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What is the mechanical engineering industry standard for auto-cad software?

I'm a mechanical engineering undergrad student, looking to start learning autocad in my free time. If you are an engineer, what auto-cad programs do you run into most often? Autodesk? Solid Works? Thanks!

Public Comments

1. sorry im not a mechanical engineer but i do use Autodesk more often for my electrical drawings
2. i'm not in mechanical, i'm in structural which spans both part of civil and mechanical engineering. I use autocad architecture and midas gen for building strutures. u can try autodesk autocad mechanical, microstation and catia. these are for drafting. for stress analysis, u have to use autocad inventor suite, solid works, abaqus, ansys, diana, lsdyna...etc.
3. It depends what you plan on doing, Im aerospace which is based off of mechanical and I use solidworks. (solid works is a more advanced version of autocad btw). Doing modeling and design off parts would be better suited for solidworks, simple drafting of schematics would have to be auto cad or autodesk
4. FYI a single company may be using more than one CAD system. Your best bet would be to contact some of your prospective employers and ask them what they use. Learning any of the major CAD programs is enough for entry level mechanical engineers. Employers know and understand that you may not have use their particular CAD software and will need time to learn.
5. autodesk provides student versions of their software for free via their website. good reason for learning autodesk software...
6. AutoCAD is still used in Mechanical Engineering, but more and more companies are moving to solid modeling programs like Autodesk Inventor, SolidWorks and Pro Engineer (not necessarily in order of popularity). Many jobs are currenlty requiring experience with one or two of these , which are the big 3 in CAD at the moment. That said, AutoCAD is not a bad place to start, especially if you have a capable teacher.
7. I am a mechanical engineer, and I work in product development. There are many many many programs that can be used. I look at them as 2 main kinds. There are the drafting or design programs. AutoCAD is one of these. They let you draw objects, in 2D or 3D. They are very useful for layouts - electrical, plant layouts, buildings, etc... They tend to be cheaper than the other kind. Then there are the solid modeling programs. Examples include AutoDesk Inventor, Solid Works, ProEngineer, CATIA, UG, NV4, etc... They model solid objects. Some people are going to argue that AutoCAD can do this. Not really - AutoCAD simulates this by being 3D. But deep inside, the math models are different. But whatever. Mechancial engineers that model parts or components tend to use Solid Modeling programs. Mechanical engineers that work on plant layouts, large buildings, and large scale things tend to use drafting programs. It all has to do with the way the calculations and properties are assigned. Now for the good news. If you learn how to design, the tool doesn't matter too much. If you learn to use a hammer to put a nail into wood, it doesn't matter if you use a claw hammer or a ballpene hammer. They are different hammers, and they have different uses, but they work about the same. So, anything you learn will be useful to you. But you may want to think if you want to eventually work on large spaces or parts.