Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a cad technician and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

A CAD technician utilizes CAD to make drawings for manufacturing machinery and buildings. Unlike, the previous draughtsman, they reproduce drawings in an electronic form. Hence, they work in different industries such as construction and manufacturing.

Other responsibilities of the technician include using 2D and 3D design technology to make virtual drawings, which engineers can view and interact with to inform huge construction projects. Through their electronic drawings, he/she can explain how much a project is likely to cost. They also take directions from the CAD designer. The professional may also be required to change the designs as per the requirements of the project team. Finally, the technician ensures that the drawings are accessible to each member of the team by sending them through email.

Core Skills Required to be a CAD Technician

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

A cad technician should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Listening Skills:

Listening Skills are a practical ability to accurately receive and interpret messages you receive during the communication process to ensure flow and accuracy are maintained.

A CAD Technician ought to have outstanding listening skills that lead to a better understanding at the workplace between the management and the staff, customer satisfaction in return yielding greater productivity with fewer mistakes and increased sharing of information in a more creative and innovative way.

Troubleshooting:

Troubleshooting is solving a problem or determining a question to an issue which is often applied to repairing failed products or processes on a machine or a system.

A CAD Technician must be able to diagnose any trouble in the management flow caused by a failure of any kind and determine to remedy the causes of the symptoms with the final product being the confirmation that the solution restores the process to an excellent working state.

Facilitation:

Facilitation is making tasks or life easy for others while ensuring the daily running of successful meetings or workshops or business at large.

A CAD Technician must use facilitation to process and structure a system that meets the needs of either an individual or a team to help them achieve their goals as well as add value to their lives by making sure each participates.

Networking:

Networking is the process that encourages an exchange of information and ideas among individuals or groups that share the same interests.

A CAD Technician is required to establish policies and procedures that govern networking to form professional relationships that will boost the future of business and employment prospects while maintaining regular contact with each other to gain each other's trust thus developing few quality relationships.

Developing Others:

Developing others is an unremitting process that focuses on the broader, longer-term growth of individuals to nurture them to their potential and promote future development.

A CAD Technician needs to support, coach, positively impacts and effectively aid in developing talents of their staff by motivating them to become outstanding in their behavioral change and performance improvement that opens up development opportunities in the organization.

Personal Growth:

Personal Growth is the improvement of one's awareness, identity, developing talents and potential to facilitate the growth of oneself and the position they handle at the workplace.

A CAD Technician ought to assist his employees in finding themselves by introducing or referring them to methods, programs, tools, techniques and assessment systems that support their development at the individual level in the organization.

Empathy:

Empathy is the understanding of another person's condition from their perspective by placing yourself in their shoes and feeling what they are feeling.

A CAD Technician ought to practice empathy with his staff by learning to be a good listener and understanding what his employees are going through and choosing to feel it with them through the use of imagination and accommodate them.

Practical Thinking:

Practical Thinking is the skill to think creatively about projects or work that requires your full attention to be completed and to bring great results.

A CAD Technician must ensure the decisions he makes are well sought after using professional characteristics for employees with high-level responsibilities to feel included and to allow growth for everyone in a constantly changing world that requires creativity.

Role Awareness:

Role Awareness is the ability to be informed of your role in a given environment as well as understand the expectations placed on a position and to see how they are met apparently.

A CAD Technician must assess, measure and quantify his employee's awareness of their roles to see if they are transparent about what is required of each of them and review what kind of results they are delivering from their understanding.

Technology Trend Awareness:

Technology Trend Awareness is staying updated with the useful upcoming trends that can serve your business better and easier.

A CAD Technician must be able to look back at the setbacks and success of the company and consider new possibilities for the future by the use of technology looking for a better, faster, more practical approach that can make business more productive.

Hard Skills Required to be a CAD Technician

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

A cad technician should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

CAD Technician: Hard skills list

Analyze Survey Reports, Maps, and Data to Plan Projects
Assess Environmental Impact and Risks
Assemble Project Deliverables
Assist With Staging, Testing, and Shipping of Equipment Prior to Deployment
AutoCAD
Communication
Compile and Submit Permit Applications to Local, State, and Federal Agencies
Create Blueprints Using CAD (Computer Aided Design)
Critical Thinking
Decision Making
Design Public Work Projects
Develop Designs, Layouts, and Design Calculations
Develop Project Scope and Timeline
Ensure Job Sites Meet Legal Guidelines, and Health and Safety Requirements
Experience with Civil 3D
Experience with Microstation
Experience with Reinforced Concrete and Steel Design
Experience with On-Site Construction Observation and Management
Highly Detail Oriented
High Level of Analytical Thinking
Identify Possible Design Improvements
Leadership
Listening
Manage and Monitor Each Stage of Project
Manage the Repair and Maintenance of Public and Private Infrastructures
Map Reading
Mathematics
Organizational Skills
Perform or Oversee Soil Testing
Perform or Oversee Surveying Operations
Physics
Prepare Designs and Estimates
Prepare Conclusion and Analysis Reports
Present Environmental Impact Statements to the Public
Proactive and Willing to Take on New Challenges
Project Management
Provide Cost Estimates for Materials, Equipment, and/or Labor
Recommend Modifications for Design Improvements and Simplification
Sound Knowledge of Engineering Fundamentals
Technical Skills
Technical Writing
Test Building Materials
Understand and Design Within AASHTO Guidelines
Understand Diagrams, Drafts, Flow-Charts, and Other Information and Documentation
Use Software to Design Within Industry and Government Standards
Work Effectively Under Pressure

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