Electrical Drafter

Everything that’s built, be it buildings or machines, starts from a set of specific directions or blueprints. As an Electrical Drafter, you’re part of the team that creates those directions: You take the rough sketches and drawings made by others, and add in technical electrical components.

The purpose of the drawings you create as an Electrical Drafter is to explain exactly how to build the electrical components of a building. Electrical Drafters include precise directions, like the type of materials to be used, the exact measurements, and the type of process to be used in installing them.

The catch to these detailed directions and drawings is they can’t be too technical. This is because once you’re done with them, they’re used by Construction Workers who don’t have the same specialized knowledge you do.

Really strong communication skills are a must in this job because you deal with so many different types of people, all with varying levels of technical knowledge. In addition to Construction Workers, you talk with Architects, Engineers, Surveyors, and Scientists, and you need to clearly get your point across to all of them.

You might draw plans for electrical buildings like power plants, communication centers, or electrical distribution centers. Or you can create the wiring directions for everyday buildings like homes, apartments, or offices. If you’re not a great Artist, don’t worry. Most drawings these days are done using the computer program CADD (Computer-Aided Design and Drafting), so it’s actually more important to have computer skills than drawing ability.