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This was the best advice I got in undergrad (as an EE). We had a seminar from a mechanical engineer who argued that the best thing we could do for our careers was take a drawing class or otherwise get to a point where we were competent at sketching an idea.

People, especially the non-technical, are so visually oriented that, no matter the engineering field, the ability to draw a coherent picture of a concept can be enormously valuable.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.




There used to be more emphasis placed on technical drawing. I came in at the tail end but I still worked with a lot of blueprints for a number of years.


When I was in Middle School, my shop class had a large unit devoted to mechanical drawing / drafting with pencil and paper. It was fun but also frustrating because the teacher was very particular about the details. If two lines were supposed to meet at a corner, and either one of them extended a little too far, he would mark down for that. Also any erasures prevented a perfect grade. Yes this was before computer drafting was practical, at least in schools.


When I was in high school, we also had a drafting class. Half of it was devoted to old-school pencil-and-paper drafting. (The other half was Autodesk Inventor.)




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