Technical drawing and aerospace engineering?

[physics user1]

I have to choose what to do at the university and I'm considering aerospace engineering, the problem is that I totally hate technical drawing, I can't help it, I don't want to do it, I am currently doing it here at high school and it's like hell, how much technical drawing is there in aerospace engineering? Can I graduate without It? Is technical drawing so important in aerospace engineering? Can I become a rocket scientist without It?

 

[berkeman]

I have to choose what to do at the university and I'm considering aerospace engineering, the problem is that I totally hate technical drawing, I can't help it, I don't want to do it, I am currently doing it here at high school and it's like hell, how much technical drawing is there in aerospace engineering? Can I graduate without It? Is technical drawing so important in aerospace engineering? Can I become a rocket scientist without It?

Are you using a CAD system in your high school class? If so, which one, and does it include 3-D tools?

You will definitely be working with CAD a lot in AE, and in most ME-related fields. What is it that you don't like about it? Have you used a 3-D printer yet for any projects? How about a CNC mill? Maybe that will help you to get motivated to enjoy what you can do with 3-D CAD and fabrication...

 

[FactChecker]

There are many parts of Aero Engineering that do not require much CAD-type drawing. But they might require diagram drawings. Aerodynamics and control laws are not like structural work or electrical diagrams.

 

[physics user1]

Are you using a CAD system in your high school class? If so, which one, and does it include 3-D tools?

You will definitely be working with CAD a lot in AE, and in most ME-related fields. What is it that you don't like about it? Have you used a 3-D printer yet for any projects? How about a CNC mill? Maybe that will help you to get motivated to enjoy what you can do with 3-D CAD and fabrication...

No, hand drawing... they made me draw in perspective... basically I hate drawing by hand, I have to re do my work if I make a little mistake and start all over again, it takes me lots of time for actually making a couple of lines, and I am very awkward with manual jobs like drawing, technical or not, my graphics is really bad, my drawings looks like are done by a 7 years old guy, I never tried to make drawing at computer, (they don't make us do it, just by hand) I think it would be better but still is a subject that I don't really like... that makes me feeling bad about aerospace engineering

 

[FactChecker]

No, hand drawing... they made me draw in perspective... basically I hate drawing by hand, I have to re do my work if I make a little mistake and start all over again, it takes me lots of time for actually making a couple of lines, and I am very awkward with manual jobs like drawings, technical or not, graphics is also bad, my drawing looks like are done by a 7 years old guy, I never tried to make drawing at computer, (they don't make us do it, just by hand) I think it would be better but still is a subject that I don't really like... that makes me feeling bad about aerospace engineering

You might actually have an advantage. The more you hate drawing by hand, the more you will probably love CAD systems. It's the people who are great at doing it by hand who are disappointed when their skill becomes irrelevant.

 

[berkeman]

No, hand drawing... they made me draw in perspective... basically I hate drawing by hand, I have to re do my work if I make a little mistake and start all over again, it takes me lots of time for actually making a couple of lines, and I am very awkward with manual jobs like drawings, technical or not, graphics is also bad, my drawing looks like are done by a 7 years old guy, I never tried to make drawing at computer, (they don't make us do it, just by hand) I think it would be better but still is a subject that I don't really like... that makes me feeling bad about aerospace engineering

Yeah, hand-drawing can be a pain. It's a good skill to have in mechanical-type fields, but really you would be doing most of your drawings with CAD tools in the real world. I can sketch schematics for my EE work, but most of my circuit design work involves schematic capture tools on a PC.

Maybe find a free 3-D mechanical CAD tool on the web and download it. Especially if it can generate the files used by 3-D printers, it might help to get you motivated to get better at drawing and fabricating...

 

[berkeman]

free 3-D mechanical CAD tool

A Google search on that phrase yields lots of promising hits...

https://www.google.com/search?q=free+3-D+mechanical+CAD+tool&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

[physics user1]

Thanks for the advices :)

 

[russ_watters]

No, hand drawing... they made me draw in perspective... basically I hate drawing by hand, I have to re do my work if I make a little mistake and start all over again, it takes me lots of time for actually making a couple of lines, and I am very awkward with manual jobs like drawing, technical or not, my graphics is really bad, my drawings looks like are done by a 7 years old guy, I never tried to make drawing at computer, (they don't make us do it, just by hand) I think it would be better but still is a subject that I don't really like... that makes me feeling bad about aerospace engineering

Formal drawing by hand does not exist anymore in the real world and hasn't for 20+ years. I took mechanical drawing in high school in the '90s and I'm glad I did for the crossover knowledge, but drawing by hand is terrible.

Also, even 20 years ago, the actual drawing was a trade, not engineering. So either way (today or with a time machine), you almost certainly will not be doing any formal hand drawing.