AutoCAD Certificates St. Louis, MO

Invented and released by Autodesk in 1982 as part of a five-program suite, AutoCAD is the first released and most respected design software. It was easily the most successful of those initial five apps developed by Autodesk and remains their primary product. Furthermore, even though dozens of similar apps have come out in recent years to compete with AutoCAD, it holds a 40% share of the market as the most dominant option available for designers today.

What makes it such a popular product among designers? It provides fast design creation, quick editing, more accurate results, and multiple tools that streamline production. Furthermore, it’s well maintained by Autodesk and receives regular updates that ensure it runs smoothly. Beyond that, it’s simply well established in the market. Designers across multiple important industries know and trust AutoCAD and hire people who have mastered its complex processes.

Perhaps that’s why AutoCAD appears in so many job listings in the St. Louis area. Even a cursory look at LinkedIn reveals thousands of positions that need AutoCAD as a vital skill. As a result, it’s important to take this program seriously when deciding on your field. Mastering its unique and complex processes can help you stand out in the crowded St. Louis market and give you the best chance to start your career on the right foot.

Thankfully, there are multiple St. Louis AutoCAD certificates and certifications that can help prepare you for this career. Certificates can give you the hands-on training you need to make an impact on the market, while certification gives you more authority and respect compared to your peers. Whatever process you take, it’s critical to make sure you do your research and identify options that make sense for you and fit into your specific career needs.

Why Become Certified in AutoCAD?

Earning an AutoCAD training certificate in St. Louis can help you learn the many skills necessary for using this software properly. In a certificate program, you’ll learn how AutoCAD operates, practice using its many tools, and master complex design concepts. In this way, a certificate program can help a beginner kick start their career. Furthermore, certification helps you stand out from other job seekers and improves your career prospects.

For instance, let’s say you and 100 other people apply for a drafting job in St. Louis. Among those applicants, 50 of you have real-world experience and education with AutoCAD that makes you stand out. However, you and 10 others have AutoCAD training certificates and certifications. In this scenario, the drafting firm is more likely to shortlist those resumes for an interview. Why? Certification shows a higher dedication to mastering AutoCAD skills.

As a result, it’s a smart choice to identify St. Louis AutoCAD certificate and certification teams that can take your career to the next level. This extra training can help you stand out compared to other designers with the same general experience and abilities. Furthermore, it helps you master the many complex skills and abilities required when using AutoCAD. These abilities include multiple unique processes that make you a more skilled and effective design expert.

What You’ll Learn While Becoming AutoCAD Certified

Getting a certificate or certification in AutoCAD can help you master multiple important skills, improve your abilities, and become an even better Designer. These skills include basic design concepts and more complex AutoCAD operational techniques. Each training program provides an in-depth and fascinating look into this software’s operation and can help budding architects, designers, and drafters master AutoCAD and produce more appealing and effective designs.

General Design Concepts

Anyone who plans on using AutoCAD in their career must understand basic design concepts such as proper scaling theories, what shapes help support products and designs, and how to minimize load-bearing issues. In an AutoCAD training program, you’ll learn about these ideas and practice them in your day-to-day designing. It’s also a good step to study some of these concepts independently to learn more about how they can impact your overall process.

AutoCAD Interface

Like all design software, AutoCAD uses a complex user interface that helps you use its various tools quickly and efficiently. During your certificate and certification programs, you’ll master AutoCAD’s unique operational interface and learn how to handle its basic tools properly. For instance, you’ll learn how to create and save your projects, practice with its line-drawing tools, master its shape-production software, and progress to more complex operational steps.

Technical Drawing Knowledge

While knowing how to use AutoCAD’s interface is important, practicing proper technical drawing concepts is critical to your success in any design career. For example, you’ll learn the importance of line thickness in your designs, practice proper perspective integration, and learn how to represent your products accurately in your drawings. Each AutoCAD training program should integrate these and other important skills to improve your abilities exponentially.

3D Animation

Did you know that you can use AutoCAD to produce fascinating 3D shapes and animations? This process attracts many drafters and architects, particularly those who need to create three-dimensional designs like animations for their customers. Thankfully, your training program should help you master a myriad of 3D tools, including animation processes that can help you transition to film, television, and even video game careers after you complete your training.

Texturing and Shading

Creating attractive designs in AutoCAD is about more than simply producing attractive shapes and interesting styles. Texturing and shading add depth to your designs and make them more realistic and engaging. Mastering these concepts requires you to practice each regularly and understand ideas like lighting sources and perspective. Once you perfect using them with regular practice, it should be easy to create interesting and engaging styles for your customers.

AutoCAD Industries in St. Louis

St. Louis provides thousands of potential jobs across hundreds of industries, including many that need AutoCAD professionals. In fact, AutoCAD skills are needed in some of the largest and most fascinating job markets in the region and can provide you with many fun, fascinating, and hands-on career options. Here are a few in St. Louis that may interest you:

• Aerospace Design: Did you know that St. Louis is something of an aerospace hub in the Midwest? There are thousands of employees in this field in the area, many of whom have mastered AutoCAD. In this market, you’ll likely use AutoCAD regularly to produce interesting plane and spaceship designs for your customers who should look great.
• Architecture: St. Louis’ top architects need people with AutoCAD skills to handle basic home design, floor plan layouts, and much more. While other home design software is available for this process, many architects still use AutoCAD when integrating and laying out things like electrical and plumbing systems and other critical design concepts.
• Biomedical Manufacturers: The biomedical field in St. Louis includes hundreds of potential employers who need people with your unique skills. For example, workers in this field may use AutoCAD when designing factory layouts, producing new packaging concepts, or creating medical storage containers for sensitive materials and products.
• Car Design: No, St. Louis doesn’t have any car manufacturers in the region. However, its customization market remains huge and may need people with AutoCAD design skills. For instance, you could use AutoCAD when designing intricate car graphics or integrating customized parts that help a vehicle perform more efficiently.
• Product Manufacturing: Like many large cities in the Midwest, St. Louis has a bustling manufacturing market. These companies often need people with AutoCAD skills who can create intricate and interesting product designs. They may also need designers to produce production lines and other important manufacturing tools.

AutoCAD Careers in St. Louis

In the markets listed above, there are many fascinating AutoCAD careers that may appeal to St. Louis residents. These jobs not only utilize AutoCAD daily but provide many fun roles and help you earn a solid and consistent wage. The top-earning St. Louis AutoCAD careers include six-figure payouts and other benefits. Just a few that may interest you in this area include:

• CAD Drafter: As a CAD Drafter, you’ll use AutoCAD and other programs to handle basic drafting steps. In this entry-level career, you can earn an average $49,000 salary in St. Louis or from between $42,000 and $58,000 with room for growth.
• Motion Graphics Designer: What does a Motion Graphics Designer do? They produce intricate graphics for websites, films, television shows, online streams, and much more. You earn a media base pay of $61,000 or between $46,000 and $64,000 in St. Louis.
• Animator: If you love creative artwork, becoming an Animator may work well for you. This job includes utilizing AutoCAD to produce interesting animations for various firms. In St. Louis, you’ll earn a median of $62,000 or between $52,000 and $75,000.
• CAD Designer: A job as a CAD Designer is an upgrade from one as a Drafter because you’ll often oversee complete design projects, rather than just a portion. You can earn between $57,000 and $69,000 in this market or a median of $63,000 in St. Louis.
• UI Designer: People who want to make good money in St. Louis should use their AutoCAD skills to become a User Experience Designer, Expect an average salary of $154,000 and a total earnings range between $126,000 and $184,000 in St. Louis.

Should You Pursue a Certificate or Certification

By contrast, a certification isn’t associated with training at all. Instead, it’s something you earn after mastering AutoCAD through training or work experience. You earn a certification after completing an intensive test that gauges your abilities. Once you pass the exam, you earn a professional-level title for your resume. That said, you can take a certificate course to prepare for your certification, which is a smart idea if you have little to no AutoCAD knowledge.

Top AutoCAD Certificate Programs in St. Louis

Are you interested in learning AutoCAD and think a certificate program is a good choice for you? Well, you’re in luck because St. Louis has many training options that can help you master AutoCAD, including college programs and private training teams with specialized focuses. If college courses seem too intensive or expensive, Noble Desktop can provide some fairly priced and quickly paced courses that easily prepare you for a career using AutoCAD.

Computer Aided Design

Computer Aided Design is a St. Louis Community College program that teaches you all of the important skills needed to master CAD programs. You’ll learn the basic skills needed to master AutoCAD, as well as practice with solid modeling programs like Inventor, Revit, and SolidWorks. These unique tools help you produce intricate and attractive looks and styles to suit your clients’ needs. This course takes just 16 credit hours and is available on campus in St. Louis.

If you live in the St. Louis district, you pay just $122 per credit hour, which makes this a fairly affordable college program for most people. St. Louis Community College also provides stackable credentials, meaning you can earn multiple skill-based certificates that highlight your abilities. That’s often a smart step if you’re serious about AutoCAD careers because you can stack this Computer Aided Design program with other related skills, like general computer use.

Computer-Aided Drafting

In Computer-Aided Drafting, provided by St. Charles Community College, you’ll get hands-on experience with CAD tools such as AutoCAD. Unlike the previous course, this is a two-year program that earns you an associate’s degree, rather than a completion certificate. During your 60 credits hours, you’ll study applied mathematics, English composition, technical writing, public speaking, biology, and various CAD-related courses that improve your experience.

These include courses in SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD, and Revit, as well as microcomputer applications. As you learn more skills, you’ll apply them in later classes to improve your knowledge of these different abilities. Furthermore, you can transfer your credits to a larger university if you want a bachelor’s degree. Note that this option is the longest and most expensive, so prepare for the potential concerns it may cause if you aren’t careful.

AutoCAD 3D Drawing & Modeling

Certstaffix Training is a trusted tech training team that provides live online classes and in-person education around the nation. Their courses include End-User/Desktop, IT Pro Skills, Online Marketing, and Programming classes. In their three-day AutoCAD 3D Drawing & Modeling class, you’ll learn all about two-dimensional AutoCAD design, as well as the 3D Modeling Workspace and User Coordinate System to produce attractive and engaging work.

With your live online or in-person professor, you can practice creating real-world projects that produce interesting and attractive styles that your customers will enjoy. When you’re done, you should have the skills necessary to advance your career or improve your education even further. Note that you can also take the three-day, $1,730 courses AutoCAD Essentials and AutoCAD Advanced programs to give yourself an even better overall experience in this field.

AutoCAD Bootcamp

NYC Career Centers is a New York company that provides intensive business and corporate training options that can help advance your career. These include classes in Microsoft Excel, data analytics, Microsoft Office, and general design practices. Though they don’t have a location in St. Louis, their intensive online program provides many unique advantages. These include a live atmosphere with a skilled professor who fully understands your skills and abilities.

As one of their leading courses, AutoCAD Bootcamp highlights what makes this learning team a smart investment. It is a 40-hour, $949 class that can help you master AutoCAD effectively. In this five-day class, you’ll work yourself up from no AutoCAD knowledge to mastery and gain confidence to handle this program’s unique concepts more effectively. This bootcamp includes courses like Beginner AutoCAD and Intermediate AutoCAD that you can take separately.

AutoCAD Bootcamp

Noble Desktop is a leading online training team that innovated many important learning concepts. They were one of the first to focus on small classes that include live online support. Rather than practicing with a series of impersonal videos, you interact directly with a professor to get the learning support you need. Furthermore, Noble Desktop provides other unique bonuses such as one-on-one learning in many courses and free setup assistance.

In AutoCAD Bootcamp, you’ll start in a beginner-friendly course that helps you master steps like operating AutoCAD, creating simple designs, and integrating basic animations. Then, you’ll learn to produce 2D items, sync your projects, and even create 3D projects with realistic and attractive designs. This course is available on weekdays or evenings, meaning that you can add it to your day-to-day schedule around family and work while still getting your training.

If you want, you can also take the classes provided in this bootcamp separately, though they do cost more to take this way. For example, AutoCAD Level I is an 18-hour class that teaches you basic drawing concepts and improves your skills slowly but surely. AutoCAD Level II takes the lessons you learned in the beginner class and improves on them. Taking just 12 hours, it’s a great way to enhance your skills and become a true AutoCAD expert in your industry.

Lastly, AutoCAD Level III takes six hours to teach you more complex concepts such as annotation and customization. By completing these 36 training hours, you should feel comfortable transitioning to a design field using AutoCAD. Note that you also get other advantages when working with Noble Desktop, including free learning materials, quizzes, and videos that you can use whenever you want after your class is over.

Self-guided AutoCAD Programs

Students who are looking to make a career out of using AutoCAD might also be interested in their options for career-focused, self-guided classes. These courses allow students to learn at their own pace (with guidance and assistance from a professional mentor) and they provide students with career-focused training and job placement support. While many students find it desirable to learn from a live instructor, these self-paced classes are the perfect fit for self-motivated students looking to make a career out of their AutoCAD training.

AutoCAD Certificate Program

The Visual Design and Construction Institute (VDCI) offers an immersive AutoCAD certificate program that aims to help students become career-ready within only a few weeks of training. This program provides students with hands-on, job-focused training in the use of AutoCAD, and the course is designed with new students in mind, meaning that you’ll move from your first construction draft to a capstone project to add to your professional portfolio over the course of the certificate program. This program also offers students the opportunity to take up to 80 hours of electives to help them specialize in subjects including Revit, SketchUp, and Civil 3D Pro. With this option for specialization and the focus on career development training, this certificate program is an ideal entry point for aspiring designers, architects, and engineers looking to learn how to use AutoCAD in a professional capacity.

AutoCAD Fundamentals

Students looking for an accelerated introduction to AutoCAD and computer-aided design generally may be interested in taking this introductory course offered by VDCI. Students will learn the basics of using AutoCAD and practical skills that they can bring back to their current jobs or use as the baseline for future CAD training (including some of the other advanced classes offered through VDCI). In this class, students will get live, hands-on instruction in the use of AutoCAD, including exercises in which they create drafting symbols, kitchens and bath fixtures, a floor plan, and deliverable file sheets. While you’ll need more training if you want to make a career out of your AutoCAD skills, this course is an excellent introduction to the kinds of projects that AutoCAD professionals will need to utilize.

AutoCAD Professional

If you have already taken the AutoCAD fundamentals program or you have experience with AutoCAD from another source, you may be interested in moving towards professional-level training in this advanced AutoCAD program. In this program, students will learn how to create 2D designs for construction documents that meet all of the necessary and legal standards that they are expected to follow. This course offers practical skills training and is designed to ensure that experienced AutoCAD users are able to get the accelerated training that they need to start using the application in more complex professional capacities. This course is built to help students learn at their own pace, and class scheduling is incredibly flexible for professionals looking to develop new skills while still working.