pic: Solidworks Certificate

[MattC9]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Did you all pay the $99 fee? I was hoping for a discount as well.

I know our teacher got an educational 45 seat license and they came with tests for us to take, and that's how we took them.

[Madison]

I'd echo a lot of Todd's comments. My experience has been that certifications such as these are not a good indicator of how well someone will do as a modeler or drafter.

Unfortunately, these classes don't really teach enough about developing consistent, repeatable processes for documenting mechanical designs and that is often what can separate someone with acceptable design/draft capabilities from someone who is an expert. Not only is it important that you produce finished models and drawings that are accurate and clear, but that those same models and drawings may be easily updated or changed later. I can't count the number of hours I've lost trying to figure out how or why a part or assembly was modeled a particular way while trying to make a change; designing things quickly for an FRC robot is a completely different animal than working with a real product with real requirements for documentation and support.

[ptitchener]

Quote:
"Side note: Would it be possible for FIRST to make a deal with SolidWorks Corp. to make the exam more accessible to them? The current fee is $99.00"

Solidworks already offers the test for free to FIRST teams. If you have already requested solidworks software for your team, then there should have been a letter that came with the disks that contained the activation code for the software and also a voucher code for the test. That code acts as a coupon code for the test and covers the full $99. You can probably PM Marie Planchard for more information about anything solidworks related, she is the Director of World Education Markets for solidworks.

As for how useful the certificate is, I got it about a year ago and it helped me get an internship after my senior year in high school. It probably isn't that useful for most college students, but in my case it showed that I knew at least a small amount about solidworks, which they wanted to see before they would give me the job.

[mplanchard]

Any school on subscription can apply to become a CSWA Provider at www.solidworks.com/cswa.

If a team designs their robot in SolidWorks and has a teacher or mentor who will proctor the CSWA exam, then the SolidWorks EDU team will provide the $99 CSWA exam at no charge. The CSWA exam is given in 10 langugaes.

If you want to take the CSWA exam, then you must prepare. It is not easy.
1. You must know how to read an engineering drawing.
2. You must be able to create a part/assembly accurately from the engineering drawing and understand how to calculate mass properties.
3. You must understand design intent so you can modify dimensions of a part/assembly without messing up the model.

Tips: Take the sample exam at www.solidworks.com/cswa and review the cswa tip videos on youtube. Also, there are tips posted on our www.Facebook.com/SolidWorksEducation page.

The CSWA is the first of 8 SolidWorks exams that you can take over your professional career. CSWA can differentiate you in a very competitive job market or a college application. You will also need the design, manufacturing, and presentation experience too. The CSWA exam is a part of your portfolio of many tools and skills.

We are fulling hundreds of requests now for robot teams. Our sponsorship has opened at www.solidworks.com/StudentSponsorship.

Give me some time and I will set up an automatic process for a team to apply for CSWA sponsorship too. For now, go design, build, and test robots to prepare.

And congratulations to Rion Atkinson for passing the CSWA and for creating the beautiful model on our current certicate. Marie

[steelerborn]

As a tech support intern at a Solidworks re-seller I feel the need to step forward and answers some questions. The classes we offer always answer the tough questions, we have customers come in all of the time asking extremely tough questions, and the instructor will take the time to answer them. This could just be where you are taking your classes. Also the certifications are a HUGE thing! Granted the CSWA may be able to be passed with some experience and $100, but the other exams CSWP all the way to the highest level the CSWE are difficult. In fact if you look on the certification page on Solidworks.com you can see some of the hard topics discussed (Surfaces for example). So I think it is wrong to say that these don't mean much. In the end the certification exams teach a lesson that many people in the industry lack, and that is design intent, the ability to see a model and look for areas that may need to change, and designing them to be editable in a way where the model does not blow up. It is also a very elite group of Solidworks users, the CSWE only has I believe around 900 in the entire world! So if you work all the way up to that level I can't believe that this won't help you find employment.

[Tetraman]

It's like asking "Will my CPR certificate allow me to practice medicine?"

Is it going to help? Yes, and I mean -the class- is going to help you get the basics down and give you proper understanding of the tools and capabilities of the program. But does that certificate mean you have what it takes to do a job? Not so much. In order to get a job where you'll be using SolidWorks or ProE or ALL of the programs you need to prove mastery and competent use of the program to solve problems.

The certificate might help you in smaller businesses that simply look for something on a resume to easily recognize one person's ability over another... but in the long run you'll be much better off with a portfolio of work that proves your mastery of the program.

[mplanchard]

Any FIRST team that designs with SolidWorks is eligible to take the CSWA exam. Your teacher must go to www.solidworks.com/cswa and fill out the CSWA Provider Application. We will provide the $99 exam to any FIRST member at no charge that is offered through an instructor or mentor in a proctored environment. However, you must be prepared to take the exam. 1. Ability to read an engineering drawing and create a part that is 100% accurate according to the dimensions, materials, and engineering notes. 2. Understand how assemblies fit and know how to use imported geometry 3. Know design intent of the model, so if there is a change, you can modify dimensions and instances quickly. 4. Calculate center of mass and define coordinate systems. 5.Take the sample exam at www.solidworks.com/cswa. Marie