3D Plans and Designing Softwares

It is going to depend on what level of CAD design you will need for the specific job you are after.

Google 3D Sketchup will give you about as much clout on the job market as a paint program.

Typical architect and engineering CAD programs are orders of magnitude beyond Google's tool and require significant effort to master, so you really need to know what your job requirements are before investing in specific training.

If I were you I would canvas the field and first determine what I would like to do as a career and then start looking at what those job requirements are. Narrow you focus and that will tell you what you need to program between your ears.

But Wait! There are much more important things!, Put significant effort in improving your job interview skills. The most important job skills for most employers is not specific job skills, particularly from a fresh graduate (employers already expect you to not know much of anything anyway).

However, your ability to be managed, team player skills, passion to learn, ambition to grow, and communication skills will put your resume and interviews at the top of the stack.

Employers know that fresh graduates know nothing about the job they are being hired for - trust me on this. They are looking for individuals that can be quickly trained to solve their specific problems and reliably perform the duties they are assigned. Then they look for your growth potential and value to the company to solve more complex problems and succeed with every challenge you encounter.

None of the above has anything to do with Google Sketchup.

I would have to agree with you, but I would put communication skills at the top of the list. The ability to speak and write well is most important. All other skills will depend on it.

What applications did you use in your course of study? Why not just stick with those?

I agree with AH and Ron but...mastering the modern tools of your chosen profession is essential. In this day and age (at least in my industry) it's what makes or breaks you.

Here's a real world example form two weeks ago. We were going through a hiring phase looking for competent experienced designers who know Catia. We found an older gent in his 50's with 20+ yrs in design with Catia (according to his resume). We thought we could use him as a senior with his level of experience. We brought him in for an interview and put him to the test. His level of design experience was exceptional and had good communication skills. Problem was that his competence with the software was dreadful. His 20yrs in the business meant nothing to us because he could not translate the ideas and concepts into a tangible product (3D models, 2D drawings) in a timely manner. He didn't focus enough on keeping up to date with the modern tools of the industry. This made him obsolete regardless of how experienced he was.

The bottom line is you need what AH and Ron were talking about AND competence with the tools of the trade. When you're young, learning software comes easily therefore you should master it and keep pace as technology advances. The older you get, the more valuable you become because of experience but...staying on top of new technology becomes more challenging and requires more effort if you don't want to become obsolete.

Hold on there Partner, there's a distinct difference between drafting software and actual engineering design software! Didn't your professors even address all of this?

For Civil Engineers, and I don't know if your studied basic CE or Structural Engineering, there is industry-wide drafting software that is utilized to convey the engineering design onto blueprints, such as AutoCAD, IntelliCAD CMS and a whole host of clones. Typically with the first two I mentioned you employ a plug-in module that features COGO software (like Civil Land Development, etc. etc.) so that you can do 3D engineering drafting together with earthwork volume calculations (cuts and fills) and profiles/cross-sections development....say for a road or highway and for underground utilities. Hell, just about anything in the CE realm!

Then you have DEDICATED engineering software, depending on the application and what needs to be designed.....everything from RETAINPRO to RISA-3D to WaterCAD to SewerCAD to BeamCK to the PCA or CRSI/ACI concrete design modules to......some of this software allows you to directly input the design results into a drafting program (see above). Some do not. Many are very very expensive.

If you plan on working with Architects, as a Structural Engineer, then you had best learn how to use REVIT. It is essential to know it!!!

Additionally, a lot of engineering design software employs Finite Elements algorithms, especially structural engineering design analysis platforms.

You get the point, eh? Right?????

Use Inventor! Easy to learn. Cost is moderate. If you become proficient, you will be in high demand.