Craig Snell
In most industries these days, we use some sort of computer software, whether we sit at a desk all day, or actually get our hands dirty or access things via a mobile device, one thing in common is that we are using software.
Software has changed over the last few years in the way we consume and purchase it. Years ago, we used to buy the 1998 version, keep it for a couple of years then buy the 2000 version. Now with subscription and maintenance models, and lots of software being hosted in the cloud, you can automatically get an update once a year, or if you look at Autodesk Fusion 360 every 6 weeks. So you may ask at this point in my post, what exactly is your point Craig ?
Well my point is, when do we use all of this new technology that the software companies make for us? Realistically the answer is probably not very often. Imagine this, you get a new version of your day to day software, you may (most people don't) look at the "What's new" help file presentation, and think to yourself "that new feature is what I have been waiting for". You promise that you will use that tomorrow. You know what, tomorrow very rarely comes. You get a rush job in, and you think that I'll just use what I know until I've got a bit more time. The same thing happens the day after and the day after, before you know it a new version of your software magically appears on your desktop, and you are way behind.
What has prompted me to write this post then? I have been at Symetri for 20 years now, teaching CAD software to the masses, and I love my job. I really get a kick out of teaching, watching the light switch on behind peoples eyes when they understand what you are talking about and can put it into perspective for what they do for a career.
Twenty years ago I basically taught two courses, AutoCAD Essentials, and AutoCAD Update courses. I still teach the essentials today, but very rarely do I teach an update course, in fact I can only think of a handful of times when we have taught an update course for any software, be it AutoCAD, Inventor or Vault.
I taught one of these courses last week, and the guys on the course were some of the most knowledgeable people I have ever had in my classroom, but there was so much content they didn't know, not new stuff that they were there to learn, but things that had been updated years ago. Luckily this company understands the value of training, and is embarking on a training programme to update all of their users. This company unfortunately is in the minority, I have looked into this by asking many people who come to our training courses and those we help on the support desk, I would say that about 75% of people still use the software in the same fashion and use the same workflows from when they were originally trained.
Ask yourself, is this you, and I don't mean just the CAD software that I am interested in, but probably Word, Excel etc. How many of us out there are still putting a sketch down to create a hole in Autodesk Inventor. If this is you, you could be a lot more productive, there are new tools and workflows in all software, learn them, let us teach you them. In this day and age, we all have to work smarter, do more with less time. Let your software help you do this, unleash its potential and your own.
So what is the call to action from this post? Book an update course, look at the what's new help files, read the blogs, speak to your support team to see if there is a quicker way to do what you are doing. Remember you dont know what you don't know, so let someone teach you.
If we all do this, look at ourselves a bit closer, and most importantly be honest in what we don't know, we may get the Lesser Spotted Update Course off the endangered lists.
Effective and professional training supports increased productivity and the investment in employee development and engineers skills are just as important as investment in the software itself. Would you like to know the skill level of your engineers, so they get the right training? Training Needs Analysis is then for you, ask more from Craig.
We also organise training in Autodesk, Naviate and SOVELIA solutions across Northern Europe, from company specific needs on-site to scheduled basic and update courses in Symetri training rooms.
