Marine Drafter

Looking at the world’s tallest buildings, it’s amazing to think how they were built, and more incredible still that gravity doesn’t make them fall. Equally impressive, however, is the fact that the world’s largest oil tankers, freighters, and cruise ships are able to float across the ocean without sinking beneath it.

While the spectacle of skyscrapers is owed to Engineers, that of shipping is owed to Marine Engineers — and to the Marine Drafters who assist them. As a Marine Drafter, you may not be responsible for creating the miracle of maritime travel, but you nonetheless deserve credit for facilitating it, as it’s your job as the Marine Drafter to create the blueprints that allow Boat Builders to actually construct Marine Engineers’ designs.

Just like Architectural Drafters, you’re paid to create technical drawings of exteriors and interiors. Instead of buildings, however, your drawings are of boats, which could include everything from ferries and freight ships to schooners and submarines, depending on your training and specialty. Ultimately, though, the work is the same, whether you’re drafting plans for an aircraft carrier or a yacht: You create rough drawings of floor plans, often by hand. Once those are approved, you use computer-aided drafting and design (CADD) software to create final scale drawings — including three-dimensional models — of interiors and exteriors, specifying building dimensions, materials, and procedures so the drawings can be used and referenced during construction.

At once artistic and technical, you do the detailed work of literally drawing connections between Marine Engineers’ heads and Boat Builders’ hands. The result: Your vessels swim instead of sink!