AutoCAD: Online Course with Internship Agreement
The AutoCAD online course teaches precise 2D drafting: coordinates and object snaps, layer standards, the modern TRIM/EXTEND workflow, VIEWBASE multi-view drawings, ISO 129-1 dimensioning, dynamic blocks with attribute extraction, layouts and PDF/A-4 archiving, and DWG/DXF/IFC exchange. It is for newcomers to technical drawing. You study 100 % online for 180 days, and an internship agreement is included. Price: €200.
- 180 days of access
- 100 % online, at your own pace
- Level: beginner · No prior CAD experience required
- Assessment: 10 quizzes (50 questions) and a final project
- Internship agreement included
- Certificate with a verifiable QR code
- Languages: Spanish, English, French
- Price: €200
Who it is for
- Newcomers who want to start out as CAD technicians or drafters
- Office staff in engineering, MEP or construction firms who handle or edit DWG drawings
- People who sketch by hand and want to produce precise, standardised technical drawings
- Learners preparing to work alongside BIM teams that exchange DWG, DXF and IFC files
What do you need to start?
Prior knowledge
- No prior CAD or technical drawing knowledge needed
- Basic arithmetic for scale factors and tolerance sums
- Comfort with managing files and folders on a computer
Software and equipment
- A computer with an internet connection
- No AutoCAD licence is provided; the free 30-day trial and Autodesk's Education plan do not cover training of this kind
- Free alternatives for the exercises: LibreCAD 2.2.1.5 (GPLv2) or QCAD 3.32.9 community edition (GPLv3), both reading and writing DXF
What you'll be able to do
- Place points precisely using absolute, relative or polar coordinates, object snaps and ortho or polar tracking
- Set up a layer structure with colours, linetypes and lineweights for a multi-discipline drawing
- Use freeze, off, lock and isolate to print a single-discipline sheet from a combined drawing
- Edit geometry with modify commands, grips, Quick-mode TRIM/EXTEND and Reference scaling
- Dimension a part to ISO 129-1, choosing chain or baseline dimensioning deliberately
- Read a feature control frame and calculate worst-case tolerance for a two-step chain
- Build dynamic blocks with attributes and extract a parts list with the Data Extraction wizard
- Compare job offers with different base and bonus structures using a weighted calculation
Skills you will practise
- Coordinates and object snaps
- Layer standards
- TRIM/EXTEND Quick mode
- VIEWBASE multi-view drawings
- ISO 129-1 dimensioning
- Dynamic blocks
- Data Extraction
- Paper space layouts
- PDF/A-4 archiving
- DWG, DXF and IFC
Syllabus
- Interface, workspaces and the language-independent command set — Read the AutoCAD window through its five-zone logic and set up free DXF-compatible software for practising without a licence.
- Precision 2D drafting: coordinates, object snaps, tracking — Choose absolute, relative or polar coordinates, object snaps or tracking based on what you actually know about each point.
- Layers, properties and CAD standards — Name and configure layers, distinguish layer 0 from the current layer, avoid property overrides and use layer states for printing.
- Editing and modifying: the modern TRIM/EXTEND workflow — Apply Move, Copy, Rotate, Mirror, Offset, Fillet and Chamfer, Quick-mode TRIM/EXTEND, grip editing and Reference-based scaling.
- Multi-view drawings with VIEWBASE, not by hand — Generate associative front, top, side and detail views so a single design change updates every view automatically.
- Dimensioning and annotation to ISO 129-1:2018/Amd 1:2020 — Build dimension styles, add multileader notes and geometric tolerances, read feature control frames and add up tolerance chains.
- Blocks, dynamic blocks and attribute extraction — Reuse symbols as blocks, use BLOCK versus WBLOCK, manage attributes with BATTMAN/EATTEDIT and generate schedules via Data Extraction.
- Sheet layouts, viewports, plotting and PDF/A-4 archiving — Arrange scaled viewports in paper space with a title block and issue revision-controlled sheets as archivable PDF/A-4 files.
- AutoCAD in a BIM workflow: DWG ↔ DXF ↔ IFC, what a linked model is — Understand what DWG, DXF and IFC each carry and how to respond when a BIM coordinator requests a specific format.
- Careers, salary bands and the certification question — Read job titles against advertised pay ranges, weigh Autodesk ACU and ACP certifications honestly and compare offers by weighted calculation.
Internship agreement
With this course, an intern could work in a drawing office at an engineering, MEP or construction firm, tidying and revising 2D drawings, sorting received files into proper layers and dimensioning parts. Other suitable tasks include maintaining block libraries, extracting parts lists or schedules, setting up layouts and issuing PDF sheets, and preparing DXF or IFC files for exchange with other teams.
The internship can run at the same time as the course, within the 180 days of access.
Frequently asked questions
What role does the AutoCAD course prepare me for, and does it include an Autodesk certification?
The AutoCAD online course prepares you for entry-level drafting work as a CAD technician: precise 2D drawings, layers, dimensioning, blocks and sheet issue. It does not award an Autodesk certification such as ACU or ACP. Module 10 assesses these certifications honestly: a job-ad sample shows them neither demanded as a hiring requirement nor worthless, so you can decide whether to sit one later.
Which tools, standards and file formats does the course cover?
The course covers AutoCAD commands such as VIEWBASE, TRIM/EXTEND in Quick mode, BEDIT, BLOCK and WBLOCK, BATTMAN, EATTEDIT and the Data Extraction wizard. Dimensioning follows ISO 129-1:2018/Amd 1:2020, sheets are archived as PDF/A-4, and you learn how DWG, DXF and IFC differ in BIM workflows. For practice, the course points you to LibreCAD and QCAD, two free programs that read and write DXF.
What could I actually do during the internship, and who finds the company?
You arrange the host company yourself; the school issues the internship agreement and its annex, which the company signs electronically, usually within one to two working days. Suitable work in a drawing office includes cleaning up layer structures on received drawings, making revisions with modify commands, dimensioning to ISO 129-1, building block libraries, extracting schedules and issuing PDF sheets from layouts.
Is working as a CAD technician mostly about clicking through software menus?
No. The AutoCAD course explains that clicking is not where most of a working CAD technician's day goes. The real work lies in judgement: knowing which coordinate method suits a point, how to organise layers so someone else can print a clean sheet, which dimensioning scheme controls the tolerance, and which file format a BIM coordinator needs. That is why the course teaches the reasoning behind each tool, not menu routines.
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Content updated: 07/10/2026