What does a design drafter do?
A design drafter is responsible for creating a technical draft of the architects' and engineers' designs using various software applications. Design drafters analyze schematics and blueprints and compare the specifications to the draft, ensuring all the features' accuracy. They review structural details and perform adjustments based on the building techniques standards. A design drafter must have excellent knowledge with the engineering disciplines, as well as manufacturing processes to determine dimensions and minimize material costs without compromising the construction quality.
Design drafter responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real design drafter resumes:
- Manage the ECN process by assigning the highest priority requests through coordination between engineering staff and drafting personnel.
- Use Windchill for file management.
- Develop pattern REVIT families for retail fixture manufactures.
- Assist with implementation of Revit as main drawing application.
- Draft and design mechanical and electrical windows for aircraft and yachts.
- Work on plant location to sketch isometric drawings used for pressure analysis.
- Create sketch drawings for prototype parts, test parts, and sub-assemblies.
- Design and draft mechanical piping plans, elevations, spool sheets, and piping supports
- Train and mentore new drafters on GIS software as well as company policies and procedures.
- Field design and detail questions & update shop prints for ISO documentation for assemblers, dept.
- Field surveying crew for checking existing and new elevations for ongoing and complete job for client.
- Operate CNC, review job details, and create plans for company employees to create detail projects.
- Create and prepare schematics by ensuring they are complete and accurate to specify sketches and ANSI standards.
- Draft and produces special graphic gas engineering equipment from designs in construction maps using GIS principles and applications.
- Design, elaborate details drawings accordance with ANSI Y14.5M, geometric tolerance, layout, stack-up and specification checks.
Design drafter skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Design Drafters are proficient in Layout Drawings, Auto CAD, and Engineering Drawings. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Technical skills, and Time-management skills.
We break down the percentage of Design Drafters that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Layout Drawings, 10%
Create and update schematics, one line diagrams and over all layout drawings for emergency alert systems (PAGA).
- Auto CAD, 6%
Produced engineering schematics using Promise-e and Auto CAD.
- Engineering Drawings, 5%
Aided associates in understanding engineering drawings and established communication protocols between the Weights and Analyst Group and assembly floor.
- Aided Design, 5%
Provide architectural plans by operating computer-aided design system, analyzing design options, evaluating construction, project management.
- Assembly Drawings, 5%
Created top level assembly drawings for manufacture of industrial components and commercial products.
- Revit, 4%
Utilized REVIT to create construction documents for the six floor, 33 bed expansion project.
Most design drafters use their skills in "layout drawings," "auto cad," and "engineering drawings" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential design drafter responsibilities here:
Detail oriented. The most essential soft skill for a design drafter to carry out their responsibilities is detail oriented. This skill is important for the role because "drafters must take care that the plans they convert are technically accurate according to the outlined specifications." Additionally, a design drafter resume shows how their duties depend on detail oriented: "generated complex, detailed construction drawings for sanitary trunk sewer collections systems, pump stations and force mains. "
Technical skills. Many design drafter duties rely on technical skills. "drafters in all specialties must be able to use computer software, such as cad, and work with database tools, such as building information modeling (bim).," so a design drafter will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways design drafter responsibilities rely on technical skills: "drafted, designed, interpreted and edited technical drawings by using computer-aided design software. "
Time-management skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of design drafters is time-management skills. This skill is critical to many everyday design drafter duties, as "drafters often work under deadline." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "work efficiently under strict deadlines to make sure construction drawings are available for scheduled releases. "
Creativity. A big part of what design drafters do relies on "creativity." You can see how essential it is to design drafter responsibilities because "drafters must be able to turn plans and ideas into technical drawings of buildings, tools, and systems." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical design drafter tasks: "create detail and assembly drawings (mechanical and electrical) using autocad and inventor for parts to be altered in boilers. "
Math skills. A commonly-found skill in design drafter job descriptions, "math skills" is essential to what design drafters do. Design drafter responsibilities rely on this skill because "drafters work on technical drawings." You can also see how design drafter duties rely on math skills in this resume example: "standardized geometry and incorporated pre-drawn details of standard geometry to reduce time required to create production drawings. "
The three companies that hire the most design drafters are:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory9 design drafters jobs
- Blue Origin6 design drafters jobs
- NPL Construction Co.5 design drafters jobs
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Compare different design drafters
Design drafter vs. Computer draftsman mechanical
Draftsmen are professionals with expertise in computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) drawings. They perform similar tasks as architects, such as preparing CADD drawings. They typically specialize in different areas, including construction, architecture, or civil engineering. They also prepare drawings for manufacturing. These drawings include technical specifications and details such as dimensions, procedures, and materials. Draftsmen also utilize technical handbooks, tables, and calculators, in addition to CADD. Employers often prefer a draftsman with drafting training, which you can obtain from community colleges or technical institutes.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, design drafter responsibilities require skills like "layout drawings," "engineering drawings," "revit," and "gd." Meanwhile a typical computer draftsman mechanical has skills in areas such as "cadd," "design layouts," "solidworks," and "as-built." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, computer draftsman mechanicals reach similar levels of education than design drafters. Computer draftsman mechanicals are 0.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Design drafter vs. Draftsman
A mechanical design engineer specializes in designing various mechanical devices that will be vital in developing machinery or large structures. One of their primary responsibilities revolves around conducting thorough research and analysis, establishing layouts and prototypes, producing progress reports, and working alongside fellow engineers and skilled professionals. Typically assigned in an office setting, a mechanical design engineer must visit construction sites or factories to test and observe equipment qualities. Furthermore, during production, there are instances when a mechanical engineer must coordinate with suppliers, contractors, and clients.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real design drafter resumes. While design drafter responsibilities can utilize skills like "gd," "powerpoint," "ansi," and "pdm," draftsmen use skills like "autocad lt," "civil engineering," "structural drawings," and "construction projects."
Draftsmen may earn a lower salary than design drafters, but draftsmen earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $52,988. On the other hand, design drafters receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $59,117.draftsmen earn similar levels of education than design drafters in general. They're 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for design drafters in the next 3-5 years?
Dan Rodenbaugh
Vice President of Education, Director, ADDA
Design drafter vs. Mechanical design engineer
A Drafting Engineer designs and draws the blueprints needed to bring new concepts and products to life. There are three major types of drafting positions: mechanical drafters, electrical and electronics drafters, and architectural and civil drafters.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from design drafter resumes include skills like "layout drawings," "auto cad," "revit," and "electrical schematics," whereas a mechanical design engineer is more likely to list skills in "cad," "mechanical design," "creo," and "fea. "
Mechanical design engineers make a very good living in the automotive industry with an average annual salary of $87,483. On the other hand, design drafters are paid the highest salary in the finance industry, with average annual pay of $59,117.Most mechanical design engineers achieve a higher degree level compared to design drafters. For example, they're 8.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Design drafter vs. Drafting engineer
Types of design drafter
Updated January 8, 2025
