SolidSmack - SolidWorks 3D CAD Technology Design Blog

I started working as an engineer in the CAD industry at a pretty measly wage. I didn’t know it at the time. I was happy just to have a job in an area I was actually going to school for. One thing I wish they taught more in school is the business aspects of career life. But it usually boils down to Student Services giving you a personality profile.

While some will pawn off advancement to luck or experience, these five actions can get you on the road to making more money.
Continue reading ‘5 Ways to Make More Money They Don’t Teach at School’

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I love the day after Labor Day. To me this is the first day of spring fall. It’s cool enough you can open the windows, football is starting up and it just feels like everything is slowing down a little bit.

In college though, we didn’t get Labor Day off, and yesterday reminded me of all the dedicated students marching down to their classes to absorb vast amounts of knowledge. As an instructor, I didn’t like the pace of the SolidWorks college course. So here are some ideas for you college students (or parents wanting advice for their kids) that want a little more out of a course like SolidWorks, because believe it or not, that one course can be the foot in the door to a lot of possibilities.

Charge through the manual
You can get through the SolidWorks tutorials and beginner’s manual in two weeks easy, along with your other classes. If you spread it over the semester you’ll learn less. I taught SolidWorks at a University and it was terribly inefficient. I changed it up and added some other projects to reinforce the key concepts.

Help out other students
This is the single best thing you can do to learn more and improve the skill of others. You see how they work, they see how you work. You learn how to communicate and show things to others. Priceless.

Be a Lab Assistant
I did this and liked it. It gets you in good with the staff, gives you opportunities to help people out and you hear about what other people are doing and working on. This helped get me a summer co-op and eventually SolidWorks into the curriculum.

Help out on an Engineering Project
This could be helping a senior group with a project or a graduate student with some research. Jump in, pick something that interests you if possible. This gets you involved in figuring out solutions to real life problems, which you won’t usually get in the classroom.

Start a company
This could be a design service, engineering company or a company for your own product. You don’t know everything about mowing a lawn when you start a lawn service, but you learn quickly if you want to keep customers. Same here - Start it, learn, fail, try again. Getting a mentor can make it even more successful.

Start a Blog
Same as above. You don’t need 11 ½ years of industry experience. As far as I know there’s no student out there blogging about SolidWorks. Sure, it doesn’t have to be about that, but pick a niche you enjoy and have fun. That blog about rocket technology could end up getting you in the door at SpaceX or something. My only recommendation would be to use Wordpress and Hostgator.

With all of these the most important thing you can do is ask questions so you understand each situation. Even if you know a lot, never think you’re an expert so you’re always open to learning and gaining even more opportunity.

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Throwing up before you speak may come naturally to some, but there’s some other items that may help relieve the pressure of speaking in public.

Not only can these help you when speaking publicly, they can also help when training someone, relating to and working with others and finding out how you can help people.

1. Be yourself
   Don’t try to be funny or entertaining, the content is the most important.
2. Tell a story
   To draw interest and help break apart segments.
3. Use metaphor
   To relate things that may be obscure to some. As the models get larger the days get longer.
4. Ask questions
   To promote interaction. what do you…? Isn’t it…? Don’t you think…?

So, concentrate on the content, work stories into it, make points with metaphors and interact with questions.

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Many times I’m showing someone how to do something and there like, “how do you do that so fast? what are you doing?”

I’m being 50% more efficient than you, that’s what I’m doing. Not 48, not 51, but exactly 50% more. Here’s how.

Mouse - automatically move pointer to default button option
This is a kind of obscure and not often used function in windows. It’s in the Control Panel Mouse settings. Set it and forget it. Just this one alone will make you much quicker. If it feels weird at first, don’t worry, you get use to it.

Keyboard - use quick keys
This almost goes without saying. These are also called keyboard shortcuts. Things like Ctrl-C for copy and Ctrl-Tab for switching screens. Learn to use them…with one hand if possible, cause you just waste more time when you pause for 10 seconds while you get a finger from each hand to the keyboard and then end up falling out of your chair.

Quick launch
On your windows toolbar, set up shortcuts to your commonly used programs. This way your not always going searching through your programs or going to your desktop where half the internet is stored.

Organize your programs
I keep things in one of six folders Application, Accessories, Media, Internet, Utilities and Games. That simplifies things if I do need to find something in there.

Keep your desktop clean
This is more of an annoyance for me. I can’t stand getting on a desktop and trying to find something. Keep it clean so everyone can see that neat background you have.

These are just some typical way that you can increase efficiency in windows to be more productive. Got any others?

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