Architectural and Civil Drafter Career Assessment
Turning designs into the drawings crews build from
Welcome
Drafters take an engineer's or architect's idea and turn it into the exact drawings a crew builds from. Every line, size, and note.
This is a two-year degree job with real pay, and it is one of the best doors into the building and engineering world. You will explore whether it fits you.
This takes about 15 minutes.
What is a Architectural and Civil Drafter?
An architectural or civil drafter draws plans on a computer. Architectural drafters draw buildings: walls, floors, roofs, stairs, doors. Civil drafters draw the outside work: roads, water lines, sewers, site grading, and lot layouts. They use software like AutoCAD and Revit. A drafter takes rough sketches, survey notes, and calculations from an engineer or architect and turns them into a finished, exact drawing set. The crew in the field builds straight from that set, so the numbers have to be right.
The Reality: This is one of the two-year, hands-on doors in this whole group, and it is a real one. A two-year AAS degree gets you in. There is no license, no state exam, no four-year requirement. The middle North Dakota drafter earns about $31.12 an hour, or about $64,720 a year, which is more than many jobs that need a bachelor's degree. The honest tradeoffs: you draw what someone else designed, so the big design decisions are not yours. The work is mostly sitting at a computer for long stretches, and it takes real patience for detail. Also, drafting software changes, so you will keep learning new versions your whole career. Some drafters stay drafters and are happy. Others use it as a way to get paid while they finish an engineering or architecture degree at night.
Your Responsibilities:
- Draw building and site plans using CAD software
- Build 3D building models in Revit
- Turn an engineer's sketches and notes into exact drawings
- Add sizes, materials, and notes to every drawing
- Check that drawings match building codes and company standards
- Update drawings when a design changes
- Print and organize drawing sets for the crew and the permit office
- Keep old drawings filed so they can be found again
The crew in the field builds from your drawings, so your accuracy matters.
A Day in the Life
8:00 AM — Open the plan set you were working on yesterday. Check your email for changes.
8:30 AM — The engineer marked up a street plan in red. Make those changes in CAD.
10:00 AM — Add sizes and notes to a sewer detail drawing.
11:30 AM — Quick meeting with the engineer to ask about a grade that does not look right.
12:00 PM — Lunch.
1:00 PM — Start a new Revit model for a small clinic addition.
3:00 PM — Check your drawings against the company standards list before sending them.
4:30 PM — Print a set for the permit office and log your hours to each project.
Steady, focused computer work with regular check-ins from the engineer or architect.
Training in North Dakota
A two-year degree is the normal way in. No license is required. Most drafters have a two-year AAS degree in drafting, architectural modeling, or civil engineering technology. What employers actually want to see is that you know AutoCAD and Revit and that you are careful. There is no state exam and no license for this job in North Dakota.
Training Pathways:
- Two-year AAS degree (2 years): The normal road. You come out knowing AutoCAD and Revit and can apply for drafting jobs right away.
- Certificate first, then finish the degree: Bismarck State College says its Civil Engineering Technology certificate can stack toward the AAS, so you can start working sooner and finish school later.
- Drafting as a paycheck while you go further: Some drafters work in an engineering or architecture office and take the four-year degree part time. Ask your employer whether they help pay for it.
Where to Train in North Dakota:
- North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton) — Architectural Modeling and Design Technology, AAS, 71 credits. Teaches AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit, and Building Information Modeling. NDSCS lists drafting, Revit modeling, estimating, sales, construction management, and project coordination as graduate jobs, working for general contractors, home builders, architectural and engineering firms, steel fabricators, and building centers — catalog.ndscs.edu/architectural-modeling-design-technology
- North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton) — Land Surveying and Civil Engineering Technology, AAS, 70 credits. Covers surveying, civil drafting, and material testing. NDSCS says graduates work for state, county, and city engineering offices and for consulting engineers, land surveyors, and construction contractors — catalog.ndscs.edu/land-surveying-and-civil-engineering-technology
- Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Civil Engineering Technology, AAS or certificate, on campus. BSC lists CAD technician as one of the jobs this program prepares you for. The certificate stacks toward the AAS — bismarckstate.edu/academics/programs/CivilEngineeringTechnology
- North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton) — UAS Architectural Modeling, AAS, and UAS Civil Engineering Technology, AAS. Same drafting work with drone courses added — ndscs.edu/academics/programs/
- Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Geospatial Technology certificate, on campus or online. GIS, GPS, mapping, and drones. BSC calls it a stackable certificate that pairs well with a drafting or surveying degree — bismarckstate.edu/academics/programs/GeospatialTechnology
Before You Start: High school diploma or GED. High school drafting, shop, art, or computer classes help a lot. You need solid arithmetic, fractions, and basic geometry, not calculus. Be ready to buy a laptop. NDSCS requires students in these programs to have a ZBOOK laptop or equivalent.
Tip: Start with financial aid and scholarships. Fill out the FAFSA, ask the school’s financial aid office what you qualify for, and ask an employer whether they help pay for school. That is where the money starts. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like tuition, books, a laptop, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you enroll rather than after. Worth asking about specifically: two-year degrees that train you for a job, like civil engineering technology, land surveying, mechatronics, electronics, or instrumentation. North Dakota two-year colleges also cost far less than a university. Ask about paid summer internships too — engineering firms, plants, and survey crews hire students while they are still in school.
Certification & Licensing
No state license is required. Software skills are what get you hired. North Dakota does not license drafters. You do not need a state exam. What matters to an employer is your degree, your software skills, and a portfolio of drawings you can show them.
What Employers Actually Look For:
- AutoCAD — the standard 2D drawing software. Every program on the list above teaches it
- Autodesk Revit — 3D building modeling software. NDSCS teaches Revit for both houses and commercial buildings
- BIM (Building Information Modeling) — a way of building a 3D model that also carries information about each part, like what it is made of and what it costs
- Civil 3D or similar — for road, grading, and utility drawings on the civil side
- A portfolio — a folder of drawings you made in school. Bring it to the interview
- Autodesk certifications — optional, not required in ND, but they prove your software skill to an employer who does not know your school
The Exams: There is no required state exam for drafters in North Dakota. Autodesk sells its own optional software certification exams. Ask an employer whether they value one before you pay for it.
Cost: Your two-year degree and your laptop are the real costs. There are no state license fees for this job.
Keeping It Current: Nothing to renew. But the software gets a new version almost every year, so plan on short training courses through your whole career. Most employers pay for that training.
Salary & Job Outlook
North Dakota Architectural and Civil Drafter Pay (May 2025):
- Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $22.80–$28.18/hour ($47,430–$58,610/year)
- Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $31.12/hour ($64,720/year)
- Experienced (top 25–10%): $37.04–$44.62/hour ($77,040–$92,820/year)
What that means: North Dakota wage data for drafters was published, so these are real ND numbers, not national ones. The middle ND drafter earns about $31.12 an hour, or about $64,720 a year. That is almost identical to the national middle of $31.80. The bottom tenth, about $22.80 an hour, is a new graduate in the first year or two. The top tenth, about $44.62 an hour, is usually a senior drafter who runs a whole drawing set, trains others, or has added surveying or estimating to what they can do. That is a strong ceiling for a two-year degree. Note that this number covers both architectural and civil drafters together; civil drafters in ND often work for engineering firms and highway work, which can pay at the higher end.
Jobs in North Dakota: About 330 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 360 (about 11% growth). Expect about 30 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 4% growth — average.
Outlook: Good. About 30 openings a year in North Dakota, and ND is growing at almost triple the national rate, 11% against 4%. Drafting jobs follow construction, so the busiest areas are the growing cities and anywhere a lot of building is going on.
Who Hires in ND: Architecture firms, civil engineering and consulting firms, surveying companies, city and county engineering offices, the North Dakota Department of Transportation, construction companies, home builders, steel fabricators, and manufacturers.
Work Setting: An office with a computer and a large screen. Mostly indoors and mostly sitting. Some drafters go out to a site to measure an existing building or check a detail, but this is a much more indoor job than surveying or civil technician work.
Physical Demands: Low. Sitting at a screen for most of the day. Good close-up vision matters because you work with fine detail. This is one of the easier careers in this group to adjust for someone who cannot do heavy physical work.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 17-3011); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.
Where This Leads
Path 1: Junior Drafter — You make the changes an engineer marks up.
Path 2: Drafter or CAD Technician — You produce full drawing sets on your own.
Path 3: BIM Specialist — You run the 3D models and set the standards others follow.
Path 4: Designer — You start making design decisions, not just drawing them.
Path 5: Estimator or Project Coordinator — You price the work and keep projects moving.
Path 6: Engineer or Architect (with more school) — Your credits and experience count toward the longer road.
The Real Talk
What's Great:
- Two-year degree, no license needed
- Middle ND pay near $64,720
- Indoor, year-round work
- ND growing at triple the national rate
- Real skills you can show in a portfolio
- A good door into engineering or architecture later
What's Hard:
- Long stretches of sitting at a screen
- You draw someone else's design
- Detail work that punishes carelessness
- Software changes every year
- Deadline crunches when a set has to go out
- Only about 30 ND openings a year
Be Honest: Can you sit and focus on fine detail for hours? Are you OK with drawing what someone else designed? Can you keep learning new software versions for your whole career?