The Javelin Technologies Blog

Allow me to start by reminding everyone about the various flavors for the SolidWorks Certification Program:

• CSWA – Certified SolidWorks Associate
• CSWP – Certified SolidWorks Professional (also 5 advanced topic extensions available: Surfacing, Weldments, Sheet Metal, Mold Design and FEA)
• CSWE – Certified SolidWorks Expert

One of the many benefits of being a SolidWorks subscription user is getting free coupons for the CSWA or CSWP exams. Read More »

During  a  recent visit to the SolidWorks Certification Centre website, I noticed something new.  In the download column for each certificate was a new link to download a QR Code image.

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I wrote this article first as a comment to my colleague Matt’s article: Solid Professor and CSWP: Preparing for Success! The problem was that I started by congratulating Matt and 5 minutes later I found out that I wrote a full article myself. So here it is:

Congratulations Matt, being a CSWP is a proof that you know what you are doing inside SolidWorks! You also proved that getting formal training in SolidWorks (Essentials and Assemblies at the minimum) channeled you on the quickest path to certification.

One thing I would like to point out. As Matt stated, SolidProfessor is a good tool to give you an idea about how the test looks like, but cannot replace real life experience you gain by modeling and modeling and, after that, modeling some more.

Once you finished your SolidWorks training at Javelin, go back to work and apply what you learnt. You will find out that the tools and the best practices we teach in those training courses give you access to an extensive arsenal of weapons to rely on when fighting real-world design problems. We give you a grenade, a machine gun, a sniper rifle and a side arm and show you how they work. You even get to do a  lot of  target practice in our state of the art firing range.

How you use them in the real life is up to you and to your enemy – the design challenges. You can wipe most of these out by throwing the best practices at them at the start of the project. You can mow down the survivors with your knowledge of the modeling flow techniques. When you can barely see the enemies in the distance you can pick them one by one through the scope of your design intent. And, of course, at close quarters you will draw your revolver loaded with checking tools.

If you want to be a real SolidWorks Professional do not rush in getting certified just to get a piece of paper. Graduate from the boot camp at Javelin, go and fight in the design trenches for your company and, after you survived a few hard fought design battles as a private, you can take the test to become a SolidWorks Officer, a CSWP.

What’s next? Tout soldat porte dans sa giberne le bâton de maréchal! There is nothing stopping you to learn some more (Weldments, Sheet Metal, Surfacing, Mold Design, Simulation, Advance Part Modeling), fight some more and get your marshal’s baton - the CSWE (Certified SolidWorks Expert) title.

And since we are talking about SolidWorks Marshals, allow me to finish the same way I started this article by offering a new set of congratulations to our newest Certified SolidWorks Expert at Javelin - my colleague and your Certified SolidWorks Instructor and Support Technician, Andrew Lindstone!

Marshal Andrew testing a machine gun at SolidWorks World 2011

Andrew completed an amazing feast of becoming a Certified Expert in less than 9 months from getting his Professional certification. For him the certification was just a validation of being a 10 year veteran in the design wars and the advanced skills he got as a SolidWorks Sharpshooter in the past 3 years.

You probably have already read his articles on best practices in modeling in general and SolidWorks in special. If not, please find them here: http://www.javelin-tech.com/blog/author/andrewl/. They are a must read for any SolidWorks user. I know, that I am using them a lot as reference to my support cases. A lot of times, the answers to my customer’s problems can be found in Andrew’s posts.

Why should you obtain a Certified SolidWorks Professional (CSWP) designation?

The CSWP is a designation that SolidWorks offers for users to prove that their skills are at a certain level, by completing a skills exam. This designation has been around since 1998 and some employers are starting to recognize it as a requirement for employment. There are over 10,000 Certified SolidWorks Professionals worldwide, and although this is a large number it correlates to about 1% of the total seats of SolidWorks that have been sold (Over 1 Million). If you are interested in learning more about the exam go to www.solidworks.com/cswp for more details.

I recently obtained my CSWP designation, and I can tell you that it was not easy. The first time I attempted the exam I thought I was ready because I had taken Essentials and Assemblies training, but I was wrong. The course had given me the skills I needed, but the exam still presented challenges.  Most of the questions for the exam require mass properties for the answer; which means your models need to be perfect, and that any small error can result in a fail.

After this defeat I decided I needed to fine tune my skills so that I could reattempt the exam again. I studied using Solid Professor.  Solid Professor as training tool, lets you access up to 818 lessons in video format. Most of the lessons are under three minutes, so it is not time consuming to learn about a tool.  If you would like more information about Solid Professor, please follow this link: http://www.solidprofessor.com/. Read More »

Amie provided quite a few reasons for getting your CSWP/CSWE certifications in her article. She forgot to tell you that your certificate is also the only ticket that can get you into exclusive parties at SolidWorks World. 

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