M. Keolyan is an independent CAD drafter and designer. His extensive expertise in putting together design, shop and permit drawing sets for dawnings, trellises and canopies. Also, has extensive expertise in CD sets for residential homes. Anything from new construction to home additions. He received a BA in Architecture from Woodbury University.

S. Mahalle is an expert in developing designs using Autocad 2011 and Revit (for BIM) 2011 and previous versions. Mrs. Mahalle has worked directly with architects on design projects, including residential homes, commercial buildings and interior designing. She holds a five year Bachelors degree in Architecture.

J. Potenza serves as a CADD consultant for construction projects in Massachusetts. He began as a civil drafter for the City of Boston in 1978 while attending Boston Architectural Center, and learned the Auto-trol system in 1982. He became a CADD Manager in 1985. It was at this time that he became proficient in AutoCAD, Intergraph and GDS and began creating CADD Drafting standards. Mr. Potenza headed up the CADD design for a Wastewater Treatment Plant on GDS.

Building on his GDS experience, he created and implement the CADD standards for the Boston Central Artery Project. In 2010, Mr. Potenza began teaching CADD/Engineering. Because of his extensive design/build experience, he was recently asked to design and manage the construction of a new 104,000 sq. ft. educational campus in Woburn, MA.

Interview with Mr. J. Potenza

1. What kinds of clients do you serve? What is your particular area of expertise?

   I have worked primarily with A/E firms for over 30 years. Architectural design, Civil and Utility relocation.

2. What was the most interesting CAD project that you ever worked on? What made it interesting? What challenges did you face?

   The Central Artery/3rd Harbor Tunnel. The massive coordination of companies and disciplines. The constant changes and revisions.

3. Of the software tools that you use, which is your favorite and why?

   My favorite was Auto-trol but I dont think it exists any more. Autocad now. I was in cad before Autocad existed.

4. What trends are you observing in the market for CAD services? How have these trends affected you, and how are you responding to them?

   I think companies would rather hire a service now. It hasnt really affected me.

5. What do you like about working as an interim CAD draftsman or external CAD consultant working on a time-bound project?

   I like the constant project change and the challenge of completing a job on time.

6. Have you ever provided CAD consulting services remotely, either via phone, the Web or email?
   Do you use any screen sharing tools (like Webex, Skype, or GoToMeeting), and are they effective?
   What kinds of questions and problems could you tackle remotely?
   Are there any issues that you feel are better handled face-to-face?

   Yes, on many joint ventures. I have used GoToMeeting and found it somewhat effective. Preliminary design and most changes can be handled remotely. Face-to-face meetings are best for initial project start up and major changes.

O. Medina is an independent consultant with experience in Computer Aid Drafting software, mainly Chief Architect and AutoCad. For the past seven years he has been developing residential Architectural Drawings, HVAC and electrical drawings for residential and commercial projects. As an Architectural residential drafter he had been involved in the complete design process of projects, including schemes proposals through final construction documents. He has generated drawings for floor plans, elevations, sections, structural, electrical, plumbing, site plans and detailed sections. Also he had developed 3D walkthrough video clips for some of the projects. Oscar is currently studying electrical engineering on-line at Stony Brook University in New York. He is a graduated engineer in electronics from Saint Thomas University in Bogota Colombia.

S. Gonzalez is currently and independent Architect and CAD consultant, a role he has performed since 1998. Mr. Gonzalez has overseen all design activities for 2D & 3D drafting, focusing on AutoCad, VectorWorks, ArtLantis, Photoshop & Corel Draw. Mr. Gonzalez started his career as a CAD Draftsman. He received a BA in Architecture from UMG -Universidad Mariano Galvez- in Guatemala City and studied Architectural Design at Sci-Arc LA and Urbanism at Universidad de Puebla Mexico.

R. Ruben is currently an independent CAD Designer. He previously held a position as a Senior CAD Designer in central California managing CAD design for a Civil Engineering team from 2009 to 2011. Mr. Ruben designed all aspects of design plans for water systems, instrumentation and energy systems as well as, Street improvements for land development of commercial and residential land use. Responsibilities included the design and research of fresh water reservoirs and pump stations, water utility design, Including surface profiles, surface modeling and alignment design, code compliance, architectural and structural plan design, jurisdiction requirements, and, project and team coordination. Special skills include CAD management with AutoCad.

J. Asiimwe is a highly experienced CAD professional.

L. Bublik is an independent CAD consultant. Mr. Bublik was previously the head of the design and drafting department at a leading Control Valve design company. Mr. Bublik oversaw all design activities for the company and managed a team of 2D and 3D designers (focusing on SolidWorks and AutoCAD). His innovation in Control Valves design resulted in over $200 million in annual revenue for the company. Mr. Bublik started his career as a machinist, when he was responsible for setting up and operating lathes, mills, drill presses and other machine shop equipment. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

Interview with Mr. L. Bublik

1. What kinds of clients do you serve?

   As a mechanical engineer I work with any individuals or companies that need my special design expertise.

2. What was the most interesting CAD project that you ever worked on? What made it interesting?
   What challenges did you face?

   I recently had a project for treatment tables for hospitals with special design features that were very interesting to work on. Challenges were to find special electric motors and switches for the tables.

3. Of the software tools that you use, which is your favorite and why?

   SolidWorks is the best and my favorite because it is solid modelling and you can see right away what kind of product you are designing.

4. What trends are you observing in the market for CAD services? How have these trends affected you, and how are you responding to them?

   Clients try to pay less because of the slow job market; they want more work for less money so I have to accept any reasonable offer.

5. What do you like about working as an interim CAD draftsman or external CAD consultant working on a time-bound project?

   I like working free-lance because I can have a more flexible schedule.

6. Have you ever provided CAD consulting services remotely, either via phone, the Web or email?
   Do you use any screen sharing tools (like Webex, Skype, or GoToMeeting), and are they effective?
   What kinds of questions and problems could you tackle remotely?
   Are there any issues that you feel are better handled face-to-face?

   I use Skype for remote meetings and also the phone. Skype is good for design work questions because I can share my screen and resolve problems. If I have customers in my area I meet with them in person.

A. Enoch is currently a Mechanical Design Consultant, a role he has been performed since 2002. He specializes in 3D-modeling, 2D drawings, project management and gear design. Mr. Enoch has over 20 years of design experience designing a variety of products from pressure vessels, to military vehicles, tooling and fixtures. He has an Associate Degree in Engineering.

Interview with Mr. A. Enroch

1. What What kinds of clients do you serve?

   I work for many different clients and my special area of expertise is Mechanical Design.

2. What was the most interesting CAD project that you ever worked on? What made it interesting?
   What challenges did you face?

   My most interesting work is designing fixtures for military vehicles for the Government. I enjoy accomplishing designs that everyone else has problems with.

3. Of the software tools that you use, which is your favorite and why?

   SolidWorks is my favorite software tool – I love it.

4. What trends are you observing in the market for CAD services? How have these trends affected
   you, and how are you responding to them?

   One of the trends I see is companies not wanting to pay decent rates for my work. When I negotiate with them to allow me to work from home it lowers the rate.

5. What do you like about working as an interim CAD draftsman or external CAD consultant
   working on a time-bound project?

   Working as a free-lancer gives me the independence I like.

6. Have you ever provided CAD consulting services remotely, either via phone, the Web or email?
   Do you use any screen sharing tools (like Webex, Skype, or GoToMeeting), and are theyv effective?
   What kinds of questions and problems could you tackle remotely?
   Are there any issues that you feel are better handled face-to-face?

   I dont often work remotely or use screen-sharing tools, but if I do I like to make sure I have all the information I need before starting to avoid setbacks. I dont like wasting time.

J. Yazel provides both 2D plans for houses and a business, as well as 3D designing. He has an associate’s degree in architecture.

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D. Hilton has over twenty-five years graphic design experience on Macintosh and PC platforms using primarily InDesign, Quark Xpress, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat and Microsoft Office. As an architectural and structural draftsperson, she is also adept at preparing plans, details and as-builts from client sketches and specifications using AutoCAD 2011. Ms. Hilton can prepare (2d) cost-effective photographic mock-ups of architectural structures. She is experienced in creating creative websites using CSS, HTML and Dreamweaver.

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Comments

1. Describe a project that was particularly challenging. What was challenging about it? What was the solution and what results did you achieve?

   I draw floor plans of existing homes for my husband who makes scaled birdhouses. The challenging part is that I often don’t have any dimensions to work from, so I have to interpolate the footprint and door and window sizes from photographs. I generally use standard sizes to get the best approximation.

2. Which CAD software programs do you find the most useful for the kind of work that you do?

   AutoCAD 2011

3. What are the pros and cons of the various CAD software programs that you use?

   I only use AutoCAD. I use other programs for other purposes, like Adobe products for graphic design.

4. How do you keep yourself up-to-date with the various developments in your field of work?

   I read on-line articles and talk to colleagues. Also, help forums for help.

5. Which new skills have you acquired in the past year? What new skills do you plan to acquire in the future?

   Just keeping up with the new features in the software is a full-time job 🙂

6. Are there any kinds of activities that you feel are better to outsource or subcontract than to do yourself?

   N/A

7. Send us some samples of your work, in any format (DWG, PDF, JPEG, DXF,etc.), along with a description of each sample.

   Attached is a set of drawings for a structural engineer. Also, see my website of examples:

   http://www.ilikeitdesign.com/drafting/autocad.html

8. Testimonials you would like to send us from your existing customers.

   I have never asked for any.

L .DeBoard has a strong background in both architecture and product design, and is an expert in AutoCad, Photoshop and Illustrator. Has a working knowledge of 3D applications like Catia, Alias and 3D Studio. He has worked for a leading architectural firm as well as a tier one automotive supplier.