Certificate Programs

At cadteacher/virtual design & construction institute (vdci) we offer CAD and BIM technology certificate programs approved by the State of California's Bureau for Private and Postsecondary Education.

cadteacher/virtual design & construction institute (vdci) offers eleven Technology Certificate Programs.

Please click on the links to your left to learn more about our specific Technology Certificate Programs.

Please click on the course catalog and the enrollment agreements above to learn all of the technical specifics about our certificate programs.

The technologies we teach are used by architects, engineers, designers, project managers, construction site managers, trades professionals, and the list goes on.


Integrating Focused Areas of Study

Our Technology Certificates teach the practical applications of state-of-the-art software training used in the construction, design and visualization industries.

cadteacher/virtual design & construction institute (vdci) has appropriately integrated courses from these focused areas of study into our Technology Certificate programs.

PFC - Professional Fundamental Courses – These fundamental courses include important skills including developing resumes, interviewing skills and, of course, the very important Blueprint Reading skills. Many people using VDC (Virtual Design & Construction) technologies have been exposed to using computers but not especially to blueprint reading and construction documentation-development skills. Understanding how to create and to read a set of construction documents is of primary importance to anyone working on the construction industry. "Blueprint" is the historic name for construction drawings. Our “Blueprint Reading for the Construction Industry” courses utilizes lectures, hands-on demonstrations and lab exercises to familiarize participants with the art of blueprint reading. The course will review a set of both residential and commercial construction documents.

CAD-Specific Courses – We study CAD (Computer-Aided Design), using AutoCAD. AutoCAD is THE DEFACTO STANDARD used at all levels and by all disciplines in the construction industry - including facilities people, sound engineers, trades professionals and solar power people, to name a few. Our courses document residential, commercial and other project types which are relevant to today’s construction industry professional. By the completion of our AutoCAD series of courses, a complete set of construction documents will be built for a moderately complicated project – a project worthy of presentation during a job interview. The completed project includes a full set of construction documents, including details.

3D CAD-Specific Courses – After successfully working with the 2D aspects of AutoCAD, we encourage the development of 3D modeling skills, using AutoCAD. AutoCAD is one of the leading software programs used to develop 3D models which are used for project prototyping, integration with industrial design programs such as Inventor, incorporation into BIM and also used in virtual environments created in 3ds Max and other visualization software programs. Our 3D modeling courses are specifically designed to provide the appropriate skillsets for the professional application and use of 3D model development for environments, props, buildings, sets and assembly components.

BIM-Specific Courses – After learning AutoCAD, our students expand their knowledge base into the realm of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Revit is the industry standard software program for BIM. In Revit, you create one, integrated 3D model of a project. The construction documents, schedules, solar studies, facilities data, etc are extracted directly from the BIM model.

All of our Revit courses are linked together, so a student constantly builds on lessons learned in the previous courses. By the completion of our Revit series of courses, a complete set of construction documents will be built for a moderately complicated commercial project. Today, Government, Military, Hospital, Education and other similarly-scaled projects require that their work be completed in Revit (BIM).

It is becoming increasingly common for construction managers to run 3D interference checks on the Revit model using Navisworks. Navisworks analyzes where the mechanical, plumbing, structural and other disciplines’ design work are occupying the same location in the building. By identifying these interferences during design, significant dollars are saved during construction, and change orders are significantly reduced. Today, most Government, Military, Hospital, Education and other similarly-scaled projects require that their work be analyzed in Navisworks.

DAV - Digital Arts/Visualization-Specific Courses – cadteacher/vdci prepares our students to create both technical documentation packages and visualization/presentation packages. We teach independent visualization software programs that create schematic design presentation models (which subsequently integrate into more advanced technical documentation programs); we teach the visualization components of sophisticated technical documentation packages and we teach visualization and animation programs which exceed the capabilities of stand-alone technical/documentation programs. SketchUp is a software program which is regularly used in the construction industry to create preliminary 3D designs for construction projects. AutoCAD and Revit include sophisticated rendering engines. 3ds Max is a high-end rendering and animation program which is regularly used to create construction project renderings, animations, fly-throughs, product visualizations and even in the gaming and multi-media industries. We have carefully developed our visualization training courses to most effectively assist our students target their skills.

Civil 3D CAD - Civil/Infrastructure-Specific Courses – These courses focus on the specific technologies appropriate to current and projected skill set requirements for the development and refurbishing of our infrastructure system and also towards site development. Students are exposed to public 3D/virtual databases and learn about 3D data management and project file sharing through web-based technologies such as project FTP, MILCON, and city/state/national databases. Our AutoCAD Civil 3D Coursework integrates with CALTRANS and other public agency requirements and databases.

GTC - Green Building/Sustainable Technology-Specific Courses – After learning how to model in BIM, with programs such as Revit and Navisworks, our students are taught to take advantage of energy analysis software programs which are heavily used in the Green Building/Sustainable Design technology fields. In both Green Building Studio (GBS) and Ecotect, students develop and analyze BIM models, conduct energy analysis and optimize their design to maximize the effectiveness of energy utilization for their design. We purposely link our BIM and Green Building Technology classes. Students constantly build on lessons learned in the previous courses.

Our class cycles begin every quarter - starting in January, April, July and October.


Our individual course offerings and our bundled packages are approved by the State of California Department of General Services, the Bureau of Private and Post-Secondary Education (BPPE), School Code = 93794290