Drafting Design Training

Blending art, science, and technology, drafting design training teaches students to draft detailed plans for the construction of everything from blenders to spaceships. With data provided by engineers, architects, scientists, surveyors, and other relevant experts, drafters set about creating the technical guidelines for projects big and small. Drafting design training should prepare potential designers to provide these visual guidelines, which are full of information on materials, measurements, mechanics, and more.

Because drafting design can be so technically specific to each industry, some drafting design training programs allow students to focus on one niche industry that needs drafting design, once they have learned the general skills necessary to drafters. Technical guidelines are instrumental in building many products we use every day, so it is easy to imagine that there are many fields in which a drafter may specialize. For example, one may use his or her drafting design training to become an aeronautical drafter, creating technical drawings to help build planes, missiles, and more. He or she may choose to become an architectural drafter, and specialize even further by picking a particular type of structure or building material as a niche. There are also civil drafters, who help build highways, bridges, sewer systems, and other public works projects; electrical drafters; electronic drafters; mechanical drafters; and many other specific types of drafting design specialists.

It is possible to receive drafting design training from various technical schools, community colleges or four year degree programs. Learning to communicate efficiently should be a large part of drafting design training, as drafters incorporate information for a diverse set of experts to craft thorough technical guidelines for most projects.

Once you have completed your drafting design training, you should be ready to enter your chosen field. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, drafters held about 254,000 jobs in 2004. The bureau predicts that drafters with drafting design training in mechanical, architectural, and civil drafting should have the best job prospects over the next few years, although the demand for drafters is highly dependent on the local industry and its needs.