Is the CSWP Valuable?

is it worth becoming a certified SolidWorks professional let's look at the pros and cons and whether people find it valuable as most of you know SolidWorks is industry-leading CAD modeling software there were about 2 million users as of 2013 interestingly the SolidWorks website shows that about 360,000 are actually certified professionals less than 20% of the total users to quickly explain what being certified means essentially SolidWorks offers exams to test your capabilities in the software starting with the cswa exam or the certified SolidWorks associate another exam is the certified SolidWorks professional and finally the certified SolidWorks expert these exams vary in difficulty quite dramatically successfully completing any exam rewards you with an official certificate from Dassault Systemes certifications are obviously always good however SolidWorks is quite sophisticated software it can be difficult to gauge somebody's true abilities just from a certificate this question has already been asked on the Internet including this reddit thread the general response is that certifications aren't bad however employees put little emphasis on whether or not you have these certificates another thing to be aware of is that these exams actually aren't free the certified SolidWorks associate example caused about 110 US dollars rather that's actually an attempt at the exam if you were to fail you would have to pay that amount to retake the exam the certified SolidWorks professional comes in three segments each costing about 35 US dollars in my opinion I think that the certified SolidWorks associate exam is very basic and doesn't really test much Dassault systèmes provides some sample tests for practice if we look at the one for the cswa it can shed some light on what skills are evaluated the exam may ask some questions about drawing views and drafting it might also ask you to model a very basic part and later on get you to make modifications to that part the way or assess if you've got the modifications or the modeling correct is by asking you to measure the mass or the volume of the part and inputting that as your answer you could also be asked to make together a basic assembly these questions are all well and good but the Pazzi modeling and the assemblies you're modifying are really quite basic so the next step up is the certified SolidWorks professional exam it's quite similar it has the same fundamental foundation but the Pazzi modeling a significantly more difficult I personally did this exam after using SolidWorks for a couple years at university and one year at my first job I didn't find it too difficult but I did find a value in preparing for it because I knew that there were things that would be tested that I wasn't familiar with for example I hadn't used configurations much in SolidWorks at that point so by committing to take the exam I had to learn how to use them and implement them which is of course valuable I was fortunate that my employer at the time was willing to pay for me to take the exam if you're in a similar situation where your employer is paying for you to take the exam then I would say go for it however if you're an individual paying for these exams out of your own pocket then I think there's a few things to consider let's start by looking at some job descriptions to see what employers are looking for I'm using a job search engine in my home country of Australia so the keywords I'm looking for a SolidWorks in my city of Sydney looking at this one here mechanical design engineer we can see that they're asking for a minimum of three years experience as a mechanical design engineer and the second point is a high level of competence in SolidWorks so here definitely having a certificate is going to help you however for this job a certificate probably isn't going to be enough and they're going to want to look at a portfolio of your work let's look at another mechanical design engineer job description here they're asking for a degree in mechanical or mechatronics engineering and proven experience designing and developing complex mechanical parts I encourage you to look at job ads in your local area and see what they're asking for I personally have never seen an engineering job description where they've asked explain sadly for SolidWorks certifications so more often than not an employer is going to want to see some examples of work you've done in a portfolio a portfolio might include pitches or renderings of models you've made the written descriptions of projects you've worked on are some examples of technical drawings you've made some videos but they're going to actually want to see some primary evidence of your capabilities in the software so having a certificate would help but more often than not the certificate isn't really necessary for the employer to gauge your capabilities in the software also the SolidWorks certifications really only test your ability to execute functions in the software they don't really test your creativity or your example your understanding of mechanical engineering principles and what mechanisms might be most efficient in a certain scenario or your ability to optimize for manufacturing like I said it's really just testing your ability to execute commands and functions in the software as opposed to your skills as a designer to conceptualize and implement a solution although I should be clear that these points are really only applicable in my opinion to the certified SolidWorks associate and professional exams because the certified SolidWorks expert exam is much more difficult and does a much better job of testing capability in the software in fact to be able to attempt that expert exam you have to have have passed four of the advanced topics including sheet metal weldments surfacing mold tools and drawing tools so these sub advanced exams are significantly more challenging than the certified SolidWorks professional exam in the past I actually did attempt the surfacey exam and failed it I believe from memory I do fail because it was too difficult but more so because I was pressured for time so that actually motivated me to improve my surfacing skills which is why I decided to model the Tesla Model S car that I'm showing on the screen now and by doing that I improved my knowledge of surfacing and the speed at which I could execute commands and I'm quite confident now that if I retook the surfacing exam I would have a much much better chance of passing it so a person who's passed four of the advanced subtopics and then passed a SolidWorks expert exam really is quite experienced in the software and I definitely must have some good background knowledge to be able to get to that level to improve your SolidWorks skills I would recommend trying to model something that is challenging trying to model something that you can't really achieve at the moment if that's a bit too hard I would suggest going to this website learn SolidWorks calm I'm not associated with this website but I have looked through it and think some of the tutorials are great such as this one on how to model a Dee Bost football so to summarize this video in my opinion I believe the CSW a is too basic it doesn't really portray any significant skill in the software I think the CS WP is a good exam and preparing for it will in most cases lead you to learn new things in the software but I don't think it will really help you find a job having that certificate the CSW a the expert exam I think that is a great exam and having that certificate really shows that you're capable in all features of the software and you've spent a lot of time learning from the basics right through to advanced topics let me know your thoughts below do you agree with some of the points in this video have you actually taken some of the SolidWorks certification exams and what would be your advice to somebody who's unsure whether or not to take these exams if you liked this video please share it with your friends give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel for more content in the future

Channel: Mahdi Designs

Views: 15,215

Keywords: SolidWorks certifications, CSWP, CSWA, CSWE, solidworks professional, associate, cost, preperation, segment, expert, advanced exams, surfacing exam, SOLIDWORKS Certification Program, is the cswp worth doing, worth taking, pass, certificate, CAD, mechanical design engineer cad job, soildworks skills, learn solidworks, will solidworks certificate help me find a job, cswp practice and preparation, value, required, useful, difficult, hard, east, how to pass, exam, practise

Id: fnmrF8JnPG0

Length: 8min 52sec (532 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 02 2019