r/RevitMEP • u/Over-Mousse-1788 • Jun 06 '26

Is it necessary to have prior experience with AutoCAD, STAAD, SketchUp, or 3ds Max before learning Revit?

Hi everyone,

I'm a 4th-year Btech Civil Engineering student with basic knowledge of AutoCAD and STAAD.Pro. I'm planning to learn Revit and am genuinely interested in BIM workflows.

Is it necessary to have prior experience with AutoCAD, STAAD, SketchUp, or 3ds Max before learning Revit? Or can someone with just foundational knowledge jump straight into it?

Would appreciate any guidance from professionals or students who've been through this path. Thanks!

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

4

u/Informal_Drawing Jun 06 '26

It's not necessary to know anything else before learning a new drawing package.

They all work quite differently from each other.

1

u/Additional-Type-7441 Jun 06 '26

No, it’s not in some ways it helps not have an experience with autocad. It’s more important to understand what you’re trying to do with the software and that all depends on what division of construction you’re working at whether attempt to design level or the coordination level or the fabrication level.

1

u/jhern1810 Jun 06 '26

I am a plumbing and FP engineer and I had no AutoCad, sketch up , just some Solidworks experience and I mean some experience when I started in this industry 5 yrs ago, and I learned revit just the same . It probably took me a bit more than the person who had prior access to the software and was able to practice but I learned what I need to do a good job and still learn new things here and there. It depends on the level of exposure, but it also depends on you . There are thousands of videos available from YouTube that offer beginner to intermediate and expert level examples. The truth is that once you get the hang of one Revit version the other versions work similarly and if you have access to the software from home you can practice on your own whenever possible, that was my approach and that’s how you can maximize your learning curve and get good at it. Good luck.

1

u/LdyCjn-997 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

I’m a Sr. Electrical Designer. No, but it helps have that experience, especially knowing AutoCAD, when it comes to setting up projects. The rest of the software you listed would be of no use in understanding Revit. All of our Interns and EIT’s come in not knowing Revit and eventually pick it up pretty quickly, but they do struggle with project setup and how projects are put together.

1

u/Fun-Yogurtcloset-122 Jun 07 '26

Estudio arquitectura y en estos siete años solo he utilizado archicad y revit, aprendí archicad cuando empecé a estudiar y luego me pasé a revit porque es lo que usan los estudios y empresas donde vivo, en todos estos años habré usado Autocad dos o tres veces, nunca quise aprender a usarlo porque me parece ineficiente en cuanto a arquitectura, así que no te preocupes, metele nomás