CAD外包产业

The followed article is from David Maxwell
Computer Aided Design (CAD) outsourcing has definitely become one of the trends in generating more business for CAD professionals nowadays. During a period of economic and financial crisis companies from the construction, manufacturing and other industries are realizing the benefits of using freelance CAD drafters instead of maintaining a permanent CAD work force. Cost efficiency and strict deliverability have become their primary concerns for solving their CAD needs. This ensures that the demand of freelance CAD drafters and the availability of online CAD jobs and CAD projects increase daily.

Survival in the CAD industry is guaranteed only if you are willing to dedicate your skills, expertise and professional experience to the B2B CAD outsourcing market. Working as freelance CAD drafter is a potential option for you to increase your income and extend your CAD business. You can search for CAD projects and CAD jobs in search engines but it is far more efficient to use special sites that offer CAD work and CAD community like CADLore.com.

If you are planning to become a freelance CAD drafter, here are some of the things you might want to consider:

1. You should set up your online presence by creating an extended CAD profile. You can do that either by creating your own website or by using professional online services like CADLore.com. Bear in mind that even though you have created your own personal web page, this does not necessarily mean that companies will find it and thus award you CAD freelance jobs and projects. You will have to list your business in professional CAD directories like the one at CADLore.com

2. Create a good portfolio. Your portfolio is your presentation in the market. If you want to go freelance in the CAD industry, your portfolio should reflect what you are marketing. Always remember that your portfolio is your "calling card," make sure that you build it well. Some of the good qualities of an effective portfolio are organized, clear, and professional looking. Make sure that you include your best most presentable works. You could sign up and post your profile along with portfolio free of charge at CADLore.com

3. Try to build and maintain good working relationships with your clients. Working online makes it harder for people to create and maintain good working relationships. You shouldn’t let this prevent you from developing harmonious relationships with your clients. All you need to do is to maintain good communication with your clients and be there when they have questions or clarifications.

4. Get work by promoting or marketing yourself. You can do this by signing up with an on-line marketplace like the one at CADLore.com, by building your own website, by creating a self-promotion piece, program or design, or by networking

5. Always keep in mind that this is a business. You can do this by maintaining regular business hours when you accept a new project. You can also do this by always making sure that sign the contract and by getting half of your fee up as soon as the project starts to progress.

David Maxwell

Words by host:
正如作者所说，由于互联网的高速发展与金融危机的刺激，CAD外包已经在慢慢发展成为一种全球性的行业，值得注意的是不仅仅是CAD制图，3D建模的外包，也开始出现CAE/CAM等项目外包，其涉及的领域主要包括机械零部件、汽车、建筑、航空、塑料模具等行业。
而CAD B2B形式的出现与发展也并不是新鲜现象。本人尝试通过ALIBABA搜索，发现CAD OUTSOURCIN的项目已经通过ALIBABA这种成熟的商业平台进行合作交易。然而outsourcing是一种服务，虽然可以作为商品交易，但alibaba以实体交易为主的B2B平台并不十分支持这种形式的交易。如何让CAD OUTSOURCING规范化，简单化，使交易更容易，使买家不需要花大量的精力与其供应商讨论是一个值得探讨的问题。
现在，最主要的合作方式仍然是通过自建网站的形式来获取全球客户。然而让自己被搜索需要在搜索引擎上的大量投资，这给一般CAD职业者添置了阻碍，也限制了自由竞争，限制了CAD OUTSOURCING的发展。
另外，本人也曾从事这一行业2年多，有一个现象不容忽视。印度CAD OUTSOURCING产业正迅速发展，超越中国成为了全球的CAD OUTSOURCING业务的中心。中国这么多CAD职业者，但现在能够真正做到产业化，公司化的人确屈指可数。通过GOOGLE搜索CAD OUTSOURCING,你只会看到INDIA的COMPANY.我想这也值得我们这么多CAD职业者去思考。

浏览一遍，中国的CAD SOURCING地位低，没怎么重视