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I’d actually say be a good draftsman first. I.e. know what to draw how. Know the sorts of drawings you need to produce, what data needs to be shown on them. Without that knowledge, AutoCAD doesn’t help a single iota.
Only once you know what your results should contain can you hope to achieve decent drawings — no matter the tool you use to create them. As Tim’s mentioned, the particular domain of your drawings tend to have different requirements. E.g. a structural engineer’s bending schedules is a much different animal than a civil engineer’s chainage sections, which is completely different to an architect’s door schedule, which in turn is far away from a process flow diagram, or an electronic PCB layout, or a HVAC ducting plan, etc. etc.. First make sure you know the drawings you need to produce. Know what you need to place into them, and where to obtain that data.
Assuming the above is already in place, the next most important thing is to know your tools. I.e. you have to use AutoCAD (or whatever other software, or even hardware like pens paper rulers etc.) as efficiently as you can. Start with a course if you want to get up and running quickly.
But to turn yourself from an adequate draftsman into a great one, there’s one thing you need to become. An experimenter. Try out all sorts of different ways of doing something. Never be scared of some command you’ve never used before. No course can teach you every possible thing. And sometimes you find a command usually used for something else is a great tool for other non-common tasks too. These you only notice with such experimentation.
A good AutoCAD draftsman knows how to work efficiently with the software, and has the essential technical knowledge to create an engineering drawing. He or she must know what to draw as well as how to draw.
For example an experienced mechanical designer/draftsman can take an engineer’s sketch, and create detailed drawings of the necessary parts, complete with dimensions, detail views and sections. He or she could properly specify all the standard components like fasteners, bearings etc. as well as manufacturing tolerances to get the proper fit between parts.
Even if you’re not an engineer, you need a good understanding of what the drawing represents, such as structural steel construction, mechanical design, welding or many other methods of creating and assembling a structure or machine. If you study civil or mechanical engineering, or an engineering technology or CAD technician program, you’ll learn what goes into creating technical drawings and how to do it.
A good AutoCAD draftsman is someone who knows not only AutoCAD, but they also have a great understanding of the discipline that they draft for. When I first started out I was really good, quick too; but it was just a bunch of lines to me. I could pick up anyone’s redlines, but if there was an error or if I was asked to create a detail on my own, I really struggled. That was until I understood what the lines actually represented. When I understood what I was drafting, and why, drafting became second nature to me. This is when my skill went from good to great.
