CD Professional Ethics & Standards 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A drafter lists 'AutoCAD Certified Professional' on their resume even though they never passed the exam. This is best described as:
- Misrepresentation of qualifications, an ethics violation (Correct answer)
- Acceptable resume optimization
- A minor exaggeration with no professional consequence
- Permissible if they plan to take the exam soon
Correct answer: Misrepresentation of qualifications, an ethics violation
Claiming credentials one does not hold is misrepresentation and violates professional codes of ethics.
Question 2: A vendor offers a drafter expensive concert tickets while the drafter is preparing specifications that could favor that vendor's products. The most ethical response is to:
- Decline the gift and disclose the offer to their employer (Correct answer)
- Accept the tickets but promise to stay objective
- Accept them since specifications are the engineer's final responsibility
- Accept them only after the specifications are issued
Correct answer: Decline the gift and disclose the offer to their employer
Gifts from parties who could benefit from a drafter's work decisions create improper influence and should be declined and disclosed.
Question 3: A drafter leaving a firm wants to take copies of drawings they personally created for their portfolio. Ethically, they should first:
- Obtain written permission from the employer, since work-for-hire drawings belong to the firm (Correct answer)
- Take the files since they created them
- Take only PDF versions instead of CAD files
- Remove the title blocks and take whatever they want
Correct answer: Obtain written permission from the employer, since work-for-hire drawings belong to the firm
Drawings produced as an employee are typically the employer's property, so using them requires the firm's permission.
Question 4: While checking a colleague's drawing, a drafter notices the colleague reused calculations from an old project without verifying they apply to the new site conditions. The drafter's ethical duty is to:
- Raise the concern with the colleague and, if unresolved, escalate to the responsible engineer (Correct answer)
- Ignore it since checking calculations is not a drafter's job
- Mention it casually and drop it if the colleague objects
- Report the colleague directly to the licensing board first
Correct answer: Raise the concern with the colleague and, if unresolved, escalate to the responsible engineer
Concerns affecting design validity should be raised through appropriate channels, starting with the colleague and escalating if safety may be compromised.
Question 5: A drafter is assigned HVAC drawings but has no experience with mechanical systems and no supervision available. The most ethical action is to:
- Inform the employer that the task is outside their competence and request training or oversight (Correct answer)
- Attempt the work and hope the checker catches any mistakes
- Copy a similar project's HVAC drawings and adapt them silently
- Complete the work but leave their initials off the title block
Correct answer: Inform the employer that the task is outside their competence and request training or oversight
Professionals must perform services only in areas of their competence or under qualified supervision, and disclose limitations honestly.
Question 6: A drafter posts on social media identifying a client's unreleased product design visible in screenshots of their CAD work. This primarily violates:
- The duty of confidentiality owed to clients and employers (Correct answer)
- Copyright law only
- Drawing standard conventions
- No obligation, since the drafter did the work
Correct answer: The duty of confidentiality owed to clients and employers
Publicly revealing a client's confidential, unreleased design information breaches the duty of confidentiality even if the drafter created the drawings.
Question 7: Why do professional codes of ethics for drafters and engineers place public safety above loyalty to employers or clients?
- Because technical documents directly affect the health, safety, and welfare of people who rely on the built products (Correct answer)
- Because employers cannot be trusted
- Because it reduces professional liability insurance costs
- Because clients rarely understand technical drawings
Correct answer: Because technical documents directly affect the health, safety, and welfare of people who rely on the built products
The paramount duty to public safety exists because errors in technical documents can physically harm the people who use the resulting structures and products.
CD Professional Ethics & Standards 3
A drafter lists 'AutoCAD Certified Professional' on their resume even though they never passed the exam.
This is best described as: