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SolidWorks Classes? 1

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4mranch6

Aerospace
Jul 28, 2008
139
My 22 year old son has been taking a SolidWorks class in his final semester at the community college here in northern Illinois and has really done well. Is there a local school or tech school that provides a well rounded SolidWorks certification type of course that he could attend to further this career path?

We live about 80 miles northwest of Chicago, IL.
 
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80 miles northwest of Chicago? It's called Wsconsin. Maybe add a geography course to the curriculum.

Most of the tech schools in the Milwaukwee area have design programs. SW is a means to an end. Learn to design. Good design skills transcend any particular CAD program.

Of the local SW resellers, Graphics Systems is the best.
 
80 milews NW of Chicago isn't necessarily Wisconsin. They could very well be in/near Rockford, which is further from Milwaukee than Chicago.

Other than that, I agree with TheTick. We get most of our interns from a nearby high school, and they all come in with Inventor knowledge. It doesn't take much to get them up and running on, and actually preferring, SolidWorks.

If all he wants to do is design, an associate degree should be adequate to get his foot in the door somewhere. He will learn a lot more working in real life than he ever will in a classroom, even if just on an internship.
 
I90 runs NW from Chicago to around Beloit/Janesville. Going to Chicago for classes is expensive because of the exorbitant use fees on the road. Rockford/Belvidere is along that corridor and about the right distance. Madison and Peoria are about the same distance as Chicago.

CATI has an office in Rockford, Graphics Systems is about 25 miles away and Fisher Unitech is in Schaumberg, also along the I90 corridor. That would put him in a SW short class.

Rock Valley College comes to mind also.



TOP
CSWP, BSSE
Phenom IIx6 1100T = 8GB = FX1400 = XP64SP2 = SW2009SP3
"Node news is good news."
 
Thanks everyone for the input and yes we live in the Rockford, IL area. I just thought the 80 miles northwest of Chicago might be easier for most to associate with than stating Rockford, IL.

I myself use Unigraphics/NX7.5 as a senior designer in the aerospace industry. I have also used SolidWorks and AutoCAD in the past.

My thought on this subject was to get him a bit more immersed in SolidWorks than his current two day a week course at Rock Valley College. He graduates with his two year Associate's degree at the end of this semester (December). By taking additional SolidWorks classes he would have a better understanding of the program and be more desirable as a potential employee.

I agree with gopack13 that a real life job using the program would be more educational. He needs to get that job first, and having a bit more time using SolidWorks would give him a one up on the competition.

I will have him look into the CATI, Graphics Systems, and Fisher Unitech as suggested by kellnerp.

Thank again.
 
Take a look at
Get out some of your good ole' engineering drawing books and have him work through the drawings there.

Make up some projects for him to model and detail out.

Being in industry you should be able to create some real world projects for him to work on at home.

Cheers,

Anna

Anna Wood
SW2011 SP4, Windows 7 x64
 
Have him go through the built in tutorials and then the samples for the Certified SolidWork Associate exam and then give the certification exam a shot. (search Google)

CSWA
CSWP
 
Northern Illinois has about the same selection of VARs. Still recommend GXSC.
 
My thought on this subject was to get him a bit more immersed in SolidWorks than his current two day a week course at Rock Valley College. He graduates with his two year Associate's degree at the end of this semester (December). By taking additional SolidWorks classes he would have a better understanding of the program and be more desirable as a potential employee.
I have taken classes, but I got up to speed just by using SW and solving my own problems as they came up.

One excellent way to learn SW on a deeper level is to hang out on eng-tips and research and answer people's problems. A SW training class simply tells one where the "levers" are. A school class typically integrates that with good drafting practices. Answering questions on eng-tips immerses a user with real world problems. If I was teaching cad again I might require my students to earn a couple stars for credit in the course.

TOP
CSWP, BSSE
Phenom IIx6 1100T = 8GB = FX1400 = XP64SP2 = SW2009SP3
"Node news is good news."
 
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