Where to start?

[JamesNotJim]

Evening,

I'm after a little guidance. I'm a little stuck in my current career. I'm an assistant buyer, which although varied is really starting to bore me (that and the pay isnt what I'd like). Beyond moving to lead purchaser there is no where within the company I can move too. (The lead purchaser has been with the company 13 years, so thats never going to happen).

I've always been interested in a career in CAD....but, where do I want start. I've been looking at courses but there seems to be a bewildering variety of paths to choose. I've already got an ND in graphic design so the technical aspect of a CAD role really interests me.

Any CAD guys on here give me an idea on which is the best route to look into/follow.

Edited by JamesNotJim on Saturday 19th November 20:27

[Engineer1]

What do you want to be drawing? AutoCad will open doors, but I suspect many employers want their CAD monkeys to be an Engineer just incase it's designing rather than simply drawing.

I am best described as a CAD Monkey who used Autocad most of the time but ocassionally uses Catia. I rarely use any Engineering skills but they are handy at times.

[JamesNotJim]

Engineer1 said:

What do you want to be drawing? AutoCad will open doors, but I suspect many employers want their CAD monkeys to be an Engineer just incase it's designing rather than simply drawing.

I am best described as a CAD Monkey who used Autocad most of the time but ocassionally uses Catia. I rarely use any Engineering skills but they are handy at times.

I dont have any sort of background in engineering. So I guess it'd just be more of a CAD "monkey".

If you dont mind me asking which route did you take?

[a boardman]

Download autocad trial from the autodesk website and have a play to start, have a look on youtube for help videos.

[Engineer1]

I have an Engineering degree but never really got into a proper engineering start role and drifted into design/ Cad monkey work.