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Freelance AutoCAD Technician (Computer Aided Design)
#1

Freelance AutoCAD Technician (Computer Aided Design)

Been reading this forum for quite a while now. Long enough to see that it's members collectively have a lot of knowledge on working and travelling.

I'll try to make this as brief as possible.

I'm 23 years old and currently work in the UK as a trainee building services engineer. Have been doing so for just over 3 years now. In that time I have accidentally fallen into the role of my company's (now) only AutoCAD technician. For those of you who do not know, this entails doing technical drawings/schematics for the building services industry.

The company I currently work for is struggling due to a number of factors (recession, lack of professionalism, incompetent employees) and I have lost my desire to follow the route of building services engineer. For starters, this would require going to university for 3/4 years to get a building services degree. That seems like a lot of time to commit to something I am unsure on. Add to the fact that I've been at this company for 3 or so years and only now are they actually trying to get me on a course.

Anyway, that's my background. What I want to know and want advice on is whether any of the readers here have any experience in using AutoCAD (or similar computer based program) in a freelance direction? I could build a client base while working for this company and then, in theory, work from anywhere as it would all be done via email.

This forum, as well as many lifestyle/game blogs, all preach about having your PASSION in life. I honestly don't think I'll ever find a job that will I will feel that passionately about, but I do know that I want to travel and that things will have to change in my life if I am able to achieve that.
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#2

Freelance AutoCAD Technician (Computer Aided Design)

Quote: (04-11-2011 08:17 AM)Red Wrote:  

Been reading this forum for quite a while now. Long enough to see that it's members collectively have a lot of knowledge on working and travelling.

I'll try to make this as brief as possible.

I'm 23 years old and currently work in the UK as a trainee building services engineer. Have been doing so for just over 3 years now. In that time I have accidentally fallen into the role of my company's (now) only AutoCAD technician. For those of you who do not know, this entails doing technical drawings/schematics for the building services industry.

The company I currently work for is struggling due to a number of factors (recession, lack of professionalism, incompetent employees) and I have lost my desire to follow the route of building services engineer. For starters, this would require going to university for 3/4 years to get a building services degree. That seems like a lot of time to commit to something I am unsure on. Add to the fact that I've been at this company for 3 or so years and only now are they actually trying to get me on a course.

Anyway, that's my background. What I want to know and want advice on is whether any of the readers here have any experience in using AutoCAD (or similar computer based program) in a freelance direction? I could build a client base while working for this company and then, in theory, work from anywhere as it would all be done via email.

This forum, as well as many lifestyle/game blogs, all preach about having your PASSION in life. I honestly don't think I'll ever find a job that will I will feel that passionately about, but I do know that I want to travel and that things will have to change in my life if I am able to achieve that.

Based on your work background, I can suggest something to you quite different to what you're enquiring about (freelance technician). My suggestion is that you return to college and get the engineers degree. Getting a job after that with your past experience won't be difficult at all. After working on some medium to large projects for a year or two, you could move to a developing country, where engineers are in very high demand. Travel will also become very common for you.

The reason I suggest this is that engineers prefer to have the CADTechnician working for them, instead of being subcontracted. Personally I feel it may be difficult to get started in such a business. Add to that the fact that you'd be getting much more money as an engineer than you would be as a Technician, at the cost of 3-4 years of college education.
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