Expert: George Reid - 5/13/2009

Question
Hi,
A bit of an odd request here likely, but am hoping you can offer some advice. Our industrial supply company is looking to hire our first draftsperson and I have been saddled with the task of interviewing for the technical expertise of the candidates. The problem is that I am not AutoCAD literate. We expect to utilize Solidworks but most of the dwgs will be in 2D. The dwg requirements will mostly be mechanical layouts with some electrical design. What type of questions would you recommend? What specifics should I look for regarding the knowledge of the software, etc? I am familiar with the finished product but not the skills to get there. Really appreciate any insight you may have.  Thanks in advance.

Answer
David,

I'm not sure if I can help you even though I regularly work in Autocad and have also used Solidworks, too.  Here in the States we have various technical institutions that set standards for the work. These are ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers). These two bodies produce documents which are widely used in industry to establish paper drawing sizes, text height, and tolerancing standards, to name a few. The kind of work your people will be doing will require a knowledge of similar standards in your country (Australia, England, S. Africa ??).

The Autocad drafting software itself is very complex and to do work efficiently one needs to know more than just the surface tools for drawing lines, circles, and text. What is necessary is a knowledge of the usage of blocks, external references (EXREF), how to best use layers and colors, and the best choices for drawing sizes A1-A4 or U.S. A thru J. They need to know how to edit your drawings. Most companies spend about 80 percent of the time editing existing drawings and 20 percent creating new ones.

They will need to know how the drawing check/release cycle works and how it is done there.

Your local technical colleges who teach Autocad can also give you much help and you can buy textbooks with tests in them which you could use.  I've seen sites online that have lists of many of the questions that you need to ask.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. But feel free to write to me again if needed. You can reach me at my email address,

georgereid09@gmail.com

Best Regards,
George Reid