Job Summary:
To prepare maps used in construction of civil engineering projects, like civil water and sewage systems, roads, highways, expressways, pipelines, bridges etc. The job requires a high amount of skill in surveying, in marking exactly the position where the roads or pipelines or water and sewage systems should pass and in exactly representing the topography in the layouts. In bridges, they have to prepare if sink wells are required and what depth they should be dug up and concreted. In the case of pipelines, in addition to showing the path of the line, to prepare piping layout, piping isometric, piping supports, bill of material etc. Also prepare vendor drawings for parts, sub assemblies or other general materials. If, for a bridge, iron girders are required should indicate the I beam size, material composition, bolting points, welding points etc, and indicate the type of thickness of welding and complete fabrication details.

Not long ago, draftsmen used to rely on drawing boards, T-squares, pencils, pens, triangles, protractors, compasses, calculators etc. Nowadays they are trained to use Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD).

In the CADD system you can design any complicated part. You don’t use an eraser to erase anything, which is not correct as was done previously. You can do it by deleting the wrong portion by using the mouse and can see this happening in the monitor. You can store all the completed as well as jobs under progress in the computer and can recall any of these at will for further working. Revisions become possible with relative ease. Duplications become easy.

Generally, a blue print should indicate the size, format, exact location, bill of material, drawing number, scale, drawn by whom, checked by whom and an indication of direction.

Qualification:
Minimum post-secondary school. Draftsman training of 2 years duration. Draftsman diploma of 4 years after passing secondary school is quite good. There are early, middle and advance levels. Specialization is a must.

Salary Range:
Ranges from $24,000 per annum to $60,000 per annum.

Prospects:
The employment opportunities for civil drafters are high. There are always new roads to be formed, new bridges to be built and new pipelines to be drawn in a growing economy. However, the growth mainly depends on the growth of the particular state’s as well as Federal government’s economic growth and development. The spending of either state or federal government depends on a boom economy. In the case of an economic decline, the spending on such projects are delayed resulting in contraction of economic development necessitating contraction in employment.