How do I enter the AutoCAD customization field with my background?

[Anonymous]

I may have posted earlier, but let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am going to be a civil and electrical engineering major (already completed about 3 years of EE and am just starting civil engineering). I have read that AutoCAD, which I have had a small class in so far, can be customized using different programming languages. I am still a student, but it sounds like when I do found my own engineering firm, I would like to have a division that does CAD software customization for clients, which as far as I know there is no such firm in my region that does so. I have the following background in engineering thus far:

civil engineering:
Introduction to Engineering Drawing, Basic Surveying, now taking statics and intro to environmental engineering

electrical engineering:
circuits, discrete math, logic design, electromechanical energy conversion, electromagnetics, signals and systems, electronics, computer organization and design, engineering math, basic Java programming and data structures, microprocessor systems, and computer architechture

In EE, I am specializing in computer engineering, and in CE I want to focus on structural and/or environmental engineering. In my EE courses, I did programming in Java, C (not C++), and a little assembly (8086 series), and I have not done control systems yet and I am planning to take that.

I know what I am doing may be unusual, but I really do want to found my own multi-disciplinary engineering firm, and yes, I will probably hire some people in the future, but I want to get my firm started and gotten off the ground first. So my question is: how can I get started with customizing AutoCAD? What do I need to learn/do in order to participate in this field?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

[Anonymous]

You will need to learn autolisp, VBA and C++ in order to cover your basis and be as efficient as possible.

[Anonymous]

I am becoming familiar with AutoLISP right now, and I believe I can get familiar with C++. Would a systems programming course be helpful? It utilizes C++. The course goes over GUI's, operating systems, shell commands, shell programming, and such. Would that help? Thanks again for the help.

[Anonymous]

No. He should learn either VB.NET or C#.NET and become familiar with data
storage such as SQL, XML, etc.

-- Mike
___________________________
Mike Tuersley
___________________________
the trick is to realize that there is no spoon...

[Anonymous]

While familiarization with lisp is a nice background, its pretty much a
waste of time. We don't do any serious development with it especially since
most clients already have an in-houser familiar with lisp. If, for some
reason you needed that expertise, its easy and cheap to contract it out.

Doing GUI dev in C++ is an effort in frustration and will be disappearing
soon IMHO. It's being replaced by the dotNET languages which offer the
power of C++ with the ease of intellisense and graphical editors. About the
only people using still C++ are the heavy duty programmers that write and
sell software. C++ dev is too hard to sell to clients that want
customization because it takes too long and costs too much.

Best prep is to learn a dotNET language and get a good understanding of
database design under your belt. In particular, you need to know SQL and
XML. 99% of all the customization I, and my company, have done over the
past 6 years or so includes some type of database - either as part of our
solution [storage containment for example] or as part of the project
requirements [linking to an ERP system for example]. RIght now if you don't
have these skills, we don't entertain interviews.

-- Mike
___________________________
Mike Tuersley
___________________________
the trick is to realize that there is no spoon...

[Anonymous]

Actually, there is one good thing that class may teach you - OOP. If that's
the case, then take it!

-- Mike
___________________________
Mike Tuersley
___________________________
the trick is to realize that there is no spoon...

[fxcastil]

I am going to give you an answer that might offend some of the technical people reading this discussion group. If your main interest is in starting your on business or being self-employed , a business background is more important than an engineering degree. I speak from my own experience having a small business myself. I come from an eineering background and have realized that you can have the best invention and ideas in the world but if you don't have the knowledge to sell, and distribute your ideas, skills or products
they will remain ideas in your head. I would suggest taking classes on managing a small business.

If you are just starting out of school I think you will have a difficult time getting your first customers. I worked for others for 15+ years before venturing on my own. I would suggest working thru engineering job shops (temp agency) first, that way you can get some quick work experience and find an area which is of interest to you.

look at
http://partnerproducts.autodesk.com/catalog/default.asp
for some of many products and services for Autodesk.

Fred C.