Civil / Architectural Designer / Drafter

Career Area: Engineering

Occupation Group: Drafters and CAD Designers

Salary

Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.

An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.

A typical Civil / Architectural Designer / Drafter earns the following wages (national and state):

State

The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $58,547

National

The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $56,228

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

Prepares detailed drawings for building plans and architectural designs. Creates drawings according to specifications provided by an architect, and uses computer-aided design and drafting technology.

Employment Trends

The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.

Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:

Skills

A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:

Baseline Skills

The following are baseline skills every Civil / Architectural Designer / Drafter is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:

• Detail-Oriented: A detail oriented person is someone who pays attention to the details and can make a conscious effort to understand causes instead of just the effects, and that does this in a second nature type of way.
• Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
• Microsoft Excel: Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications.
• Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office is an office suite of applications, servers, and services developed by Microsoft.
• Organizational Skills: Experience with a systematic process of structuring, integrating, co-ordinating task goals, and activities to resources in order to attain objectives.

Specialized Skills

These skills are specific to working in this career:

• AutoCAD: AutoCAD is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application.
• Revit: Working experience of Revit. Autodesk Revit is building information modeling software for architects, landscape architects, structural engineers, MEP engineers, designers and contractors developed by Autodesk. It allows users to design a building and structure and its components in 3D, annotate the model with 2D drafting elements, and access building information from the building model's database. Revit is 4D BIM capable with tools to plan and track various stages in the building's lifecycle, from concept to construction and later maintenance and/or demolition.
• Civil 3D: AutoCAD Civil 3D software is a design and documentation solution for civil engineering that supports building information modeling (BIM) workflows.
• Civil Engineering: Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings.
• Computer Aided Drafting/Design (CAD): Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computer systems (or workstations) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design.

Distinguishing Skills

Any Civil / Architectural Designer / Drafter that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:

• Architectural Design: Working experience with the design of buildings or urban landscapes.
• Engineering Design and Installation: Working experience of Engineering Design and Installation. The engineering design process is a methodical series of steps that engineers use in creating functional products and processes. The process is highly iterative - parts of the process often need to be repeated many times before another can be entered - though the part(s) that get iterated and the number of such cycles in any given project may vary.
• Project Design: Project design is an early phase of the project where a projects key features, structure, criteria for success, and major deliverables are all planned out.
• CADD: Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computer systems (or workstations) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design.
• Building Design: Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings.

Experience

This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Common Job Titles

It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:

• Truss Designer
• Cad Drafter
• Civil Designer
• Draftsman
• Structural Designer

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring similar occupations, you may want to research the following job titles:

• Mechanical / Electrical Drafter
• CAD Designer / Drafter
• Construction Electrical Designer
• Civil Engineer
• HVAC Engineer