What are some mechanical engineering software necessary or useful to be proficient in?

What is the mechanical engineering industry standard for auto-cad software?

• I'm a mechanical engineering undergrad student, looking to start learning autocad in my free time. If you are an engineer, what auto-cad programs do you run into most often? Autodesk? Solid Works? Thanks!

• Answer:

  I am a mechanical engineer, and I work in product development. There are many many many programs that can be used. I look at them as 2 main kinds. There are the drafting or design programs. AutoCAD is one of these. They let you draw objects, in 2D or 3D. They are very useful for layouts - electrical, plant layouts, buildings, etc... They tend to be cheaper than the other kind. Then there are the solid modeling programs. Examples include AutoDesk Inventor, Solid Works, ProEngineer, CATIA, UG, NV4, etc... They model solid objects. Some people are going to argue that AutoCAD can do this. Not really - AutoCAD simulates this by being 3D. But deep inside, the math models are different. But whatever. Mechancial engineers that model parts or components tend to use Solid Modeling programs. Mechanical engineers that work on plant layouts, large buildings, and large scale things tend to use drafting programs. It all has to do with the way the calculations and properties are assigned. Now for the good news. If you learn how to design, the tool doesn't matter too much. If you learn to use a hammer to put a nail into wood, it doesn't matter if you use a claw hammer or a ballpene hammer. They are different hammers, and they have different uses, but they work about the same. So, anything you learn will be useful to you. But you may want to think if you want to eventually work on large spaces or parts.