How to become an AutoCAD Expert. By Paul Munford

[camilo.lemos]

How to become an AutoCAD Expert

By Paul Munford

Do you enjoy working with AutoCAD? Do you like finding a solution when you get stuck? Are you the 'Go To' AutoCAD person in your Office?

Feels good doesn't it? 😉

I want to help you to become an AutoCAD expert, but I'll warn you. I don't have any cheats or shortcuts for you. You are going to have to put in some hard work.

I do have some great tips that will give you a roadmap of how to go from AutoCAD enthusiast to AutoCAD Elite! Being a CAD expert is ultimately extremely rewarding - you can do it!

Troubleshooting

The simplest way to begin improving your AutoCAD skills is to get out of your comfort zone. We all do it. We hit a problem, find a work around and never try another route ever again. It's easy to think that the way you found is the only way.

To open your eyes to how others are using AutoCAD, offer to help. Let your colleagues know that you love problem solving with AutoCAD and that you would be happy to help them brainstorm ideas if they get stuck.

You'll soon be thrown many tricky challenges that will get you scratching those synapses. And you'll get to know the regular issues that cause many people problems with AutoCAD.

Sharing

If you really want a challenge - don't limit your new troubleshooting skills to your own office. Reach out to CAD users the world over through the Autodesk Community forums.

When you come across a problem on the forums that you are familiar with, post a reply. The great thing here is that others will post their advice too. This is a great way of learning alternative solutions to seemingly simple problems.

Bonus Tip: You can subscribe to your favourite Autodesk Community Form discussion boards in a RSS feed reader such as Feedly.

You'll see the post titles scroll by in the feed reader - just reading the questions people are asking will give you a great insight into where people are having problems.

If you can answer a question - just click the link to jump into the Forums and post your reply.

If you come across posts on the forums that contain interesting questions and actionable answers, don't forget to tweet, share or email the good news to your colleagues!

Learning

This is where the hard work starts. I'm sorry - there's no other way 😉

The first CAD book I ever read was 'AutoCAD for Dummies' by Mark Middlebrook. This helped me to get my first job as a CAD Drafter, and I was soon hungry for more.

My next CAD Book was Ellen Finklestein's 'AutoCAD Bible'. I remember reading a chapter of this book every lunchtime, and trying out my new skills in the afternoons. By the end of my first six months in my new job I was teaching my Boss AutoCAD tricks he didn't know!

Ten years on and I now have 23 AutoCAD books in my library (I just counted them). I also have a further 38 books on related subjects such as Technical Drawing, Programming, Architecture and Furniture making.

You don't know what you don't know. There are a lot of great people out there who've done this before - and they want to help you. My top piece of advice for learning AutoCAD, is that you don't need to know everything - you just need to know what's possible. If you now that it CAN be done, you'll work out how to do it when the time comes.

In addition to reading text books, it's great to pick up little snippets of knowledge that you can action immediately. For this, I recommend using your RSS Feed reader to sign up to your favourite CAD Blogs. I track more than 80 CAD blogs this way (Including the AutodeskHelp blog that you are reading right now!). You can see a full list of the Blogs that I follow on the CadSetterOut links page here.

There's just no substitution for packing this kind of knowledge into your noggin. But there are alternatives if you don't like reading.

Autodesk Screencast is a great source of free video tutorials. If you can afford to pay a little, you can get more structured learning through video training providers such as Infinite Skills, Global ETraining or Lynda.com.

If you prefer learning in person, I recommend that you start with your local technical college or Autodesk Value added Reseller.

The Holy Grail of all AutoCAD Training is Autodesk University. There is simply no better place to learn from your peers and colleagues about how THEY are working with AutoCAD right now.

If you can't afford to go to Las Vegas to learn AutoCAD, don't be disheartened. Not only are Autodesk expanding the coverage of AU with many local Autodesk University events, but you can also find a lot of classes from previous years in the AU Library.

I want to tell you - I got so much out of AU I went for three years in a row, entirely self-funded and in my own holiday time. It cost me a lot of money to attend, but it was instrumental in achieving the promotions I received as a result of my expert knowledge.

For the last three years I have attended AU as a speaker, which brings us neatly onto our next point.

Teaching

Albert Einstein is attributed with saying:

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

You may THINK you know AutoCAD, but try explaining a solution to someone else and you'll soon find out where the gaps in your knowledge are!

Back in 2009 I used to share the great AutoCAD tips that I found on my favourite CAD blogs by emailing them around the office.

I soon learned that this wasn't fool proof, my colleagues would often lose the email and ask me to send it again!

I was inspired by bloggers such as Shaan Hurley to start my own blog, mainly as a database of great CAD tips that I could organise and share more easily with my colleagues.

It soon became obvious that it wasn't only my colleagues reading CadSetterOut, so I started to take Blogging more seriously! Writing a CAD blog as been a great catharsis for me, and a way to reveal gaps in my own knowledge.

You may know how to plot an AutoCAD drawing, or create a Block - but if you've never tried to explain it to someone else, or write down a list of instructions explaining exactly how it should be done, you've never really challenged your own understanding!

Ultimately, writing a CAD blog took me through Guest posting on other's blogs, to writing for AUGIworld and D3D Magazine and ultimately speaking at Autodesk University.

I'm not a trained speaker or teacher. I find leading classes challenging and even uncomfortable, but I love seeing good people do well. If I solve a problem and make a difference for even one person I feel great - I love it!

Round up

So - there you have it. You want to be an AutoCAD expert? Well right here is where you start paying! I can't promise you that It will be easy. But I can promise you that you can help your colleagues, gain a better position and leave the world a better place - if you are prepared to work hard.

You can do it.

[filipefrancisco]

Great Post

[PaulMunford]

Thanks Filipe 🙂

[clindner]

Good stuff. "He who teaches learns twice."

[frycad]

Thanks for that Paul, like the can do at attiude!!

[Anonymous]

thank you

[hossamnet0semo]

Awesome Sir  Thank You Very Much ^_^ 

[ToddRogers-WPM]

Good job @PaulMunford!

[hemanthvirat9]

Thanks paul for all your advices i want to be expert in all designing subjects

[sizandm365]

Thank you.