I have worked as a draftsman for a while now in a structural engineering company. Have any questions??

Fire away!

what`s a draftsman?

I thought that draftsmen had been replaced by computers but apparently not. How long do you think it will be before you are?

Have you ever done anything as a draftsman that you're ashamed of?

A draftsman produces engineering and construction drawings using AutoCAD or Revit which are then used for building.

No its not possible yet. We dont draw by hand and haven't done so for almost 20 years at my company.

The engineers give us a general sketch that we turn into a drawing that can be given to a builder.

What do you think of those 3D printers?

Lol no. There is not much you can do that you could be ashamed of. I guess you could send out an incorrect drawing to a client and then the building ****s up, but thats on the engineers head for not checking it properly.

so it's like what george costanza wanted to do but in real life?

We don't use them. I dont know if we ever will as a structural company. I feel it would be more useful for mechanical draftsmen that can produce a small prototype of a new design.

Personally I think they are ****in awesome

I never knew this but i just did some quick research.

Apparently George pretended to be an architect. Im not sure if the difference is clear between and architect and a draftsman so ill list some differences.

An architect designs, (only top design draftsmen design)
An architect doesnt understand the engineering behind the building. Thats what the engineers for.

Basically say a client wants a new house. The client goes to an architect and says, "Design me a house on this block."

Architect does this, then the client or architect hands off these plans to an engineer so that he can actually detail design everything in the house.

Once teh engineer knows whats going on he will hand this info onto me to draw it up into something that could be built.

Then we send that to a detail draftsman who will list every single item that needs to be made including lengths, sizes, numbers etc right down to individual bolts.

These plans are then sent to the builder to be built.

Obviously amongst all this getting council approval and client approval.

You ever tried Eagle Point?

That's what we use for civil engineering work but I know it can also be used for other types of engineering.

It's better than AutoCad.

Not legally, in many places, except for projects below certain thresholds. Can't design unless you are an architect or registered designer.

LOL, so true.

Whereas the engineer doesn't understand aesthetics, functional programming, zoning, contract administration, building codes, space optimization, client relations, form/function tradeoffs, project management, environmental impacts on design and design impacts on the environment, ...
Not really. Just the structural, mechnical and electrical components.

Do your engineers still have a steno pool to type their memos on IBM Selectrics and bring them coffee? (A lot of engineers do their own AutoCAD.)

Up here the computer takes off a bill of materials from the drawings automatically.

You forgot the part where the plans are sent back to the architect to be checked, sent back to the engineer to be corrected and then sent back to the architect to be approved before being issued.

An engineer is to an architect as you describe a draftsman being to an engineer.

Anything's better than AutoCAD. But AutoCAD is the industry standard. AutoDesk is the Microsoft of CAD software companies. It didn't get to its position of market dominance by having the best product.

I was expecting a draftsman to be someone who makes beer or something.