Jill Hann has been drawing houses since she was a kid. As a drafting technician with WHW Architects in Halifax, she turns an architect's ideas into reality. (JEFF HARPER / Staff)

JILL HANN remembers driving her parents crazy as she presented them with plan after plan when the family was building a new home in Clayton Park in Halifax.

"I was just in high school, but there was a computer program that allowed you to create room designs and house plans. I'd spend hours on it and present them with all kinds of options."

The house has long since been built and the drafting technician with WHW Architects in Halifax has finished both high school and community college, but Ms. Hann is still furiously turning out drawings and exploring architectural ideas. Except this time, she has access to the latest computer-assisted drafting technologies.

"It's just something I've always wanted to do since I drew a picture of my first house as a kid," she said in a recent interview. "It was something I have a passion for, and I suggest anyone who wants to be in the business has to feel the same way."

Although she hopes to work as an architect someday, she notes that drafters and technicians follow a different educational path and do dramatically different work. While it is the architect's job to create the idea for a home or a building, she said it is the drafter's job to take the idea and turn it into working drawings.

"We give the idea life."

Ms. Hann is too new in the field to have seen the impact of her work in a completed building but she's looking forward to the day when she overhears someone admire one of her ceiling arches or the arrangement of walls in an open space apartment.

Greg Mosher, an architect from the same firm with 27 years. experience, says drafting technicians need to be detail-oriented, computer-literate, able to work alone or with a team, and willing to constantly upgrade their education.

"There's always a new computer program coming out or a change to the building code being introduced," he said.

"There's a new learning challenge every day."

WHAT DO THEY DO?
Drafting technicians prepare engineering designs, drawings and related technical information.

They may work alone, as part of an engineering team or in support of engineers, architects or industrial designers.

Drafting technologists operate computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting stations, develop and prepare design sketches and write technical reports.

WHO WORKS IN THIS JOB?
For these occupations, you should have talent in drawing and sketching. A neat and systematic approach to projects is important.

You must be accurate, precise and efficient. The ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines may also be necessary. Computer skills are usually required.

Eighty-five per cent of workers have a post-secondary certificate or diploma; another four per cent hold a bachelor.s degree.

The average age is 38, and women presently make up only 19 per cent of this occupation.

WHERE DO THEY WORK?