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Need advice please

9 REPLIES 9
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Message 1 of 10
AlexJones14
816 Views, 9 Replies

Need advice please

Hi everyone,

I need some advice for my future career please.

  Here is my story ,I am a 37 years old guy with high school diploma and I had taught myself AutoCad back in 1994(Rel 13). But never worked in that field and never touched it since then. I taught myself Corel Draw- Adobe photoshop-Illustrator- inDesign and 2 embroidery digitizing software
Unfortunatley I cant afford to go to college or technical school.
I started  learning Solidworks and solidworks Composer couple of months ago and I am about to start refreshing my memories on AutoCad as well.
I am reading  some mechanical drawing and blue print reading and mathematics for engineering books as well.
  I am doing graphic design and embroidery digitizing for living. I am looking for a career change to make more money and I would like to hear your advices and  ideas and suggestions please.
also I have 3 questions . 
Question 1- Will i have any shot in getting a good paying job by learning SolidWorks and AutoCad ,since I don't have any college education?
I make about $15 an hour now.
Question 2- What is the pay rate for beginner  and  does it help the pay rate if I get certified ?
Question 3 -The companies that are hiring need at least couple of years of experience, Where do you think would be the best to start to build that experience needed?
 
   I would greatly appreciated your time
 
Thank you
Alex Jones
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9 REPLIES 9
Message 2 of 10
dgorsman
in reply to: AlexJones14

Companies that rely on AutoCAD users are typically more interested in their in-field expertise rather than AutoCAD skills.  Because AutoCAD is so customizable they will  re-teach new employees on their way of doing things.  Solidworks is another story, as would be Inventor, Revit, or other technically complex program.  That means applicants need either verifiable training or a lot of job experience with glowing recommendations.  Lacking both those won't get a foot in the door.  Relevant industry knowledge is also important.  You won't be running Solidworks, you will be designing (insert flangle here).  If you don't know what a (flangle) is doing the design work will be inefficient.

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If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.


Message 3 of 10
AlexJones14
in reply to: dgorsman

Thank you very much dgorsman for your point.
Message 4 of 10

Relevant industry standard is of utmost importance. Without it, well, it's hard to get in anywhere unless you have a stellar resume and/or portfolio.

 

I agree that most companies will re-train you and expect you to do things their way. That's completely normal.

 

As for pay rate, I'm not comfortable answering that question because it varies so greatly. A good resource for establishing a general idea for rate of pay would be to utilize the Bureau of Labor Statistics' website (http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm). I've had offers from $11 to over $20 just depending on the company and location (upscale business districts versus lower-end downtown residental/commercial districts, for example). Now this isn't to say a company with a small office in a somewhat decent area of a downtown neighborhood won't pay well -- it's just a matter of my own experience. But try looking at the BLS website - it's a good source for information from salary to expected job increases/decreases and more. You can narrow down information by state.

 

Let me give you my opinion as if I were looking at someone like you.

No harsh feelings or anything against you - just strictly my business point of view, okay? I've hired for CAD positions in the past so I have some background as far as what one of my previous companies was looking for.

 

Resumes:

-The first thing I did was looked over their resume for any major grammar errors. To me, this was a distinct sign of lack of attention to detail. Anything with misspellings and/or major formatting issues, I put them in the "No" pile.

-Second I looked for their education. If they didn't have a college degree, I went straight to their job history. If they had no relevant job positions in similar companies and no college degree, I set the resume into the "No" pile. Plain and simple.

-If they had a college education, I looked at their degree and any outstanding achievements that may have been listed. If their degree was relevant and they did not have any field experience they went into the "EDUCATION" pile. If they did have a degree and relevant experience, they went into the "INTERVIEW" pile.

Interviews:

-Math test

-General interview questions

-Job specific overview and questions

-Software test

 

So, my answers to your questions:

 

Q1) "Will i have any shot in getting a good paying job by learning SolidWorks and AutoCad ,since I don't have any college education?"

A) That really depends. It is going to be hard I think. So many people either go to college or at least a technical college these days that it's hard to stop and even consider someone without a college education. Especially in a technical field. In my personal experience entry-level jobs were not even considered to be given to someone without applicable training so finding someone to take you on at $15/hr or more is going to be difficult. Also, honestly, I think you need to take a good look at your grammar. I know this is the Internet, but things like "i" instead of "I" really have an impact on people. Especially people who are hiring and looking for someone who can communicate with customers efficiently and correctly and give a positive reflection on their company. The way you present yourself on the Internet and on your resume speak volumes to some people.

 

Q2) "What is the pay rate for beginner  and  does it help the pay rate if I get certified ?"

A) Again, look up regional specific information through the BLS website for pay rates. They can range from minimum wage on up. I gave preference to someone if they showed on their resume that they were certified, but I didn't give more than a slight bit of consideration. It did not affect the amount of money I was willing to offer them. It came down to education and job experience for me when I was hiring drafters.

 

Q3) "The companies that are hiring need at least couple of years of experience, Where do you think would be the best to start to build that experience needed?"

A) Option 1: Go to a technical college if you can, get your foot in the door for training there, and they will help you get into an entry-level position. Option 2: Interview until you find someone who is willing to take you on and train you.

 

I hope this helped you make considerations for your future.


Best of luck.

AutoCAD Mechanical 2013 SP2
AutoCAD 2013 SP2
Message 5 of 10

Thank you very much Kristin for your detail and honest reply.

You are right I probably wouldn't hire myself either .

Unfortunately English is my third language and sometimes I forget about the importance of the grammar. and another unfortunate thing is that I have a drafting certificate from my origin country ( 900 hours ) which is not accepted here as a valid certificate and I called different colleges but they said I have to take the courses from the beginning ( at least $6000 cost).

 

 

One more question.  Do you think getting a certificate from Autodesk and solidworks will help any to get a job?

 

Appreciated your time for reading my and answering my questions and for the website.

 

 

Message 6 of 10

Microsoft Word will check your spelling and grammar for you. Most libraries have it if you do not.
Nearly any librarian will be able to direct you to an ESL course - there are many which are free.
They will also have instructors who will help you edit your resume for grammar and spelling.

If you have a drafting certificate from another country then by all means list it. You may even want to give a sentence or very brief description under it to emphasize what it is and how you've utilized it in the past. Just a thought. Unless it's completely defunct or irrelevant, of course.

Many technical colleges offer scholarships and financial aid - you may want to try those routes. Another thing about colleges is that some will allow you to test-out of courses and charge you anywhere from nothing if you pass to a few hundred dollars. Been there, done that. I entered a technical college with experience and knowledge under my belt and really did not want to have to take the basic algebra and trigonometry courses, along with the intro to CAD classes they were requiring - so I asked and was allowed to test out of them. That may be something you would want to look at.

As for obtaining Autodesk Certification: I honestly don't give it a lot of bonus points, but that's just me. In my opinion anyone can learn the program and utilize it. It's the experience, passion, and desire for what we do that sets drafters apart from the people who simply know CAD. I'd much prefer to hire someone who went to school, obtained a technical degree of some sort, and had experience with the software I was hiring them to use.

In short: it probably won't hurt you, but I don't think it will help as much as you may think either.

The biggest questions I would have as an interviewer for you would be: Why are you changing your career now? What made you change your mind about what you are doing? Did you burn-out of your previous career track? What did you love about it? And I'd ask you to give me relevant job experience that you could relate to the world of drafting and design.
AutoCAD Mechanical 2013 SP2
AutoCAD 2013 SP2
Message 7 of 10
AlexJones14
in reply to: AlexJones14

Thank you Kristin,I will try to contact more colleges to see if I can take a placement test instead of doing everything from scratch.

 

  It really helps me to see other professionals experiences and suggestions .

 and again I am greatly appreciated you taking your time  to explain everything.

 

The main reason for changing career is I am looking for something that has room to expand and has an opportunity for higher pay with gaining more experience( at least that is what I am hoping). I know it is maybe late for starting a new career but I know I can pull it off

 

Message 8 of 10

It's never too late to do what you love.

Best of luck.
AutoCAD Mechanical 2013 SP2
AutoCAD 2013 SP2
Message 9 of 10
JDMather
in reply to: AlexJones14


@AlexJones14 wrote:

Unfortunately English is my third language ...

 


Unfortunately?  That was the most important selling point I saw in your description.

There will be an Autodesk Certification Days event in March - you can get AutoCAD Professional certification for $25.

Find companies that might benefit from someone knowing the particular languages (other than english) that you know.
This might be hard to do, but I would wager this is your best shot.

I had student from a former Russian block company who started working for a US company making wood stoves in the US for export to (and then manufactured in) his home country.  Before he landed this position - all of the manufacturing was done from memory - years of experience on the shop floor.  None of the designs were formaly documented.

 

You know something about the workings of embroidery machinery.  Do those companies have an export market?


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Message 10 of 10
AlexJones14
in reply to: JDMather

Thank you very much JDMather,
 I actually know how to fix some mechanical and some electronic errors on embroidery machines.( I work on Korean machines).

That was a great suggestion and also after I refresh my memory on AutoCad I will get the certificates as you mentioned.

If you don't mind I would like to keep this topic open ( Not Answered) so if  anyone else has any other suggestion .

 

Thank you again

Alex
 

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