Get involved in CAD as a high schooler? (5 Advices)
Many high schoolers love CAD and have a passion for 3d design. So they have the interest to get involved and build their future around this field. So how to get involved in CAD as a high schooler?
Do you have to take courses or certifications?
Is necessary to become an engineer to get a job in CAD?
In this article, we’re going to respond to these questions and give guidance for CAD high schoolers…
Get involved in CAD as high schooler
Many high school students have a passion for Designing in CAD. They love working and modeling 3d projects. But they feel stretched during their classes. So they wonder if there is an opportunity to hone their skills.
Sometimes students might doubt if what they are doing has value or just a passion that would not be profitable. In other words, it is impossible to get profit as a high schooler from a CAD design.
Best strategy to get involved in CAD
The strategy that we recommend is to take as much as possible of courses. As a result, to be able to understand the details about 3d modeling and assembly. The most other important thing is to learn 2d mechanical design.
To clarify, learn how to transform the 2d plan model to 3d model and vice versa. This is so important To communicate with engineers or customers. Because they will send you 2d designs to work on them.
So getting used to mechanical schematics is very very important.
The second thing is to learn the foundations of manufacturing design. Is called DFMA , in other words, learn how to design professionally for manufacturing. So you could watch this free course giving you introductions in this domain.
the practical courses we’re going to list in the next paragraphs.
Getting a profit form CAD as high schooler
Getting a profit from CAD design is competitive and not easy. But if you are skilled enough it is possible to find room in the freelancing market. But it wouldn’t be in the traditional way that most students do.
The best way is to make a youtube channel and blog about your experience. This will allow you to create a good portfolio of clients. Not competing in a fiver or Upwork against experienced engineers.
For instance, a lot of students make training for other students in CAD design.
What’s a high school CAD class like?
HIGH schools students don’t get much deeper in CAD. They learn the basics of 3d design and make a lot of projects. So, teachers don’t have to be more experienced in this domain.
In other words, investing some little hours in youtube videos and doing some applications can be enough to provide the information for high school students.
High schoolers students who show an interest in learning CAD should have some basic acquisitions. At end of classes they have to be able to create blocks, simple objects, know how to rotate, flip, and do some simple editing operations in CAD software.
3 pricipals activities that high school student should be experiencing with CAD
Drawing simple mechanical components
This experience will allow students to learn how to deal with CAD as 3d software design. So they can begin from modeling simple designs to regular ones. Like designing gears, simple cars, utensils. Designs that any beginner could do in a few days of practice.
So I will recommend this video as a guideline for teachers or beginner students to learn the basics of CAD.
Read simple mechanical designs
This is the most important part. Having the ability to read mechanical design is the first step to understanding what is about the project. So the 3d Cad modeler, follow the instructions noticed in the paper plan made like this one below.
It is a critical thing in 3d modeling world. So students have to understand how to transform from 2d plan paper to 3d plan CAD and vice versa.
The recommendation is, to begin with, simple 2d plans to transform into 3d CAD works. Also doing some reverse activities transforming real objects into paper plans which are called Engineering drawing.
This video will be useful to transform 3d cad models into 2d plans. and this one for learning how to create 2d to 3d cad model.
Learn how to use 3d printers
3d printers should be present in stem classes. High school students should learn how to use 3d printers. In other words, being able to design in CAD then print and see their works. So practice is really important.
for beginners, we will recommend watching this video to have starting ideas.
Should I take high school CAD courses?
Having an opportunity of CAd classes is a good thing Especially when the access is for free. So it is a great opportunity to hone skills and build new experiences. For students who are looking for engineering is a valuable opportunity.
It is wise to take advantage because you will save a lot of money and time later.
benefits of taking CAD school curses
Opening your eyes to multiple industries
having a CAD course as a high schooler will be a great introduction to multiple design industries. You will learn new things that you could not expect. To clarify know how much is CAD used in different sectors.
CAD is not used only in mechanical engineering but it covers different industries like fashion architecture arts etc…
In other words, you could learn how to design footwear, jewelry, design building, and more numerous topics.
You will have a clear idea how engineering would be
For people who are thinking of joining engineering classes, enrolling in CAD classes is an introduction to what to expect to pursue an engineering career. So, it will allow them to ensure if engineering is a good or a bad choice.
Many students aren’t aware of the existence of many design careers. Consequently, these classes will help them to know about.
Use it for personal activities
CAD could be used for many personal activities by using 3d printers. Even if you don’t think to use it professionally. CAD will be awesome to build personal projects and make things from scratch that would be not effective to buy or find at stores.
Do you need to become engineer to work in CAD?
Absolutely not, You could become a technician CAD and have occupations in this industry. But the experience is what allows to be employed among other applicants and even some engineers.
But upcoming technicians have to understand that engineering is deeper and more paid major than technicians. The engineer could make double what technicians earn.
That comes from their specialities that allow them to make specific tasks. Engineers could be building complex projects that require mathematical and physical knowledge which the majority of technicians are unable to do.
Good Technicians can run jobs as much as engineers do. But the lack of certification retracts a lot of ambitious ones.
How to imporve your level in CAD as high schooler
To learn and improve your level in CAD as a high school student we suggest following these 6 steps:
Using tutuarials
The first step is to take advantage of any free tutorial and guidance on the internet. It is a good start for any beginner to learn the basics of modeling and using CAD tools. This complete free course could be the best option for absolute beginners.
Make personal projects
After gaining some basic information and little experiments, is time to engage in some simple projects. That helps to solidify the ancient acquisitions and develop more experience in CAD design. So I will list some groups of projects to start with
- Coupling project part 1 part 2
- AUTOCAD ANNOMONITOR
- other project
These projects are examples of the level of difficulty that students should look for.
Enroll in professional courses
Enrolling in professional courses is the only way to reach professional levels. So for people who are serious and want to build their life about CAD design, this is crucial. We will suggest some useful courses to take as a high school student.
Make complex projects
After getting enough information and experience. You suppose to know what is the difficult project to do. That will be so important to fix information and technics acquired from professional courses.
Go into competitions
At this moment You have to understand the level of your peer. So going into competition allow you to discover your strengths and weaknesses.
have personal mentoring
The last thing that creates a big difference is having personal mentoring. Finding some experienced CAD engineers and ask them for mentoring will be a lot useful. It’s a great opportunity to go to the top professional level and achieve high levels of succes.
Conclusion
Learning CAD in as high school classes is hugely fruitful and makes a great impact on students. It will be a good introduction to engineering classes and the opener of many opportunists as we said in our article.
