CAD Technician CV Examples & Writing Guide

This sample is a mechanical CAD technician at a manufacturer who produces released production drawings. The name, employers and college are made up. Architectural and civil versions of the personal statement and bullets follow further down, because those three disciplines are almost different jobs.

CAD technician adverts look similar and screen on completely different words. Decide your discipline before you write a line, because the software list alone decides whether a recruiter reads on.

“I search the CV for the software first and the standard second. If the drawings were released to Y14.5 or to the National CAD Standard, that person has been checked by somebody and learned to take a redline. Every other line on the page is negotiable.”

Three lines: discipline, software, output volume, one result or standard. Put the software in words the search will find, including the job title the advert uses (CAD technician, draughtsperson, CAD designer, CAD operator, design technician, or drafter in US adverts).

Everyone lists the same software. What separates CVs is how much you released, at what standard, and what your drawings prevented further down the line.

Lead with software and version, then standards, then the surrounding process work. Version matters more here than in most jobs, because an office on an older release wants to know you can work in it.

• Software: AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Inventor, Revit, Civil 3D, MicroStation, Creo, NX, CATIA, Fusion 360, AutoCAD Electrical, Tekla Structures, Navisworks, Fusion or Rhino if relevant. Name the versions you have used.
• Standards and practice: BS 8888 and ISO GPS geometrical tolerancing, ASME Y14.5 for US customers, ISO 2768 general tolerances, BS EN ISO 19650 information management and naming, BS EN ISO 13567 layer naming, Uniclass 2015, company title blocks and drawing checking
• Model and drawing work: parametric modelling, assemblies and mates, sheet metal and flat patterns, weldments, surfacing if you do it, sheet sets, schedules, detail libraries, families and blocks
• Data and files: PDM or Vault, a common data environment such as Autodesk Construction Cloud (BIM 360), DWG, DXF, STEP, IGES, point clouds and scan-to-BIM, plotting and publishing
• Process: engineering change notes, revision control, BOMs, technical submittals, as-built drawings, redlines, quantity take-offs, RFI responses
• Adjacent knowledge that makes you useful: manufacturing processes (machining, sheet metal, welding), construction sequencing, survey basics, measuring with callipers and tape
• Working habits worth stating: taking a checker's redlines without argument, keeping a drawing register, and asking the engineer before assuming a dimension

No licence is needed to work as a CAD technician in the UK. Certifications are proof of software skill and they help most in the first five years.

• Autodesk Certified Professional, named for the product: AutoCAD for Design and Drafting, Revit for Architectural Design, Civil 3D for Infrastructure Design. Autodesk Certified User is the entry-level version.
• Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA) and Certified SolidWorks Professional (CSWP), plus the advanced modules for sheet metal, weldments and drawing tools.
• A geometrical tolerancing course to BS 8888 and ISO GPS (or ASME GDTP certification if you detail for US customers) if you work in mechanical detailing. Few technicians can show it, so it stands out.
• BIM training to BS EN ISO 19650, valued by architectural, building services and infrastructure employers that work on BIM projects.
• Professional registration as an Engineering Technician (EngTech) through an engineering institution such as the IMechE or ICE, or membership of the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT) on the architectural side.
• Qualifications: a BTEC, HNC or HND in mechanical, civil or construction engineering, or a Level 3 engineering or construction design apprenticeship, is the usual route; a degree is not required. Some employers hire straight from an apprenticeship or a trade background.
• Site cards if you visit projects: a CSCS card and the site's own induction.

A portfolio is close to essential in this trade, and a short one is better than a long one. Six to ten sheets as a single PDF: one detail part with geometrical tolerancing, one assembly with a BOM, one full sheet with a title block, and something you modelled from scratch. Link it in the header. Remove any client work you are not free to show, and say so instead of quietly including it.

Junior CAD jobs exist because senior engineers do not want to detail. You are applying for volume work under a checker, so show speed, accuracy and a willingness to be corrected.

1. 1Personal statement or career objective, three lines: your course or apprenticeship, your software, your portfolio, and the discipline you want to work in.
2. 2Portfolio link in the header. At this level it carries more weight than the education section.
3. 3A projects section above work history: model a real object, dimension it properly and show the drawing, not the render. A pretty render with no dimensions signals a hobbyist.
4. 4Show that you can dimension to a standard. Writing dimensioned to BS 8888 with basic geometrical tolerancing on datum-referenced features puts you ahead of most graduates.
5. 5List every software with an honest level: daily use, coursework, or self-taught. Do not write expert in five packages.
6. 6Any related trade or workshop background is a strength, not a detour. Machining, welding, joinery, surveying or site work means you know what your drawing has to be built from.
7. 7Include the CSWA or an Autodesk Certified User credential if you have it. At entry level it is the cheapest way to pass a software filter.
8. 8Say you want to work under a checker and learn the office standard. Managers hire juniors who take redlines well.

• One page at entry level, two pages once you have several years of released work or also do design and estimating.
• No photo, no date of birth and no marital status on a UK CV. UK adverts use CAD technician, draughtsperson, design technician or architectural technician for much the same job; if you apply to a US firm, the document is a resume and US conventions apply.
• Single column, plain headings, no graphics. Manufacturers and engineering firms use an ATS, and a designer-styled CV from a CAD technician reads as showing off in the wrong direction.
• Put a software line directly under the personal statement, with versions.
• Give the drawing volume somewhere in the first job. Sheets per month, drawings per week or sets per year.
• Mirror the advert's job title exactly. CAD technician, draughtsperson, CAD designer, CAD operator and detailer are often the same job at different pay grades, and the filter is literal.