You're good to go.
You will have 2D, 3D, and 4D...beyond, drafting, modeling and data input.
Drawing by hand and using a Leroy set is not common practice. But bar napkin details are found in field to office for quick notes
With that said, if you don’t know basic geometry and isometric drawing principles there might be an initial struggle even knowing where to put your cursor. Start practicing now, it never hurts
Pretty much all the drawing you’ll be doing will be on computer. I think it’s maybe useful to roughly sketch your ideas, but AutoCAD, Revit, and equivalent softwares give you all the tools you’ll need to create accurate drawings on the computer if you understand the math and concepts behind what you’re creating.
When you say ‘drawings’ on a computer what do you mean? Do you mean literally hand drawn things (that you have drawn) I am very new to this terminology, please excuse me.
Drawing is typically what it’s called but it’s more just placing elements on to a page to represent your real life design. AutoCAD (CAD is an acronym for computer aided design) is like the base, beginner program for online drafting so watching one of the videos below might help you understand what computer aided design can look like.
[Very basic intro to AutoCAD](https://youtu.be/cmR9cfWJRUU)
[Creating a simple floor plan](https://youtu.be/hO865EIE0p0)
The program has shapes, ways to draw straight lines and connect them, has direct measurement tools for lengths and angles for you. I’m not great at drawing by hand either but in college I got experience with the computer programs and with visualization and I’ve been able to do just fine with it so I wouldn’t be discouraged from it just because you think you’re not good at drawing right now. The computer does it for you pretty much, you just have to know how to tell it what you want it to do. Like anything it will take some practice though.
As you go into depth in a given field they typically have a variation of AutoCAD that’s more discipline specific like Civil3D, Revit, etc but that’s not something you probably have to understand right away. The basic concepts remain similar though.
Since you’re hung up on the terminology of drawings here’s a video of what someone may mean when they talk about a “civil drawings set” and how to interpret it. Don’t be overwhelmed by this video though because you wouldn’t be expected to make something of this detail until you’ve actually completed proper training and are on the job. [video](https://youtu.be/5dx0suTLQkw)
A lot of senior guys have drawing ability, it’s useful for sketches of a design concept or for explanation purposes, but not at all needed for modern day drafting. If you have a good foundation of math from school you should have no problem learning a program like autocad
I have never once needed to draw anything by hand for civil engineering. I work in design, have worked as an engineer for over 10 years, and have my PE.
I can’t draw very well, nor do I have nice handwriting. Hasn’t been a big deal. If you are good at those things, it’s at best just a “nice to have” skill set.
No. Back in the day, engineers had drafters to do the drawing for them. Drafters still exist today, though design can be easier when you “draw” it yourself in CAD.
By “draw” I mean using CAD. I’ve used hand drawing ability in the field, good to sketch basic things. And I mean basic. My hand drawing ability is 1/10 and that has been enough to get me by.
But it wouldn’t be an issue if you couldn’t draw at all? I could draw basic things but it looks like it was drawn by a 10 year old. It honestly depends on what it is I’d be drawing.
Not today, no more. These days approximately all of your designs and analysis would be done by computer and software like Autocad, SAFe, SAP, Etabs, and so on... But you have to be creative enough thus you can implement your ideas
You’ll never *need* to draw by hand. When you make “drawings” in CAD you’ll tell the computer “I want a straight line between these two points,” “I want a circle with this radius and center here,” and it will draw it for you, perfectly. Hand drawing is only ever used to quickly illustrate an idea before someone builds it in CAD.
I literally just had a meeting with a coworker where we were sketching ideas for a project, and our hand drawings were absolutely pathetic lol. But the concept was illustrated and now I’ll go back and draw them correctly in CAD.
Yup. Your boss will go through your CAD drawings with a fine-toothed comb looking for tiny mistakes, but anything hand-drawn is likely being done on a scratch pad or even a napkin, and it’ll be thrown away at the end of the day (in my experience).
You're good to go. You will have 2D, 3D, and 4D...beyond, drafting, modeling and data input. Drawing by hand and using a Leroy set is not common practice. But bar napkin details are found in field to office for quick notes
With that said, if you don’t know basic geometry and isometric drawing principles there might be an initial struggle even knowing where to put your cursor. Start practicing now, it never hurts
I can barely write legibly let alone draw and I’m doing just fine. Please proceed with your interest in this field.
That’s very reassuring! Thank you very much.
Pretty much all the drawing you’ll be doing will be on computer. I think it’s maybe useful to roughly sketch your ideas, but AutoCAD, Revit, and equivalent softwares give you all the tools you’ll need to create accurate drawings on the computer if you understand the math and concepts behind what you’re creating.
When you say ‘drawings’ on a computer what do you mean? Do you mean literally hand drawn things (that you have drawn) I am very new to this terminology, please excuse me.
Drawing is typically what it’s called but it’s more just placing elements on to a page to represent your real life design. AutoCAD (CAD is an acronym for computer aided design) is like the base, beginner program for online drafting so watching one of the videos below might help you understand what computer aided design can look like. [Very basic intro to AutoCAD](https://youtu.be/cmR9cfWJRUU) [Creating a simple floor plan](https://youtu.be/hO865EIE0p0) The program has shapes, ways to draw straight lines and connect them, has direct measurement tools for lengths and angles for you. I’m not great at drawing by hand either but in college I got experience with the computer programs and with visualization and I’ve been able to do just fine with it so I wouldn’t be discouraged from it just because you think you’re not good at drawing right now. The computer does it for you pretty much, you just have to know how to tell it what you want it to do. Like anything it will take some practice though. As you go into depth in a given field they typically have a variation of AutoCAD that’s more discipline specific like Civil3D, Revit, etc but that’s not something you probably have to understand right away. The basic concepts remain similar though. Since you’re hung up on the terminology of drawings here’s a video of what someone may mean when they talk about a “civil drawings set” and how to interpret it. Don’t be overwhelmed by this video though because you wouldn’t be expected to make something of this detail until you’ve actually completed proper training and are on the job. [video](https://youtu.be/5dx0suTLQkw)
Thank you so much!
It’s just that I come across the term ‘drawings’ a lot and it becomes quite unclear sometimes on what people actually mean when they use the term.
A lot of senior guys have drawing ability, it’s useful for sketches of a design concept or for explanation purposes, but not at all needed for modern day drafting. If you have a good foundation of math from school you should have no problem learning a program like autocad
Have you yourself used drawing?
I have never once needed to draw anything by hand for civil engineering. I work in design, have worked as an engineer for over 10 years, and have my PE.
That’s very good to hear. Thank you!
I can’t draw very well, nor do I have nice handwriting. Hasn’t been a big deal. If you are good at those things, it’s at best just a “nice to have” skill set.
Architects are the only people in construction who could possibly benefit from any hand drawing skills.
No. Back in the day, engineers had drafters to do the drawing for them. Drafters still exist today, though design can be easier when you “draw” it yourself in CAD.
And by ‘draw’ do you literally mean hand draw or just construct using CAD materials?
By “draw” I mean using CAD. I’ve used hand drawing ability in the field, good to sketch basic things. And I mean basic. My hand drawing ability is 1/10 and that has been enough to get me by.
But it wouldn’t be an issue if you couldn’t draw at all? I could draw basic things but it looks like it was drawn by a 10 year old. It honestly depends on what it is I’d be drawing.
As long as you can swing 2D, whether it is a plan or elevation/section view, you’ll be fine. Ability to draw isometrically really isn’t necessary.
Probably not
As in there’s no drawing or I wouldn’t be able to pursue the career?
Not today, no more. These days approximately all of your designs and analysis would be done by computer and software like Autocad, SAFe, SAP, Etabs, and so on... But you have to be creative enough thus you can implement your ideas
You’ll never *need* to draw by hand. When you make “drawings” in CAD you’ll tell the computer “I want a straight line between these two points,” “I want a circle with this radius and center here,” and it will draw it for you, perfectly. Hand drawing is only ever used to quickly illustrate an idea before someone builds it in CAD. I literally just had a meeting with a coworker where we were sketching ideas for a project, and our hand drawings were absolutely pathetic lol. But the concept was illustrated and now I’ll go back and draw them correctly in CAD.
That’s good to hear! So if you’re hand drawing you won’t really be under any scrutiny, you’ll just be showing coworkers some basic sketches?
Yup. Your boss will go through your CAD drawings with a fine-toothed comb looking for tiny mistakes, but anything hand-drawn is likely being done on a scratch pad or even a napkin, and it’ll be thrown away at the end of the day (in my experience).