Gabi Jack's Blog

The gift of a future

;

OK, so I’m trying really hard to stay away from Twitter, but I must admit that every now and then you hear about good news or something interesting that you never even imagined.  In my case, I heard, or should I say read, Jeff Ray make a casual comment about him attending an event for MATCH, a charter school in Boston, MA, where volunteers are working hard with kids that have come from very tough backgrounds, in order to help them prepare and achieve the kind of grades they need to obtain scholarships, go to college and become successful in life. I had never heard about this kind of school, so I had to investigate a bit and I found some interesting articles on ABC News.  Apparently, this program has been a great success in Boston, and practically all the kids are making it into college. This is really awesome, considering they’re disadvantaged kids that live in poverty and/or come from very tough circumstances that may sometimes include domestic violence, abandonment and drug abuse. Without the help of a school such as this one, they would probably end up in the streets, in jail or killed, but thanks to MATCH and the companies and people that support this program, they're turning their lifes around for good.

After reading about MATCH, I was naturally curious and wanted to know what Jeff Ray was doing there, so I asked him what SolidWorks involvement with MATCH was. I was delighted by what he had to say, because it turns out that SolidWorks is a great supporter of this school. They provide software, a CAD Lab, scholarships for the kids, funding for the school, and their employees even volunteer there too!  What a wonderful gift this is to the community, isn’t it? It may seem like nothing to those that have never experienced what it feels like not being able to afford a future, but it is a great deal to those kids. It’s the very gift of a better life. Anyone can make a profit out of education, but it takes a company like SolidWorks, with a real heart for the youth of this country, to simply give, no strings attached.  Keep up the good job, guys! We need more schools like this one all around the country and more companies like SolidWorks, willing to make them work for our kids!

I wanted to embed a video that Mr. Ray shared with us on Twitter. He was really excited about it and with good reason because It brings tears to your eyes, really. I couldn’t find the way to embed this one to Typepad, but here is the link. Check it out, it’s really worth seeing. All these kids are gathered in a room hearing about the results of their tests and how all of them made it to college and got scholarships. Many of them that never believed they could do it, but there was someone that believed in them and gave them a chance.  It’s really awesome!

Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dELDlHRP_gM

Chatting with Marie Planchard

;

Just yesterday, I had the pleasure of resuming a conversation with Mrs. Marie Planchard that had begun several weeks ago, in Barcelona.  As you may know, Mrs. Planchard is DS SolidWorks Director of Worldwide Education Markets; in other words, she’s the one responsible for bringing SolidWorks to thousands of students all around the world. She’s also very passionate about education and irradiates that same passion and energy wherever she goes. Our conversation took place over the phone, so I’m not going to even try to quote her word by word, but rather summarize what was discussed during our chat. I hope you find this little conversation as inspiring and informative as I did.

The very first thing I asked Mrs. Planchard was how she first got involved with SolidWorks and their educational program.  She told me that it all started several years ago, when SolidWorks was still a fairly new CAD software. She was teaching  Pro/E at a community college in New England, trying hard to take her students from merely drafting into actually doing design, when she was approached by SolidWorks.  They provided her with an evaluation copy, so she could decide whether she wanted to teach SolidWorks in her class or not. She remembers she took the copy home to play with it and, in little time that same night, she had already created her first model: a glass of wine.  She became excited to realize how quickly it was to find her way around the software, and how much more intuitive it appeared when compared to Pro/E, so she decided to teach her students SolidWorks instead, although not without making sure first that her students would, indeed, be able to find great jobs among SolidWorks’s customers after completing their training. So she made the switch and she quickly realized that she had to modify her curriculum radically, because the same concepts that used to take her students a long time to grasp in Pro/E were now easily mastered in SolidWorks in next to no time. She decided then to challenge her students to put their newly learned skills to work right away and model items from real life, things they may find at home, even broken things. And she was delighted to witness what they could do with SolidWorks. Time went by and Marie not only continued to teach SolidWorks, but also became deeply involved in the SolidWorks community through user groups. It was then that, six years after her original first encounter with the software, she was asked to become Director of Education Market for SolidWorks.  I wonder what took them so long!

At this point I asked Marie if she had found any sort of resistance from the college where she was teaching in order to incorporate SolidWorks into the curriculum. She told me that it was actually embraced right away, because this particular community college strived to bring to the students the latest in technology and innovation. Plus, having the commercial backup from SolidWorks was also a big help. She added that this is usually the case in many other schools all around the world. Educators and schools are usually excited to incorporate SolidWorks to their curriculum. Whenever an educator or school adopts SolidWorks, they receive not only the software, but also the whole deal with tutorials, study guides and support, to aid them in the process of teaching.  These tutorials are exactly the same ones included with the commercial version of the software, and the reason for this, as Mrs. Planchard pointed out, is to give the students the best preparation possible for what they’ll encounter out there, when they go looking for a job in the industry.  The curriculum and study guides provided to the educators are prepared taking into account both their particular needs in the classroom or lab and the demands of the local industry. Being an educator herself, Marie understands these needs and makes it a point to provide educational guides and resources that can be creative, challenging and affordable for both educators and students alike. As she said to me “A good engineering kit doesn’t have to be expensive. Educators use all kinds of materials that they have at hand, like balsa wood or even pasta!” Even better is the fact that these tutorials and study guides have been translated to twelve different languages, giving international students the opportunity to learn in their own language, and educators here in the States an amazing tool to approach those students that lack fluency in English. SolidWorks is also considerate of their economical limitations, and for this reason, they do not require educators or schools to be on subscription service, unless they want to offer the certification test at their site. Plus, the academic license never expires!  Mrs. Planchard told me that it is not likely for schools to upgrade ever so often, because doing this would imply upgrading hardware, as well, which is prohibitive for most schools. However, even though the software changes considerably every year, the fundamentals continue to be the same, and that’s why a three or four year old edition is as valid for teaching today as a brand new one. 

But what are the fundamentals? If educators can also create their own curriculum based on the needs of their local industry and/or what is familiar to them, how can you tell if a student has indeed mastered the fundamentals and is proficient with SolidWorks? Well, as Marie also pointed out, that’s why the certification process was designed for; to somehow set the standard on what the basics are that need to be known by all students and users of the software in order to call themselves proficient, not necessarily experts, but proficient in the use of SolidWorks.

So, back to my original question,  it would seem like the only real obstacle there is to the adoption of SolidWorks inside the classroom in middle schools, high schools, vocational schools, community colleges and/or universities worldwide,  is usually related to a more mundane problem we’re all too familiar with here in California: a small educational budget. Marie told me that, unfortunately, this is a real challenge here in the United States, because the curriculum is not the same in all schools all around the country and because the way funding for educational programs is assigned (and thus the way they decide on their software purchases) also varies from one school district to another. This is the reason why while in France 90% of public schools are teaching SolidWorks, the percentage is a lot smaller here in the United States. However, a great advantage that students have here in the United States is that they can buy the student edition for themselves or use a copy from school in their dorms or at home. Students in many other countries all around the world (most of Central and South America for instance) don’t have this advantage. In these countries, SolidWorks is usually sold to the universities and students can use it while inside the classroom, but there aren’t any distributors that can verify their student ID’s and sell them the software. This is the sad part, but hopefully it will change with time and SolidWorks will then become even more accessible to students as the demand for skilled professionals increases worldwide.

And how young is too young to be one of these “skilled professionals”, you may ask? Well, I asked Marie a similar question and she told me that, even though SolidWorks is not really contemplating ways to introduce the software to kids younger than those at middle school level, they have heard of eleven or twelve year old kids, sometimes even younger, that are using SolidWorks and creating sheet metal and plastic parts with it at their school workshop. Young minds are full of potential, full of great ideas, and SolidWorks provides them with the perfect vehicle to unleash their creativity. As Marie says “They may not know how to do it yet, but they know they can do it with SolidWorks and they are not afraid to try.”

So there you have it. We talked about a few other things, such as family, life, college memories and she even gave me some much needed career advice, but I tried to highlight what I considered most important to those that read this blog.  Hope you enjoyed reading! If you are an educator using SolidWorks in your classroom, you can always find ideas and curriculum if you visit SolidWorks Teacher Blog.  Also, this was not discussed during our chat, but almost everyone knows about it, so I’ll mention it here again, Mrs. Planchard and her husband had authored several excellent SolidWorks books, including a guide for the CSWA examination that I strongly recommend to those preparing for the test.  So, if you are in need for a good book or text book for your class,  go check them out!

Check it out!

The SolidWorks World 2009 agenda is here!  And to help you make the most of this year’s event, they’re making it easier for you to search for the sessions you want to attend with a day-by-day calendar and the ability to search through the sessions by track, speaker or any other relevant keyword that comes to mind.  Oh, there’s also a printable version of the calendar, by the way!  So, if you know you are going for sure, you need to start planning what you’ll do once you’re there. If you are like me, and you are still not 100% sure you are going, well… plan for it, anyway. It can’t hurt!

More distributors needed!

People in Latin America love SolidWorks!  Even before starting the new blog in Spanish, I used to get lots of emails from students and people all over Central and South America, fascinated with the software, wanting to know more about SolidWorks. What I hadn’t realized until now is that for many of these countries there is no local authorized distributor where to buy SolidWorks from.  I guess it’s for that same reason that they don’t teach SolidWorks at their schools, and most of these students are self-learners that are borrowing an old copy of the software from a friend (I never dare ask how the friend got that copy), or that are simply curious after reading about it in blogs and websites.  Either way, one thing is true: they want SolidWorks! They love SolidWorks!  What can I say? My people really appreciate good things! And I rejoice every time I learn about more and more Latin American students gaining access to it or learning about it. Why? Well, you may or not agree with me, but I see in software such as SolidWorks (and the technology that revolves around it) a key to open a door for progress and technological development, as well as a way to bring about positive changes to a whole society. No, it’s not a panacea, but gaining access to this kind of technology is definitely a huge step in the right direction, one that I hope very soon more and more countries in my dear Latin America will be able to take.

And I know it’s going to take some time. Companies, after all, are here to make profit, and SolidWorks is no exception to that. I know it will take time for them to evaluate if there is really a good market in Latin America or not. I know it will take perhaps even more time for the software to become part of the curriculum of universities and schools in many of those countries. But, just like it is for the shepherd when he finds his sheep, it’s a cause for celebration for me when SolidWorks reaches out to them, even if it’s one student at a time. For me, it speaks really loud about their commitment to education and also about the strength of the SolidWorks community, always watching out for the needs of its members, even the invisible ones.

Just a couple of days ago, a college student from Ecuador sent me an email asking how to buy the student version of the software. Ecuador doesn’t have a VAR or any other kind of authorized distributor. I searched a few places, and also sent an email to Richard Doyle, simply asking if he knew of a place that would sell it to the student and ship it to Ecuador (hopefully without adding 40 dollars just for shipping and handling). Richard, in turn, passed the question over to Marie Planchard, who reminded me that SolidWorks sponsors teams of students that participate in design contests all over the world, such as formula SAE or robot competitions.  My student, however, wasn’t part of any team yet, but he got excited when I shared the news with him and quickly began investigating all that was required in order to form a team and get their school to back them up, so that they could participate in formula SAE.  This would probably take some time, because it depends on so many people and other factors completely out of his control, so my plan B was to buy the software myself and ship it to him, only Mrs. Planchard was one step ahead of me and decided to contact the student and send him a copy of SolidWorks student edition free of charge. How about that for awesome! The student was extremely happy and grateful with the news, and so am I. I know for some it may not seem like a big deal, I mean, one student, in one country in South America, but it means touching one life at a time, and planting a seed to touch many, many others in the future. Thank you Marie and thank you SolidWorks!

Developers Round Table Part II

OK, second part is here. This is the part that includes the discussion on lenght of release cycle, number of service packs and backwards compatibility, among other issues. I don't know if I'll be able to edit the rest of the material or if I'll have to wait for a few days, until I come back from Barcelona to take care of that, but, at least, I'll leave you with this. Enjoy!

Developers Round Table (Part I)

I finally got a first part video together. I'm still working on the rest. For some reason (probably something I did wrong) the audio doesn't seem to be completely in sync with the video, and the image seems to stutter a bit from time to time. Oh, well, at least the sound is still clear, which is really the important part.

I hope to have at least the rest of the developers round table edited and uploaded today. Otherwise, I'm afraid it would have to be put on hold for a while, given that I still have an international trip to prepare for and  an 800 pages, fully illustrated survival manual to finish writing, so  that my husband can find his way around with the kids while I'm gone.

Here you go:

One of our best SWUG meetings yet

What a great meeting it was! I wish everyone could’ve had the opportunity to be there last night, at the third meeting of the Tri-Valley SWUG, in Dublin, CA.  It was one of the longest meetings we’ve had so far (from 6:30 to a little after 10:00 pm) and one of the best ones yet, mainly due to the presence of the members of SolidWorks R&D team, that came all the way to California with the only purpose of listening to what SW users had to say about the software they create.  And the users had a lot to say to them! Some users even came prepared with a list of issues they wanted to address! 

From bugs  and doubts about confusing functionality, to length of release cycle and enhancement requests of all kinds, everyone there had a chance to express their ideas and concerns,  while SW developers listened carefully and took notes of everything. These four guys were really down to earth, very open and so easy to talk to. They seemed to be honestly interested in all our ideas and suggestions, no matter how crazy or impossible they sounded.

I truly believe that sooner than later we’ll get to see many of those issues that were addressed last night fixed and enhancements we requested being implemented in future versions of the software. I’m particularly interested in seeing backwards compatibility between different versions of SolidWorks. I know I’m not the only one, because several users expressed their interest in this, even though we all realize that this compatibility would be somewhat limited, but, as it appears, it’s not impossible. It was all discussed during the meeting and I got it all on tape. I’m editing the video right now.  As I said before, the meeting was long, and the (official) round table itself lasted a little more than hour and half. It had to come to an end when Kenneth reminded us that he had the room rented only until 10:30 pm, otherwise, I believe many of us could’ve been there all night.

Also in attendance and hiding away from my camera, we had Richard Doyle, who heads all this effort of bringing together a community of SolidWorks users, and really is the guy that makes user groups possible for the rest of us. It was a great pleasure to finally meet him last night.

   

From his hiding spot at the back of the room, Richard was still actively interacting with all of us, answering questions, doubts, and  contributing with ideas to improve the software, as well as our experience as users. Other familiar faces were fellow blogger Matt Lorono and Brian Titus, from Zeometric.

Now, please don’t think that the whole meeting was just about the developers’ round table. We also had Kenneth Barrentine’s demonstration on weldments, which I also caught on tape and I will be putting up here, as soon as it’s edited.  It’s really good stuff, so, even though it’s probably going to be a big file, I’ll try my best to keep all the material.

I hope to have the videos ready later today or tomorrow. There’s so much to edit and it’s all good stuff! I really encourage those of you that have never been to one of these user group meetings to join a local user group and attend.  Just do it once, just to see what you think, but I guaranty that you’ll find they are a really great way to learn and network with other SolidWorks users. And if you are lucky enough to join a group that will be hosting one of these SW developers’ round tables, don’t you dare to miss it. You’re in for a real treat!

Survivor, the SolidWorks World edition

SolidWorks World is getting closer by the minute. If you are planning on attending for the first time (or at least hoping you will, like me), and even if you have been there before, you can always use a little advice on how to “survive” and make the best of the event.  If you read the SW forums, you may have noticed already that Mr. John Ferguson (aka Muggs) has put together a very handy SolidWorks World Survival Guide.  Curious? Well, head over to the SW forums and download your free copy of the guide today!

What do people really want to talk about face to face with SW R&D?

Due to the upcoming roundtable with SolidWorks Corp. R & D team  that will be  hosted during the meeting of the Tri-Valley SWUG  in September,  our leader, Kenneth Barrentine,  asked each one of us to rate four top topics from a long list of possible ones that we would like to discuss with the R& D  team during the meeting. The list included all sorts of things, from installation and licensing to remaining areas for performance improvement. Frankly, I must admit my first guess was that issues such as performance, bugs, and so called “half-baked functionality” would make top priority, because some users seem to be very concerned about this, but nope, that’s not what the users, at least the members of this group and possibly a second one that will be joining us that night, really want to talk about when they have the rare opportunity to meet with SolidWorks Corp. R& D team face to face.  It was there, but it wasn’t number one (or two) priority on the list. So, what do they want to talk about? Here are the results:

1.    Surfacing/ free-form consumer product modeling

2.    Geometry editing

3.    SW functionality that they would like to use but does not deliver enough to be useful for them

4.    Areas of SW that seem to be of lower quality, e.g. they frequently encounter bugs or have to use workarounds

5.    A tie between remaining areas for performance improvement and  rendering/graphics

6.    3D content central

7.    A tie between workflow/UI, installation and licensing, simulation, and PDM

Interesting, isn’t it? So, what do you think? How would you have voted on such a list of topics? What would you rate top on the list?

SolidWorks World 2009 is already open for registration?!

Wow! A lot can happen in a few hours! I was out this morning chasing a passport in San Francisco, and when I came back everyone was already talking about SolidWorks World 2009. The registration page is live and you can now reserve your spot at the biggest event of the year.  Check it out earlier than later, because there are special discounts for early registration and CSWP’s! Those prices don’t look so bad compared to what you would have to pay if you wait until the very last minute.   Also notice the due date for any papers you may want to submit. Hurry up! I’ve never been to SWW myself, but those who have always describe it as an awesome experience, full of remarkable speakers, great exhibitors, and all sorts of learning and networking opportunities, that is well worth the price and time.  Maybe I’ll make it this year, we’ll see.