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My Other Career was.... Drafting & Design

By
Real Estate Agent with Real Estate

Only 4% of Real Estate Agents start out in this business. Here is some insight into my other profession.  As I recall I took a liking to "drafting" as part of an exploratory course back in grade school and listed it as my occupational plan in the 8th grade yearbook.

In high school I wound up with a part-time drafting job. The company had no engineering staff and the owner wanted me to specify whatever equipment I needed to work with Ink on Mylar. That was my first realization that teachers become outdated, my instructor suggested a Ruling Pen.

My full-time employment as a Draftsman started in the Civil Engineering field. Most of my work was making plans ( maps ) for the installation of sewer systems. Not real exciting so after a few years I switched into the Mechanical Field where I would work on product design and machinery.

Dan Cummings - Running Realtor RenderingAfter about 10 years a cutting edge computer came along that revolutionized the industry when used with CAD software and dropped the six figure cost of implementing a system down to about 20k.   By 1987 I struck out on my own forming a company to train draftsman in the use of AutoCAD. The business evolved into more of a consulting practice as the software and computers became more powerful. Some of the custom programming I did back then to automatically generate drawings for local companies is still in use today. Dan Cummings - RunningRealtor's Patent

Over the years I have done all types of drawings from Mapping to Modeling. Some of the products are small enough to hold in you hand while other inventions involved massive machines to transport material weighing much more than a human can handle.

The once thriving industry has also started to withered during my years.  Connecticut has slipped from second to third as the state employing the highest concentration in this field.  With increasingly high taxes and utility cost most manufacturing companies decide to move instead of expanding here. 

The losing trend for US jobs is evident in many professions. First the shift of manufacturing went overseas and now it is increasingly noticeable in technical support.

Comments (8)

Danny Smith
DISCOVER TEXAS HOMES - Round Rock, TX
Dan, this is very interesting! I think it stinks that our government is allowing so many jobs to go off shore. Remember Ross Perot saying we were going to hear a sucking sound from the loss of jobs? He definitely called that one correctly!
May 26, 2007 02:57 AM
Thesa Chambers
West + Main - Bend, OR
Principal Broker - Licensed in Oregon
Dan - this was a very interesting post - wel written and really informative - thanks for sharing
May 26, 2007 03:11 AM
George Souto
George Souto NMLS #65149 FHA, CHFA, VA Mortgages - Middletown, CT
Your Connecticut Mortgage Expert

Dan, drafting huh.............no wonder you never smile.........LOL

I use to sell Material Handling Equipment, so I played around a little bit with AutoCad.  I had to sometimes do plant layouts or come up with my own design for a simple piece of equipment.  I liked it, but because I taught myself how to use AutoCad, I was slow and really time consuming, but I have to say that I did like it. 

May 26, 2007 04:26 AM
Beth Bastian
Rosemont Financial Inc - Simi Valley, CA
Simi Valley Real Estate
Dan this explains why you are so detailed.  
May 26, 2007 01:11 PM
No Longer Active
Real Estate - Fallon, MT

Danny... Ross was a defient little man but he was a straight talker..

Thesa... It is far more interesting than most people think...

George...Always Smiling.....   Just tilts the wrong way!

Beth...I do get lost in detail sometimes but it works for me.

May 27, 2007 01:40 PM
Susie Roscoe
Signature Realty Associates - Brandon, FL
Real Estate Specialist | Brandon, FL
That is pretty cool Dan!!  I was a "stick people" kind-a-girl so I would've never thought of drafting.  Do you...or did you ever draw anything else you saved?
Sep 09, 2007 12:48 AM
No Longer Active
Real Estate - Fallon, MT
Susie... I'm still a bit of a pack rat so I have all kinds of saved information..... Lost quite a bit of my early work from a flood and most drawings were stored on 5-1/4 floppy discs in those days. 
Sep 09, 2007 12:40 PM
Dawn Heinemann
Long Realty Company - Tucson, AZ
The Peter DeLuca Team

Me too - I have a tech CAD degree - still trying to pay it off!  Spent some time correcting the drawings of architects red-lined by the engineers because the structure wouldn't stand up, then moved on to the corporate world.  Thought the degree would be useless until I decided to build homes - everything comes full circle... 

 

Dec 24, 2007 02:30 AM