- Environment Primarily indoor/office work
- Education Post-secondary diploma
- Average salary $49,000 to $60,000
Career profile
Drafting technologists apply technology to create drawings and models of technical information and designs for a wide range of plans from office buildings and operating plants to site plans and facilities.
They apply their expertise and use complex software and 3D printing to ensure that design concepts are sound before construction begins.
They are part of teams that can include engineers, architects and industrial designers.
They actively manage project drawings and models and control access to them through the project life cycle and across their whole organization.
When you start in this occupation activities may include:
- Operating computer-assisted design (CAD) and drafting workstations
- Developing and preparing design sketches.
As you advance in this career, you may take on additional tasks including:
- Assisting engineers with the modification of design options for existing equipment
- Preparing construction specifications, including costs and material estimates
- Providing support to all personnel in relation to drawings and tag information, ensuring that questions are answered in a timely fashion and identified issues are logged and addressed
- Providing quality checks on incoming drawings from external contractors, ensuring company standards are followed
Education
- A post-secondary diploma in engineering design and drafting technology is typically required. Programs related to AutoCAD operation, engineering design and drafting or GIS and CADD integration are preferred.
Certifications
- Specific health and safety certifications will be determined by job requirements
Licensing
- Trade certification for draftspersons is available in Ontario, but voluntary.
- Certification in engineering design and drafting technology or in a related field through provincial associations of engineering/applied science technologists may be required by employers.
- A period of supervised work experience, usually two years, is required before certification.
- Travel likely required
- Primarily indoor/office work
- Work not physically demanding
- Work away from home/in camps
You combine artistic vision with math and computer skills. A detail-oriented, organized critical thinker who thrives on a challenge, you are able to communicate and work well with others.
- Computer use
- Active listening
- Attention to detail
- Design
- Engineering and technology
- Document use
- Technology design
- Complex problem solving
- Judgment and decision making
- Collaborative
- Document use
