Cadalyst - November/December 2008 - (Page 48)

cadmanager Hire/Fire and Budget Authority When asked whether respondents had the authority to hire and/or fire staff members, the results were a resounding 65% No, 16% Maybe, and only 19% Yes. The bad news is that the trend continues toward less authority, meaning less power for CAD managers. My follow-up question about whether respondents have authority to discipline those who don’t follow standards yielded a 50% affirmative response, exactly the same as in the past two years. Looking at budgeting authority, it isn’t surprising that only 20% of respondents reported being able to approve their own purchases, and 15% reported being able to approve budget items sometimes. These numbers track almost exactly with hire/fire authority and have not, unfortunately, changed significantly since last year’s survey. Summing Up This year’s survey results leave me with mixed emotions. The fact that we have income increases at all during a year with so much bad financial news is surprisingly good. Yet I’m troubled by the continued slide away from full-time CAD management and toward part-time positions that are less empowered to hire, control budgets, and enforce standards. This report represents only the core data from the survey. If you’d like more information from the CAD Manager’s Survey 2008 regarding software trends, programming skills, frustration items, visit my web site (www.cad-manager.com). Thank you to all who participated. Robert Green performs CAD programming and consulting throughout the United States and Canada. His book, Expert CAD Management: The Complete Guide is now available. Reach him via his Web site at www.cad-manager.com. Training During the past several years, CAD managers have become more involved with employee training. Fifty-seven percent of CAD managers reported frequently training their users, and another 31% said that they sometimes do. Only 11% of CAD managers reported no training involvement. Of those who perform training, 40% use full-day training courses at their facility or an outside location, 24% use lunch-and-learn or short-duration meetings, 13% use Internet-based training, 13% use one-on-one tutoring, and 10% use self-learning techniques by individuals on their own time. Read More at Cadalyst.com CAD Manager’s Newsletter archives www.cadalyst.com/CADManagerNewsletter CAD Manager’s Toolbox/Q&A www.cadalyst.com/CADManagerToolbox CAD Manager Discussion Forum http://forums.cadalyst.com/ Cadalyst Newsletters deliver Tips, Tricks, Tutorials, Event Reports, and Original Online Features directly to your inbox! Sign up for a free newsletter subscription today! www.cadalyst.com/newsletters Cadalyst Tips & Tools Weekly A weekly digest of practical software tips, resources, deals and freebies, opportunities and honors, calendar of industry events, and the past week’s new CAD and related products. MCAD Tech News Cadalyst editors evaluate software for mechanical design, analysis and manufacturing and examine other MCADrelated news, events and issues. CAD Manager’s Newsletter Robert Green covers topics that concern CAD managers: standards, training, job descriptions and more. GIS Tech News Top trends and relevant developments in GIS and mapping: major product releases, open standards, government initiatives and more. Harry’s Code Class Develop your Visual LISP, VBA and ObjectARX programming prowess with AutoCAD expert Bill Kramer, author of Cadalyst’s Hot Tip Harry. What’s New at Cadalyst.com Monthly e-mail alert that lists all new features, reviews, CAD tutorials, code downloads, and much more. AEC Tech News Cadalyst editors examine hot technology and topics related for AEC professionals. CAD030 48 www.cadalyst.com cadalyst November/December 2008 http://www.cad-manager.com http://www.cad-manager.com http://www.Cadalyst.com http://www.cadalyst.com/CADManagerNewsletter http://www.cadalyst.com/CADManagerToolbox http://forums.cadalyst.com/ http://www.cadalyst.com/newsletters http://www.Cadalyst.com http://www.Cadalyst.com http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - November 2008

Cadalyst - November 2008 Contents Editor's Window CAD Central Tech Trends: Designed after Our Own Image Budget-Conscious Workstations — 64-Bit CAD Power for Less than $2,500 Cadalyst All-Star Awards 2008 SolidWorks 2009 — 3D MCAD Software IES Virtual Environment 5.9 — Building Performance Analysis Software View Point: A Design with Teeth CAD Manager: CAD Manager’s Survey 2008 MCAD Modeling: Ask for What You Want AEC Insight: AEC Software by the Clock CAD Cartoon Issue Indexes Hot Tip Harry: Hot Tips for Cold Days

Cadalyst - November 2008

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