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AutoCAD Certified User

Become an AutoCAD 2021 Certified User

AutoCAD is the leading computer-aided design (CAD) software tool for drafting and design by mechanical and electronic engineering designers. This 100% online course provides a comprehensive overview of AutoCAD 2021 and hands-on practice with the program’s newest features. Upon successful completion, you will be ready to pass the Autodesk AutoCAD 2021 Certified User exam!

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Job Outlook for AutoCAD Certified Users

  • According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), drafters earn $56,830 per year, on average. Industrial design and drafting are high-potential careers in the design-driven 21st century. Many CAD professionals begin as drafters and move up to design positions as they gain experience.
  • Study.com reports that an AutoCAD certificate is a useful credential for jobs that require digital designs, blueprints or animation special effects. This may include positions in electrical or electronics, architectural, mechanical and civil design fields.
  • According to ZipRecruiter.com, demand for specialized design professionals is expected to remain strong, growing at a rate of 7% over the coming decade.

AutoCAD Certified User FAQs

AutoCAD is used across a wide variety of jobs and industries. Any job that involves creating a visual design may use AutoCAD. Some design-related job areas include:

  • Architectural drafting
  • Mechanical drafting
  • Electronics drafting
  • Civil construction drafting

CAD software supports design in many industries, including:

  • Architecture
  • Engineering 
  • Interior and exterior design
  • Industrial Design

To successfully use AutoCAD, designers must know how to use the software’s drawing tools, setting up and managing objects and creating visual designs. Top AutoCAD skills include:

  • Cad standards
  • Drawing precision in AutoCAD
  • Advanced object types
  • Working with blocks
  • Creating templates
  • Annotation styles
  • Text objects
  • Output and publishing
  • Cloud collaboration and 2D automation
  • Macros and custom routines

Professional design projects involve complex operations and often follow rigorous standards. While some designers are self-taught, certification signals to an employer or design team that a designer has undertaken a formal course of study that integrates concepts and practices in an organized structure. ZipRecruiter.com states that certification "is quickly becoming a requirement" for CAD-related jobs, due to the complex and fast-changing dynamics of the design field.

Course Objectives

  • Prepare to take and pass the Autodesk AutoCAD 2021 certification exam
  • Use the AutoCAD software to create, edit, modify and work with drawings
  • Work and set up units and layers, create annotations (text, hatching, dimensions, multileader, and tables), including annotation styles and setting up templates
  • Create and insert reusable symbols using local/dynamic blocks with attributes and work with and modify external references in a drawing file
  • Set up layouts (printing, manipulating, copying, creating viewports) and create, publish, and customize sheet sets
  • Learn collaboration and automation tools and understand CAD management, system setup, and customizing the AutoCAD interface

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Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites to take this course. However, you should have a basic understanding of design/drafting procedures and terminology.

Curriculum

  • Getting Started with AutoCAD
  • Basic Drawing and Editing Commands
  • Projects: Creating a Simple Drawing
  • Drawing Precision in AutoCAD
  • Making Changes in Your Drawing
  • Projects: Making Your Drawings More Precise
  • Organizing Your Drawing with Layers
  • Advanced Object Types
  • Analyzing Model and Object Properties
  • Project: Drawing Organization and Information
  • Advanced Editing Commands
  • Inserting Blocks
  • Projects: Creating More Complex Objects
  • Setting Up a Layout
  • Printing Your Drawing
  • Projects: Preparing to Print
  • Text
  • Hatching
  • Adding Dimensions
  • Projects: Annotating Your Drawing
  • Working Effectively with AutoCAD
  • Accurate Positioning
  • Projects: Productivity Tools
  • Parametric Drawing
  • Working with Blocks
  • Projects: Creating and Organizing Blocks
  • Creating Templates
  • Advanced Layouts
  • Annotation Styles
  • Projects: Drawing Setup and Utilities
  • External References
  • Projects: Drawing
  • Miscellaneous Optional Topics
  • Advanced Text Objects
  • Working with Tables
  • Projects: Advanced Annotation
  • Dynamic Blocks
  • Attributes
  • Projects: Advanced Blocks and Attributes
  • Output and Publishing
  • Other Tools for Collaboration
  • Clouc Collaboration and 2D Automation
  • Intruduction to Sheet Sets
  • Publishing and Customizing Sheet Sets
  • Project: Sheet Sets
  • Managing Layers
  • CAD Standards
  • System Setup
  • Introduction to Customization
  • Customizing the User Interface
  • Macros and Custom Routines

Instructor

Jennifer MacMillan
Jennifer MacMillan has been teaching CAD for 22 years and is an Autodesk Certified Instructor (ACI). She currently manages a team of curriculum developers that design and develop curriculum for the Autodesk line of engineering software products. As a subject matter expert herself, MacMillan focuses her development efforts working specifically with the manufacturing software products. She holds a mechanical engineering degree from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Renu Muthoo
Renu Muthoo is a computer engineering graduate from Bangalore University, India. She has worked with Autodesk products for the past 18 years, focusing mainly on AutoCAD and Autodesk's design visualization software products such as 3ds Max, VRED, and Showcase. Using her engineering background and expertise in Autodesk products, she has co-authored a number of books. She currently works as a curriculum developer and subject matter expert for Autodesk products.

Registration and Enrollment
This course is 100% online. Start anytime.

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