The lead up to Christmas means it’s time for the results of our 2014 CAD Industry Survey. Thanks to all for the overwhelming response this year, we had an extremely high proportion of completed forms that have provided a good deal of interesting data.

2015 Survey Result

This year, the first thing noticed is a decrease in the percentage of unemployed CAD engineers looking for work, which is certainly positive news for the industry, and a significant rise in the number of CAD workers in full time employment over last year’s survey, compared with those working on contract.

Salary and compensation levels seem to show little change from last year, as does a more attractive package being cited as the primary motivation for anyone considering changing positions, which was a reasonable way ahead of a better working environment.

In addition to inquires regarding employment situations and conditions, this year we asked which CAD software was most popular at your company. While some elements of the responses were predictable, such as AutoCAD being the runaway first choice, that SketchUp, SolidWorks and Revit would all be more or less tied for second place was a little unexpected.

The percentages of workers feeling appreciated and finding their roles rewarding have mainly increased in the ‘satisfied’ and ‘very satisfied’ segments. Excellent news is a more than 100% rise in those who claim to feel appreciated at work ‘a lot’, which enables the 2014 survey to show a generally positive direction for the industry.