The Most Amazing 3D printing Careers to Inspire You as a Student

The influence of technology on careers is very obvious as well as much called on for. This rule applies for every generation. Be it the one that’s passed out. The one that’s on the verge of passing! And the one that will be passing out in future.

As you might know, 3D printing technology has wide scope and is being termed as the manufacturing technology of the future. Its way of additively manufacturing parts and functional prototypes is very popular especially among the young.

So, if you are a student thinking of a field that you can choose to work in future, we’ll tell you what careers in 3D printing will inspire you.

Before coming to that, we’d want to clarify how 3D printing technology’s explosion is yet to happen. So, we’ve handpicked these careers which have the maximum prospects to prosper even after the 3D printing explosion. We can state this on the basis of current progress made by 3D printing in the industry.

3D Designers

According to pick3dprinter, there is no 3D printed product that can be made without its 3D design. And hence a direct logic that implies with the estimation of the growth of 3D printing technology is that there’d be an increase in jobs of 3D designers. These jobs can be for 3D designers working in a company that provides services of 3D printing. It could be freelance 3D designers. As well as it could be 3D designers involved in research and development of innovative designs. 

According to Erol Gunduz, a professor at the New York School of Continuing and Professional Studies, design disciplines such as product design, medical device design, architectural visualization or entertainment design are currently using 3D printers. This university already offers study programs in 3D printing, designing and modeling. 

So, 3D designers should be the first amazing 3D printing careers you should be inspired as a student. This is because the career is inherently associated with the idea of 3D printing. And this direct link up also gives it a direct proportionality of increase and decrease in the use of the technology. 

3D Architectural Model Maker


It is to be noted how in the past, architectural models were made of balsa wood and cork. And if the architectural design of the model was very complicated, the technology was insufficient for making a model.

What 3D printing technology has done is, it has given wings to the imagination and hence also to the model makers. Using this technology it is possible for a designer to produce the exact replica of their design, no matter how complex it is. 

Also intriguing is the fact that finishing all these tasks does not take a significant amount of time. It can be accomplished within hours using a 3D printer. And the price of 3D printers is decreasing notably.

It is possible currently to buy a desktop 3D printer for a price of $200. One of the most renowned examples of an expert working in this field is Garrett Faulkner. He is the Digital Fabrication Specialist and Architectural Model Maker for Faulkner Industries.

When his ideas found practical applications with 3D printing technology, his company saved a lot of time and money.

3D Costume Designers


This career finds its application in many industries. By becoming a 3D Costume Designer you can be associated with theater groups, with the fashion and clothing industry, in films and television, dance and prop making, etc. Currently, there are professional prop and costume makers like Frank Ippolito of North California who designs and 3D prints prototypes as well as final parts. 

Frank and his company Thingergy Inc. is one of the chief collaborators with Adam Savage’s Tested.com. His costumes make it to films, television, museums as well as special events. Frank appreciates 3D printing and confesses how the technology helps them work faster and more efficiently on projects. According to Frank:

  1.  The lesser use of manpower.
  2.  And producing parts and functional prototypes in minimal time,

Are two of the characteristics that make 3D printing very eligible in costume designing and making. Of course, with these two there is the ability of this technology to print complex and more real looking costumes. 

Anthropologists

The accessibility of 3D design files makes this technology more useful in the field of archeology and anthropology.

It is obvious that a part that is old and was found after digging a site that was hundreds or thousands of years old cannot be made accessible to everyone. But virtual reality can become available to everyone. 

Darryl Ricketts is an Adjunct Anthropology Instructor at Indiana University currently translates 3D scans of ancient skull artifacts into their STL files. After doing so, not only can he make his students learn from those 3D design files but also pass his studies and findings on it to other people easily.

The story of Darryl is very interesting. He got himself a 3D printer after knowing that researchers do keep 3D scans of fossils online. This is after a two million year old fossil of an early human was found inside the cave outside Johannesburg.

The Conclusion

These are not the only careers that we’d want to inspire you as a student, there are a lot more. To name a few there is; 3D Carvers, 3D automotive parts manufacturers, 3D entrepreneurs creating parts and functional prototypes, and so more.

Recently the association of 3D printing with the food industry has also made people think about professions such as 3D chef. 

Don’t believe us? Please search for the world’s first 3D printing restaurant Food Ink. Moving on, to make sure we have sent the best technologies to the International Space Station, the scientists have sent an additive manufacturing facility over there.

So, you see the scope of becoming a 3D Space architect is also very bright. 3D printed tissues are also gaining importance because they can be customized to the accuracy of one’s biology.

This should inspire you for a job in the field of 3D bioprinting, and so on. The list is growing with the growth of technology!