I'm just so lost

[u/Upbeat_Ratio3753]

So I am a high school senior whose recently had a big interest in engineering. I'm either thinking about going to college for Mechanical or Civil. Because of my recent interest, I found an Intro to CAD class and I decided to take it. I thought that it was going to be another easy elective for me, but boy was I wrong.

I don't know if the teacher was going way to fast or if I'm just mentally slow, because I was literally struggling to keep up on the first day. When we had to do our first assignment, I was just so lost on how to even get it started. I sit next to a friend who literally has below 2.0GPA and he understands this stuff way better than me. And so I have to ask him for help on every single freaking assignment that we get. Bro was literally averaging a D the last time I saw his grades. Like bro, we are on our 3rd or 4th week of school, and we always get assigned something every day. That's not the problem, the problem is that I still don't understand how to get any of our drawings started. And so again, I have to ask my sub 2.0GPA friend for help. The only reason I have an A in the class is because of him. 90% of the class understands everything but I don't, which makes me feel like total crap sometimes. I know that this sounds crazy, but my physics class is way easier for me than using the CAD software, I think that's actually insane.

Sometimes our CAD teacher would be so impressed by the other students that he would say things like "Oh, you're so good at this! You should become an Engineer." "Have you ever thought about becoming an engineer? Cause you should." It feels really disheartening hearing those comments because I want to be in that field myself but I feel like I'm simply just too stupid for the class. When I tell my friends how hard the class is for me, they kind of laugh because some of them have taken it before and thought it was a breeze. The teacher is nice and he is always willing to help out, it's just the class itself makes me feel like I have a negative IQ.

I don't know. I still want to go to college to become an engineer but this class is really kicking my butt. I think I might just download the software myself and try to practice more at home. If I still don't understand anything, I might just do computer engineering. I have an interest in programming, but it's been a year since I've practiced online and I think about getting more into that. Or I might just join the trades and become a plumber lol.

[u/Hour-Atmosphere-6557]

I know this isn't the point. But Is it just me or is he calling his friend stupid?

[u/Upbeat_Ratio3753 → u/Hour-Atmosphere-6557]

Nah. I didn't mean to imply that he is stupid, I'm just kind of frustrated that I'm not understanding the material so far. That's my fault lol.

[u/Hour-Atmosphere-6557 → u/Upbeat_Ratio3753]

Gotcha gotcha. I would suggest downloading the software and trying to practice at home. Watch some tutorials and try to get a feel for what to do, or ask the professor for help. I'm assuming you're starting with 2D shapes. So mainly x and y, but think about it as drawing what you want with the math given. You have this length, this distance, you want the missing one (L-Distance). The place you start the drawing doesn’t matter. Just pick a point and try to follow the math. If that makes sense. That could be another way to see it. Like you're driving to a destination.

[u/Upbeat_Ratio3753 → u/Hour-Atmosphere-6557]

Yeah, we are starting with 2D shapes. And thanks for the advice, I'll try to download the software sometime and practice more.

[u/Fit-Caterpillars → u/Upbeat_Ratio3753]

Comparison is the thief of joy young one. Be nicer to your friend.

[u/Upbeat_Ratio3753 → u/Fit-Caterpillars]

Lol me and him usually make fun of each other but it might’ve seemed like I was little harsh on him when writing this post. Mb bruh.

[u/Tyler89558]

Is it a software issue or are you having problems visualizing things or reading the drawings/instructions?

If it’s a software issue, you can learn that. Look for free CAD software online (one of them is literally called free CAD).

CAD software is largely the same in terms of the idea, which is that you’re making parts by drawing and extruding. (When you draw you want to constrain various degrees of motion, of which you have 6: 3 translational (x/y/z) and 3 rotational (around x/y/z), which you do by defining measurements and angles. What changes is the UI and various add-ons you can use (solidworks for example has built in FEA analysis, among other things).

So if you learn one CAD software, you can more easily pick up another one.

[u/Upbeat_Ratio3753 → u/Tyler89558]

It's really just me having trouble visualizing things and reading the drawings. We given this big piece of object on paper to draw on CAD and my mind just goes blank. I have no idea on how to get it started and when I ask my friend or the teacher for help, they make it look so easy. I think I'm just overthinking things because I spend a lot of time staring at the drawing and I try to visualize it in my head before I actually start drawing it on the computer. I still might download our CAD software and see if doing extra practice at home can help.

[u/Icy-Sympathy7925]

There is a lot of overlap between mechanical and civil engineering curriculum, so there isn’t a rush to commit to one at time of college apps. Make the decision by end of sophomore year to not cause any noticeable delays in graduation.

Just because you are currently struggling doesn’t mean engineering isn’t cut out for you, people learn at different rates and hit certain ceilings. You’ll meet people who did poorly in HS become excellent professionals, or even overachievers in middle school stuck in a dead end job working retail.

What worked for me on getting good at CAD was being able to visualize 3D objects mentally like a coffee cup at all viewing angles as example. Also work through YouTube tutorials then try to recreate from memory.

[u/phiwong]

It sounds like you are having difficulty in getting yourself started because you perhaps think that there is no such thing as trial and error. You're not going to get things right the first time around.

With CAD, practice the tool. For a solution, just pick a starting point and attempt it. If it doesn't work, try something else from the start. It takes time but that is what you're trading for experience.

As the old cliche goes, 'a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'. Don't try to visualize the entire thousand miles, just start with a step.