Announcements
Attention for Customers without Multi-Factor Authentication or Single Sign-On - OTP Verification rolls out April 2025. Read all about it here.

Life Lessons From an OG CAD Designers' perspective

life.jfif

 

Life lessons – an OG CAD designers' perspective

 

As a “seasoned” CAD user, having worked with Autodesk products for over forty years, I have seen my share of success and failure with things that I have attempted. As I reflect on those years, I see a definite trend in the things that have had the most impact on my level of success in life (or non-success in many cases), even beyond my CAD design career. 

 

caddude1_0-1733349019306.jpeg

 

 

Failure is merely a steppingstone to success

 

One might think that over a long history in the CAD design field, the greatest impact on a person both personally and professionally would be their achievements and successes. After all, more knowledge and experience will earn you more money and promotions.  The resulting mind set of “I can fix anything with my knowledge” would be a logical extension of this mindset. 

The reality is, however, that with each ensuing success, even as one becomes more confident in their abilities, people can become complacent and lose sight of what the real goal should be, continuous learning and expanding one’s skills.

 

I have been driven as much, if not more so, by my failures when seeking a solution rather than the successes I have had. I will try all of my known fixes with a time limit of ten minutes each. If there is no solution, I know that I have done as much as I can based on my skills. Wasting more time than that on a task is counterproductive. My failure in a particular effort is not the first to occur and will definitely not be the last. 

Someone else has certainly had the same problem I am experiencing now at some point in their career. I just need to find what their solution was. The Autodesk forms https://forums.autodesk.com/ have been my best source of accurate and properly vetted solutions. 

 

caddude1_1-1733349019306.png

 

 

AutoCAD is amazingly adaptive

 

The AutoCAD software library covers all aspects of the design field, regardless of your chosen design specialty. Just because you work in a particular discipline, do not limit your search for a solution to discussions on that topic alone. 

Basic AutoCAD functions are common to all verticals of the software, in some form. Get to the core of your current challenge and you will find that it is very similar to that of someone in another industry. Do not overlook the possibility of an architectural designer having the same challenge as a mechanical designer. Both work with creating and editing entities in their field and have similar tasks to complete. Focus your thinking on the actual process behind a task rather than the entity being affected by said task. 

There will be those who are hesitant to get actively involved in the forums (as I was for many years), their concern is being judged or looked upon in a negative light. Everyone on the forums has at some point come there with an issue. Some are seasoned users who are there to share their experiences and tips. These people started out at the same point as the newbie, looking for help. For everyone who has posted a discussion to a forum, you can bet there are ten more lurking in the background and taking in the information presented.  

 

Additional resources – some valuable assets, some not so much

 

Knowledge sources are all around us. We can google anything today and AI is now really getting into the ring as well. One must use some degree of caution when searching for solutions. General information from Google may be incorrect, which will cause more issues. When reviewing data gleaned from the internet, use your due diligence in researching the sources and their validity.

 

caddude1_2-1733349019307.png

 

 

Autodesk Chat groups – get out there and look around

 

An excellent source of reliable data is the many Autodesk chat groups online. Just because I use AutoCAD electrical, I do not limit my search feelers to ACADE forums.  I belong to vanilla AutoCAD forums as well as many specialized groups.  Someone else, somewhere has needed to solve the issue I am having. Do not be afraid to join multiple chat groups, with different focuses than your software. Remember – AutoCAD is one product at heart with many varieties – you are not the first to try and solve the issue at hand. 

Do not underestimate the value of your experience. Chat groups are driven by user input, and as such, your experience is a valuable resource for information to someone else in the group. Your work environment and processes will, either by being successful or having failed, be a valuable lesson learned to others. Remember, we learn as much from a failure as we do from a success. The solution that you found to a past challenge is going to help someone else in the future. 

In-person conferences

   

If you can convince your employer to send you to an in-person event like https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/,  you will have a whole new experience in learning. With 14k plus attendees' average, Autodesk University is one of the best places to find like-minded, yet multi-disciplined CAD design professionals.  

As an attendee annually for twenty years running, I have had a chance to meet, and learned from, many experts that I could never have otherwise. Being exposed to such a large pool of talent will diversify your background, making you a better-rounded employee. The connections with industry experts and friendships that I have developed have been keystones in my knowledge database, so it has been a great investment. Having exposure to software as well as users experience from disciplines that I would not be able to get has expanded my understanding of what AutoCAD is truly capable of. 

There are also other Autodesk conferences throughout the year if AU is out of reach for you. While these events may be more focused on a particular discipline, they are also more likely to be approved by your employer. 

 

caddude1_3-1733349019307.jpeg

 

 

Final thoughts

 

“Success” in your (CAD) career and life is driven by many factors which, when properly managed, will keep you moving forward and learning new skills and techniques to improve efficiency. I have seen many in the industry overlook the benefits of learning from past failures. What does not kill you will make you stronger, as they say. Knowing how to spot and avoid pitfalls is a learned science, yet an invaluable one. 

 

2 Comments