Take a look at all the modern buildings and structures around you. Yes they all started as an idea on paper but how did they test them before building? Who was responsible for testing that new fire safety system or breakaway door? In most cases it was a CAD developer. CAD developers are similar to civil engineers, the public doesn't think about them until something goes wrong or needs fixing.
CAD programs allow you to design and tests all sorts of things inside of them. Most common are buildings and new engineering parts. These parts are what we use in our everyday lives without even noticing them. Take your car for example; do you think that new engine design that just came out was done on paper only? That it was just sketched out, given the thumbs up, and then sent to the production line?
The answer to this is no, it was tested first inside a CAD program for any potential defects and stress analysis. Computer aided design jobs are in multiple industries and not just related to construction or engineering. CAD jobs often take people into many unexpected realms some of which include theoretical science, green energy, and city planning.
CAD programs such as AutoCAD can be used to design everything from street corners to highway interchanges if need be. A person who can make the program bend to their whims and show people what their building or idea will be like can earn a lot of money. But money isn't the chief reason many get into this field. Many developers take up this trade simply because they like to design things, and simulate events.
More advanced CAD programs can even simulate natural disasters or do impact stress analysis. This can come in handy when seeing how a new building will stack up against a hurricane or a new car will handle a side impact. It obviously takes time to set up and run a test like this. But when compared to finding out the hard way it can be much safer.
Computer aided design jobs will be needed as long as people continue to use computers. Every year computer power doubles and what can be done increases with it. What started out as simple simulations and small models are now complex environmental simulations and detailed cityscapes. This being said CAD jobs take a particular type of person to perform them.
You have to be willing to put long hours in at a desk using a mouse and keyboard. Many workers will often make simulations that are so advanced that they can crash a computer. While this is sometimes resolved with software and hardware updates it can still strike an unprepared developer. You should remember to make frequent backups and saves of your current work in order to save you some grief down the line.
