Drafter looking for best path forward
I am a drafter with 10 years of Autocad experience, now 5 years of millwork drafting experience. since working at this shop, other than doing standard shop drawings, I began drawing 2D cabinet parts for our 3-axis CNC, and also more complex 3D parts for our 5-axis cnc as well as toolpaths for the 5-axis. We are now implementing CabinetVision.
my question is this. I am still relatively young. I want to make more money, just like everyone else. what should I lean into? if you were in my position, would you aspire to be a project manager? installer? run your own shop eventually? try to start a business doing millwork drawings and cnc programming?
Being still relatively new to the industry, I don't know what positions pay the best and I don't know industry trends other than the general shift in responsibility from cabinet builders to the cabinet programmers.
Posted Feb 26, 2026, 2:04 PM UTC