My experience with Inspirtech

My mother used to say that those born during a meteor shower, such as me, were destined to be tremendously lucky, and I guess she was right. I recently had the great fortune and pleasure of sampling and reviewing Inspirtech’s training materials; the complete SolidWorks 2008 fundamentals bundle, to be more specific.

For those that haven’t sampled the free lessons or at least seen the videos at CADJunky, Inspirtech is a relatively new SolidWorks training provider that offers high quality video lessons at incredibly affordable prices. And I really mean it: it’s dirt cheap! But don’t be fooled by the low price, because this is an incredible value for your money. All the lessons are very easy to follow, easy to understand, amazingly clear, and very well planned out.

Each lesson has been developed by a certified SolidWorks professional (CSWP), with plenty of real life experience, and includes examples and several exercises for you to solve together with the instructor, who will guide you in the process, step by step, and offer useful and creative tips along the way. Also included with each lesson are templates and start point files that you will need to complete the exercises. I was able to follow the lessons and complete the exercises, even with my 2007 student edition, because parasolid versions of the files were also available.

All the parts and assemblies presented in the examples and exercises are interesting and inspired in what you may find out there, real-life applications and real-life objects. This is something that I found particularly useful and inspiring, because many times you may learn the basic concept, but it isn’t until you see it applied that more ideas start to generate inside your head.

In addition to excellent training, you also get help right when you need it, with online chat assistance. Who could ask for more?

As I said before, the bundle of lessons I sampled is about the fundamentals of Solidworks and aimed at beginners, but keep an eye out for more lessons coming up soon. I’ve been told that there will soon be lessons for intermediate and advanced users and on topics such as weldments, sheet metal, routing, etc.

I see a great future for Inspirtech!

Comments

[Devon T. Sowell]

Hello Gabi-

Do you get paid money or get free product to have the Inspirtech link in your blog?

Devon

[Albert Whatmough]

Gabi,

Thank you for the great review, and I am glad you found the training enjoyable!!

AL

[Gabi]

Hi Devon,

I sent you private email responding to your concern, but I think I better clarify this one right here, because it's really bothering me. It may be all a misunderstanding, my latin hot blood making me jump to conclusions, but it almost sounds to me like you are questioning my integrity and I don't like that.

I don't receive free products or a payment from Inspirtech. I'm not trying to sell their products either. I'm not an AVON girl! Mr. Whatmough, founder of Inspirtech, offered me to sample their beginners bundle of lessons for free, all in exchange of my honest feedback. I took the lessons, one by one, and I honestly think he's done an excellent job. There is a referral program, that much is true, but I would have NEVER added the link to the blog had I not thougth the training was really worth it. Besides, I consulted with Patrick Cook before adding it and he said it was OK. I hope I'm not getting in some sort of predicament here. But I'm 100% honest. I'm not trying to sell anything to anyone.

[Devon T. Sowell]

Gabi & Albert-

Please see my blog for my response to this issue.

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/devonsowell/

Devon

[matt]

Gabi,

Since you closed the comments to the "Clarification" post, I will put my comment here. First of all, I want to count you as a friend, and this is meant in that way.

#1 - Devon shouldn't take any heat that I also deserve. I think I was the one to use the "sell out" phrase. I'm sure Devon doesn't mean anything malicious by his post, any more than I did, and we have talked about that already, offline. Devon is a decent family guy, and I'm sure he is not condemning you personally, he just doesn't like what you did, and the two really are different. Sometimes my brother does stuff that I don't like, and we might fight about things. It doesn't mean that we condemn each other personally. The next day we get up and are brothers again.

#2 - you're taking criticism too personally. None of this is aimed at you personally. Notice that Josh Mings is also included because as far as I know, you two are the only ones to put ads on your blogs. I've expected it from Josh for a while because his site has that commercial sheen to it that I instinctively run away from. Josh is a decent guy to meet and have a few beers with, but I don't like his blog style although others do. Nothing personal, just its a little too cute for me, and his topic seems a little wide of the mark. Josh and I will probably drink beers together next year at world again, even though we don't agree. Even Ricky Jordan and I often disagree about things, but we are good SW pals. Really, don't take criticism personally, it certainly isn't meant that way. Devon and I are not mean spirited guys.

#3 - There is nothing wrong with an opinion. Your opinions about the Insertich product are not the problem. You might have noticed that I have opinions about products. Putting an image of a corporate logo is not a bad thing, we all do that. Doing a positive review is not a problem at all. I thought your letter to A. W. was completely appropriate.

The thing I don't like is the "referral link" (advertisement). We have spoken off line about my personal reasons for why that is. You can choose to ignore what I think, and that's fine. There is room enough for us all to allow for each other's opinions.

[Matt Lorono]

The underlining point that seems to be missed by some is that we have well entrenched individuals declaring with what appears to be righteous indignation that a new-coming somehow has no creditability whatsoever because of one particular point on one particular issue. Perhaps these individuals do not fully appreciate their position in the community and how such words (regardless of intent) can have unnecessarily harsh edge?

[matt]

I'm sorry. I have stated my position. I'm done with this topic. It is not worth further response. If you want to flail yourself into a rage about non-existent misanthropy, that is your problem.