How good is AutoCAD?

In field of civil Engineering, technology plays a huge role in the efficiency with which jobs are completed. There are many different technologies that can help an engineer. AutoCAD specifically is helpful when designing projects. This program needs to have someone with experience using it to bring the program to full potential. I have used this program hundreds of times to learn the program for myself but, when using AutoCAD for the first time I found it to be easy to surf through the program and find the basics needed to use the program. Then when exploring more complex things I had to use a guide to look at to get through the programs, and example of this was the snap button.  Some simple commands were easy to use such as drawing a line and using polar to draw. When using AutoCAD there are a lot of buttons that you need to read up on the function of these buttons. This can be an issue when first using this program.

This program is not hard to use per say but I found out the only way to get good at it is to spend many hours working with the program. I was designing a floor plan of a house for fun and the issue I came into was adding all the extras that are not as easy as drawing a line. This would include the designing of doorways, walkways and ect… Now if I was working on a drawing, detailed design, and plan drawings this would be an issue. When in the work place you are expected to know how to use these commands and know how they are used. This program isn’t exactly something you would buy for fun since the basic packages would cost somewhere around $5,000-$7,000. This is a business oriented program that engineers use to get there drawings done.

This program after a few times of use can be fun to play around in. I have designed many floor layouts, bridge designs, road designs and detailed drawings for fun. I am an engineering student and do not have to pay for the program itself because students get a copy of the program for free. Any engineering company would have this software and not have to purchase it. Because of the cost it is not very practical for anyone that is not in the engineering field.

Overall AutoCAD takes a while to get use to where everything is and how to use it. I would say that this technology is a 7 out of 10, 10 being the most user friendly. I find that there is a lot of little design work commands that engineers have to use, and to find and use these commands effectively takes a lot of hours learning by trial and error. This program has many uses in engineering and Civil engineers need to learn how to use this program to be effective. This program is one of the many that engineers use and will benefit from using this program.