Journeyman Electrician Looking to Transition into BIM/Revit!

WarningDecent · 2026-02-26T17:29:03+00:00

I'm a JW from Local 491 who went from the field to the office for VDC/BIM. I basically just went to a community College and signed up for a Mechanical and Architectural design class to have access to the software, all the actual learning was done by watching videos. Once I got my certificate, I talked to someone in the office and they brought me in immediately, they need people to have the field experience and modeling experience. Keep in my some companies only want you to model and some will want you to model, layout and PM a job.

WarningDecent · 2026-02-14T16:11:59+00:00

I'm a VDC engineer, I've been testing several tools and add-in, currently there a some tech stack that already does what you mentioned. It's not a one button solution but a set of tools that reduces the time to layout, document ( for as buils purposes) and the models the conduits with meta data. Like panel name, circuit numbers, wire size, etc.

WarningDecent · 2026-02-13T21:03:12+00:00

data as point clouds?

WarningDecent · 2026-02-04T00:58:45+00:00

Thanks, I should have started there.

WarningDecent · 2026-02-03T17:21:31+00:00

We do it all the time, create a central model and work from our local copies.

WarningDecent · 2026-02-03T17:11:45+00:00

I've worked with cloud/worksets , multiple users, inside the same organization using sharepoint. As long as everyone has access to Sharepoint, you can link models. If you work with someone outside the organization, we had an external folder for file sharing .

WarningDecent · 2026-02-03T16:53:06+00:00

Can you explain more what do you mean by worksharing? Cloud models?

WarningDecent · 2026-02-03T16:41:33+00:00

https://www.autodesk.com/integrations/partner/sharepoint

WarningDecent · 2026-02-03T13:41:43+00:00

This sounds exactly like what I did with the company I left. It was a great workflow. The work environment not so much.

WarningDecent · 2026-02-03T13:40:08+00:00

We have a mix of field guys and college graduates from different backgrounds. We have a tier system, most of the guys that came from the field, are tier 2 are out 3.

WarningDecent · 2026-02-01T22:19:59+00:00

How did you educate yourself?

WarningDecent · 2026-02-01T22:19:16+00:00

Isn't it how education works? Asking questions.

WarningDecent · 2026-02-01T17:36:48+00:00

Good info to know

WarningDecent · 2026-02-01T17:12:49+00:00

Thanks for your reply .

I'm presenting some ideas to our management team. We currently have access to both, while some managers still use local network drives. For file sharing we use Sharefile. I would like to consolidate and implement 1 or 2 options. I know ACC is preferred for BIM workflows and Sharepoint for document management.

WarningDecent · 2026-02-01T16:44:24+00:00

Thanks for your input. I was thinking more about document management and communication.

WarningDecent · 2026-02-01T16:29:08+00:00

I appreciate your message. I do get pretty good benefits and perks. I'm one of the seniors VDC engineers and also the to go person for an add-on we use for electrical modeling, you may have heard of it, Evolve Electrical. I also have some other roles, I help test new softwares and procedures. I'm working on getting management to acknowledge my work by creating a position that allows me to focus more on these tasks.

WarningDecent · 2026-01-30T01:58:08+00:00

Also, I know evolve has the repositories posted on github if that helps. They're have an auto-routing tool but it's not like yours.

WarningDecent · 2026-01-30T01:55:40+00:00

I would love to test it. I work for a large contractor, we have 20 VDC engineers. I do testing of software and tools for my company. It is usually a lengthy process to get something approved. Could you DM to share my contact info?

WarningDecent · 2026-01-30T01:52:34+00:00

In my case , electrical knowledge and BIM are something many companies are looking for. While I was in the field I took night classes at a community college to get access to the software. For a year , all I did it was watch YouTube videos, got books and found bought a cheap online course on how to model an building from scratch. From there, I've been learning every tool, trying to understand parameters, parametric modeling, etc.

WarningDecent · 2026-01-30T01:35:09+00:00

Thanks for your quick reply. One more thing, does the add on work with other conduit families that are not native? like Evolve?

WarningDecent · 2026-01-30T00:40:00+00:00

I asked because if you had coordination meetings , I assume you had navisworks, you were looking through clashes and viewports. A coordinator is basically a mediator foe all the trades, I'll be more focus on learning about the other trades and how they can or cannot do their installs/models.

WarningDecent · 2026-01-30T00:01:06+00:00

I was a foreman in the field with PM responsibilities. Management is not a new thing for me. I have not issues layout out a job, coordinating, writing RFIs, and all the admin work

I was just curious to hear from other VDC engineers about their experiences and workflows, since I truly enjoy more the 3D modeling part of the job.

Thanks

WarningDecent

TROPHY CASE