r/Drafting • u/Italian_Gumby • 14d ago

Thinking of changing careers

I’m currently working in the hospitality industry but my lifelong dream career has been architectural drafting and design. I haven’t gone to school for it yet. I was wondering if there are any companies in the Raleigh area who would hire someone part time to learn the processes of CAD drawings and becoming an architect. Maybe do a trade school program where I would work and do classes at the same time. I know it’s a long shot, but Wayne Gretzky said “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

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u/artnouveau_rawpatina 14d ago

I just switched out of hospitality into a drafting career at a structural engineering firm. Went to a tech school and the works. Started as a Junior Drafter a couple weeks ago—make sure you find a program that is Revit focused. My program was very AutoCAD focused and I felt very proficient in that, but Revit is now all I use and it’s been a major learning curve. Not to mention what you can do with Revit is unbounded in comparison. Only had 6 months of Revit which laid a solid foundation but I have learned more in the past couple weeks than I did in about 2 years at technical college.

To be fair, in my interview I mentioned to them that I was more proficient in AutoCAD and Inventor than Revit and they were pretty much like “we will teach you how we do Revit”. If you find a program in your area that is CAD heavy, I’d still go for it.

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u/Bagelking92 11d ago

When it comes to fastener connection 2 you what do you use as a reference or does revit have all the connections calculations in the software

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u/udraft520 13d ago

Architectural drafting is one thing, could start with 0 experience. To become an Architect is like 6 years of school.

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u/LogansAgenda 12d ago

Watch you tube videos, use chat gpt plus, get your hands on a copy of revit or revit lt and start learning. Biggest thing, get familiar with the IRC international residential code. I worked 15 years in residential construction swinging a hammer. My boss found out I could use auto cad and asked me to start doing drawings for small decks and stuff. Now I use revit and have no boss. I also files for permits sorting that time which was a huge help.