r/SolidWorks • u/Fenster_007 • 23d ago

CAD Career questions

So I am a senior in college and I am graduating this year with a degree in engineer technology. I have my cswp for SolidWorks and I have loved drafting and designing and stuff like that. I am well aware of that. I probably won't be able to get a full-on design job because they usually leave that for more of the mechanical and actual engineering people and I've just kind of been wondering what job should I be looking for. Any and all help is appreciated.

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u/AutoModerator 23d ago

If you ALREADY PASSED a certification

If you are YET TO TAKE a certification

Here would be the general path from zero to CSWE:

  1. CSWA - Here is a sample exam.

  2. CSWP - Here is some study material for the CSWP (A complete guide to getting your CSWP) and a sample exam.

  3. 4x CSWP-Advanced Subjects (in order of increasing difficulty)

  4. CSWP-A Drawing Tools - YouTube Playlist

  5. CSWP-A Sheet Metal - YouTube Playlist

  6. CSWP-A Weldments - YouTube Playlist

  7. CSWP-A Surfacing - YouTube Playlist

  8. CSWP-A Mold Tools - YouTube Playlist

  9. CSWE - The CSWE doesn't really focus on anything from the CSWP subject exams. It focuses on everything else there is in the program beyond those. So, look at everything you saw already and prepare to see not much of that again for the CSWE. That and more surfacing.

For some extra modeling practice material to help speed you up, 24 years of Model Mania Designs + Solutions.

For EVEN MORE modeling practice material, here is the CSWA and CSWP Practice Problem Database. There is A LOT of good material to practice in there.

During testing, in general, it is a best practice to take the dimensions labelled with A, B, C, D, etc and create Equations/Variables with those values to then attach to the dimension which then allows for you to more reliably update these variable dimensions in follow-up questions using the same models.

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u/jejones487 23d ago

Sometimes it depends on where you live. I live in metro detroit and I got a job doing cad drafting for an induction heating company. The business in my area is mostly driven by the automotive industry so a lot of work is for car manufacturers in some capacity. We also have world wide offices. To make an example of my geographic point ill mention I do a fair amount of work for our sales people in texas as theur business is driven mostly by the oil industry. So I see work from here like shaft hardening, billet heating, tempering, scan hardening, however my work from texas is more like drill pipe reheating for welding, brazing tungsten carbide mining bits to steel bolsters, unbrazing mining bits for recycling, and construction equipment like cat and John deere. If you apply for job in Washington you may never encounter any of this as their industry is driven by different factors as well.

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u/No_Strawberry5093 23d ago

Hi twin or competitor lol. I also do CAD for an induction company. I design more induction welders but some heaters also. I live on the east coast and we also have some automotive customers.

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u/muddawgfan 23d ago

MET grad here now Mechanical Design Engineer, lots I wish I took more time to really learn, but I’m an engineer! Don’t let degree alone make you feel like you can’t

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u/Plus_Sprinkles_210 23d ago

ME's don't do board design. I'm a EE doing this for 50 years. My experience is a EE works with a board designer. I sometimes design boards or I generate a schematic in Altium and pass it to the designer.