A civil drafter turns an engineer's sketches, calculations, and survey data into clear, accurate drawings that contractors build from: roads, grading plans, storm drains, water and sewer lines, bridges, and site plans. The work is mostly CAD (AutoCAD and Civil 3D), plus reading codes, standards, and survey data, and checking your own work. You do not need a four-year degree to start; most people enter with a certificate or associate degree, or with a strong portfolio and some CAD experience. No license is legally required to be a drafter in the US. This roadmap starts with drafting basics (lin
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Every stage from beginner to expert, with lessons, practice drills, projects, interview questions and free resources. Free with a Rolearch account.
Stage 1 of 4 · about 10 weeks
Read and sketch plans, understand scale, units, line types, orthographic views, plan/section/elevation, and basic geometry and trigonometry. Learn the basics of AutoCAD: drawing, modifying, layers, and plotting. Finish by redrawing a simple house site plan from a sketch.
Reading plans, scale and units
Every drawing you will ever make is a scaled picture of something real. If you can't read scale and units without thinking, you will make errors that cost a contractor real money.
Orthographic views, plan, section and elevation
A building or site is 3D but drawings are flat. Understanding how views relate lets you catch mistakes and build the drawing from someone else's sketch.
Geometry and trigonometry for drafting
Slopes, grades, angles, areas and curve layouts all come from simple geometry. The software calculates, but you must know when an answer is wrong.
AutoCAD basics: draw, modify, layers, plot
AutoCAD is the most common tool in drafting job postings and the base for Civil 3D. Solid basics make everything later faster.
Site plan capstone: sketch to drawing
This ties everything together. Turning a rough sketch into a clean, scaled drawing is the daily job of a drafter.
Then 3 more stages (about 84 weeks in all) with lessons, drills, projects, 10 interview questions with strong answers and free resources.