
what we need done, which by nature could be considered a form of teaching -
it's just the *basic* AutoCAD training I'd expect them to have if we expect
to pay them to use it.

I get paid either way, it's just that I left working for an Autodesk
reseller primarily because I was tired of all the basic AutoCAD training I
was doing - it was really starting to stress me out. I enjoy my regular
duties here now, but to be back training again just sets me on edge a
little...

John

"W. Kirk Crawford" wrote in message
news:E5C8FF428ADFA1655904DF3765B8F5C5@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Doesn't your management come from the ground-up?
> Ok, so now we know. If management doesn't come from the ground-up and the
> company is doing good then that tells me something.
>
> I don't know what that tells me.
>
> Somebody tell me, what does that mean?
>
> John, what demands do you want for the next round?
>
> Later
> Kirk
>
> John Schmidt wrote:
> > 'No choice in the selection process - employees, (NOT Cad employees),
> > would tell management their son, etc. would work for peanuts -
> > management figured "how hard can working on details be?" and dropped
> > them in my lap...grrrr.....
> >
> > At least I know what to demand before the next round...
> >
> > John
>
>