At some point in most people careers there will come a time when decisions need to be made.  What school to attend, where to apply for a job and what job to take.  One of the most decisive choices you need to make is the one about which career to pursue.

For the CAD Manager this decision comes later in life than most careers.  This is because most CAD Managers do not set out to be CAD Managers.  They start there career in another field.  They may have gotten a four year degree and started down the road of an engineering field.  Or they may have started in a career without finishing the degree and are working into a field by going up the ranks.  Either way, the decision to focus on CAD Management comes later than some of the early options.

For most, the decision point may be foisted upon them before they really have a chance to think it through.  I recommend that you not let that happen.  Take control of your future and your career.

Here are a few things you should do to take control:

1.  Decide what you want to do before someone asks you

This means that you will think about your future when people start asking you to help out with CAD issues.  It may be that you have been doing it for some time.  Everyone should help out others every chance they get, but fledgling CAD Managers seem to have a knack for it.  You like doing it.  And this pleasure that you get from helping others actually may work against you. 

This is because it slides you into some of the duties of CAD Manager without the title, respect, recognition, appreciation, reward or salary adjustments.  It does however sometimes come with increased responsibility, accountability and blame.

By sliding into a job duty you loose the leverage that you may have had before you started down this road.  Getting that leverage back is difficult.  Since you are already doing it and have been doing it, you would have to stop, which might cause some friction with your superiors and your fellow employees.

By taking stock early and placing limits on what you will do for others in the office, you can have a meaningful conversation with management about your efforts and where you want to take your progress in CAD.

2.  Plan out your career path and push it forward

Map out where you want to go and then move progressively toward that goal.  Write the plan down if you need to.  Sometimes this helps.  It shows you the steps on paper.  You may start with trying to move from CAD User to CAD Guru. 

I think there are some rungs in the CAD Manager career ladder that have become fairly prevalent in the process of moving forward.  Please see my article on CAD Manager Career Road Map to see what they are.  I first wrote about this in May of 2005 and it was published in AUGI World magazine. 

The article covered the major mile markers that most people pass in their career in CAD Management.  There are a few others that I did not write about, like CAD Administrator,  Regional CAD Manager, Corporate CAD Manager and others.

3.  Think through the pros and cons

You could even make a list of the positive and negatives about each path.  Some of the things that others may think of a negative may be a positive to you.  You need to look at it with your own perspective. 

Here are a few of things I have heard others say that they thought of a negatives.

• You will no longer be directly involved with design work.  You will be supporting it but not actually providing input and decisions that drive the design.

• You will eventually loose your knowledge of the trade you leave.

• You might end up with a split resume if you loose your job.  Not enough design experience or CAD Management experience

Here are a few positives I have heard

• You will influence more projects than you have before

• You will be marketable beyond your own industry

• You will make a difference in the quality of all data for design

• You will be able to bring others up a notch in their use of CAD

 

December 2007