Rant: old school manual drafting vs CAD - which one actually teaches you better?

Talked to a senior drafter at my shop last week. He said young guys like me rely too much on snap commands and layers. Said he learned by hand on a board, had to think every line through. I get his point but also I can pump out 3 drawings in the time he used to do 1. Does the old way really make you understand geometry better or is it just nostalgia?

2 comments

2 Comments

dakota_nelson431mo ago

Wait, doesn't doing it by hand just teach you to be careful with a pencil, not actually understand the geometry any deeper? I mean, I think CAD forces you to learn the same concepts just in a faster way.

milestaylor1mo ago

Man, you really think clicking buttons teaches the same thing? How do you know a line is actually tangent without tracing it and seeing where it hits? CAD hides all the messy parts, hand drafting forces you to feel why things work.