The detailed drawings engineers and architects build from take shape at your workstation, drafted, dimensioned, and revised in CAD until they're exact. Where accuracy ripples through everything downstream.
The work is drafting and detailing: producing technical drawings, dimensioning them precisely, and revising through markups from the engineers who own the design. You spend the day in the details, at a screen. A misplaced dimension becomes a real-world error, so the craft is precision and consistency, drawing after drawing.
What surprises people is how much is revision, not original drawing: designs change, and you keep up. The work can be detailed and repetitive, software and standards evolve, and scope varies, from pure drafting toward design depending on the shop. Patience for fine detail is essential.
It fits someone precise, patient, and comfortable with focused screen work. If you want variety or big-picture design, the role can feel narrow. But if you take pride in clean, accurate drawings, and like being the careful hands the whole project relies on, the role tends to suit, and can open toward design.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Engineering roles →The detailed drawings engineers and architects build from take shape at your workstation, drafted, dimensioned, and revised in CAD until they're exact. Where accuracy ripples through everything downstream.
Median pay for a CADD Technician (Computer-Aided Design and Drafting Technician) is about $64K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $44K to $98K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Mathematics, and Speaking.
Most people in this role hold a some college.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 2.1% through 2034, with roughly 62,130 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Field Technician, Design Technician, and Drafting Technician.
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