What is the difference between a Design Drafter and a Designer Tracer?
Designer drafters are professionals who primarily focus on creating initial design concepts and technical drawings. Designer drafters have a strong understanding of design principles, engineering concepts, and drafting techniques. They may work closely with architects, engineers, and other stakeholders to translate conceptual ideas into precise technical drawings that can be used for construction or manufacturing purposes.
Designer tracers, on the other hand, typically work in a more supportive role, assisting with the creation of technical drawings. Designer tracers often work under the supervision of designer drafters or other senior design professionals.
Designer Drafter is a Big Help to the Engineer
In any design project, the life on an Engineer depends on the support it gets from drafters (or draughters). The previous project I did and the current project I am doing now, drafters are not designers. What made me say this?
These drafters may be designers in their own field of specialization but these are not electrical designers. Much worse, I always hear comments such as, electrical is easy. That's what other disciplines think but if I give them some mark-ups, it will take several passes before I get the right stuff I wanted.
More so, I don't even get some checking that I should be getting on drafts I did. A trained electrical designer will be able to spot errors on a drawing which is not visible to tracer drafters. Just like a tick on a single line, it is an important part of the drawing but it may only be a an ordinary line for tracers.
In a multi-site project where drawings are similar, designer drafters will be able to translate the methodology from one site to another, for tracers this is a difficult task.
I am not against tracers, but I just wanted to emphasize the need for at least one design drafter in any project who could lead the tracers. This will make the life of an engineer easier as there are other tasks they meed to do other than marking up drawings.
Currently I marking up similar drawings from for several sites, which if only, I have designer drafter, I should have only mark-up 1 rather than 15. The project pay engineers more than drafters, I believe, employing a designer drafter in a propject will be more economical in long term than saving money hiring tracers.
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