CAD Engineering advice needed

[twiglet]

Thats cool advice, I am all too aware that this is a different animal as he totally switched off or his a levels. Being led down the garden path to stay at school to do a levels rather than college or an apprenticeship just so the school gets the funding is one of the things that will kill vocational trades such as mine. In my environment i am able to fast track certain students if i feel they are capable. He is highly intelligent and driven since starting the apprenticeship but now realises that the casting company he works for is leading to a very limited skillset. Heck the 2d cad technicians workstation would not even run inventor. He knows he needs more of a challenge. He is also working through most of the maths problems at college for the tutor who has not delivered that type of maths for two decades. As soon as anywhere gets funding to keep students it becomes a book keeping excercise. I would not want to be his age now.
Sorry for thre rant but the education system winds me up. I have seen too many promising individuals lost because their route to success required a different approach to the norm.

[everythingisawesome]

Hey Twig - you've gotten some OK advise here.

My two cents - It doesn't matter how good you are on CAD, you have to know what you're drawing in the first place.
CAD is to an engineer, what a saw is to a carpenter, just because you're holding a saw, doesn't mean you know what you're doing with it.

Ask me how I know!

[krisfx]

Which cad programme is most widly used? He has solidworks and inventor so if he were to go for a qualification, which would be the most valid?

A hammer is a hammer. Bar more in depth functionality the different packages to a basic extent all do the same thing. I trained in Solidworks and can generally pick up packages like Catia in less than a few days.

As someone mentioned, it may be worth looking into degrees/progression in that respect. I would definitely look into creating a portfolio as he'll find that much more useful at grabbing attention than a statement at the bottom of a CV.

[twiglet]

Again i cant thank you all enough for the advice given. I liked the saw reference, really made me chuckle and is soooo right.

[Smokes]

If he really want to continue on into design engineering I would recommend looking into Automation or robotic engineering. It is far more interesting that designing cars as you get to design most of the machine rather than front wing or suspension bracket.