SOLIDWORKS is a cornerstone of many educational programs and activities that have inspired students to pursue careers in design and engineering. SOLIDWORKS is generally used at a high school level or above. So for younger children, we decided to create SOLIDWORKS Apps for Kids! Explore manual technical drawing excercises and advance your skills by creating the 3D models and 2D drawings in SOLIDWORKS. CAD Tutorials for Vocational Schools. Designed for the machine shop student, these tutorials take you learning SOLIDWORKS and creating parts and assemblies that can be milled, turned and formed.
So I'm a senior in high school and I've recently gotten my Professional Certificate. I've been using SolidWorks for three years now and I'm looking to do some sort of internship next summer. Do summer internships or jobs like this exist for HS seniors going into college? His colleagues back at Grandview agreed, and the school implemented SolidWorks Education Edition so˜ ware for the 2005–2006 academic year. Since then, the solution has had a positive impact at Grandview. Enrollment in technology classes has grown. Other high schools in the Cherry Creek school district have adopted SolidWorks so˜ ware and the. Kent Allison changed directions as a high school teacher when he discovered SOLIDWORKS. Now he is one of the leading SOLIDWORKS certification providers in Colorado and his students' are able to grow their careers and skip college courses by becoming Certified SOLIDWORKS Associates (CSWA).
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Computer-aided design (CAD) is a highly versatile technology that allows the creation, analysis, and modification of three-dimensional designs. The ability to create CAD models is a highly sought-after skill in several industries such as infrastructure, industrial design, architectural design, medical prosthetics, and computer animation. For many technical professionals, developing CAD design expertise is a massive upgrade to their skillset and their marketability.
Solidworks is one of the most popular CAD software, selling over 3.5 million licenses worldwide. Although Solidworks CAD software has been designed to be easy to use, being able to prove your level of expertise on the software platform is still a rewarding experience which can open up a lot of opportunities. If you’re an experienced Solidworks user, then you might consider getting a Solidworks Certification.
Solidworks Certification Course:Check out this course on Udemy and pass the exam.
What is Solidworks Certification?
A Solidworks Certification is proof of your cutting-edge skills in the Solidworks platform. Aside from proving your proficiency with the software, the certification also sets you apart from the rest of the crowd as a highly skilled designer or design engineer.
If you are looking for a job, having a Solidworks Certification can be a huge advantage when applying for companies who actively seek out these types of certification. Even if you are currently already holding a design job, a Solidworks Certification may be what it takes to move up the job ladder and for your career to advance.
How do I earn a Solidworks Certification?
A Solidworks Certification is earned by taking and passing a series of exams or knowledge tests. Depending on the level of certification you’re targeting, passing these tests can require a different number of steps, have different levels of complexity, and have varying benchmarks for passing. There are also variable costs for taking the certification exams, with higher level certifications costing more than their more basic counterparts.
The different Solidworks Certification levels
There are currently three levels of Solidworks Certification. The exams for each level cover different topics.
1. Level one – Certified Solidworks Associate (CSWA)
The basic Solidworks Certification level is the perfect entry point for high school or college students who have undergone training in Solidworks but have no professional experience. Having a CSWA proves that you have the fundamental knowledge and skills to create basic models and concepts in Solidworks. In some states, applying for a CSWA has even become mandated for university students with CAD-related courses. Required or not, having a CSWA is a good guarantee to future employers that you don’t need to be trained from the ground up and that you can be productive even on your first day of work.
The certification test for a CSWA is practical in nature. It covers basic Solidwork tasks such as 3D modeling, coming up with design concepts, and sustainable design principles. The test takes about three hours to complete, and you need to get a rating of at least 70% to pass.
Being the basic certification level, the CSWA is also the easiest to secure. Historically, about 65% of two-thirds of test-takers pass the exam and earn the CSWA. According to Solidworks, there are currently about 102,217 people who have a CSWA. Taking the CSWA will cost you $99.
2. Level two – Certified Solidworks Professional (CSWP)
The next level of Solidworks certification, earning a CSWP will test your more advanced CAD skills. Instead of a single overarching test, the CSWP is divided into three segments. You have the option of taking all three segments one after the other or separately. There is also no time limit on when you need to finish all three segments once you have started. The estimated total time needed to finish all three segments is just a little over 3 hours.
Each segment tests a different skill in Solidworks. Overall, earning the certification will require functional knowledge on creating fully parametric parts from drawings, modifying these parts, editing equations and parameters, and creating and modifying assemblies. You need to score at least 75% on each segment to earn the CSWP.
Only trained CAD users tend to sign up for the CSWP. This reflects on the passing rate of those who have taken the CSWP certification exams – 74%, which is even higher than the passing rate for the basic CSWA. There are currently about 32,328 CSWP holders according to Solidworks. Signing up for each of the CSWP segments will cost you $33 each. You may also opt to sign up for all of them at the same time for a total $99 price tag.
3. Level three – Certified Solidworks Expert (CSWE)
Earning the highest level of Solidworks certification certainly seems like a daunting and intimidating task. After all, you cannot simply sign up for the CSWE test. To be eligible to take the test, you must first already have the Level 2 certification. You also have to go through at least four of the five CSWE advanced topic exams. These are entirely separate exams, covering topics such as Sheet Metal, Weldments, Mold Tools, Surfacing, and Drawing Tools. To pass the advanced topic exams, you must have scored at least 75% in each one of them. Each advanced topic exam takes approximately 90 minutes to complete and costs $19.95.
It is only after passing the pre-requisite exams that you can take the comprehensive test for CSWE certification. Designed to be the most challenging exam offered by Solidworks, there is currently no sample exam provided for the comprehensive test. Solidworks provides a long list of topics that may be covered by the comprehensive test with no guarantees of which one will be included.
Taking the CSWE comprehensive test will cost you another $145. You must be able to answer 85% of the items correctly to pass and to earn the CSWE certification. Should you fail, you can only retake the comprehensive test after 90 days. True to the challenging requirements of the CSWE certification process, there are currently only about 2,339 CSWE certificate holders, according to Solidworks.
What’s the good of getting a Solidworks Certification?
As you’ve probably realized by now, getting any of the Solidworks Certifications will require a significant amount of effort, time, and money. Is it worth subjecting yourself to the stress? These are some of the benefits that Solidworks certificate holders get to enjoy:
1. Proof that you’re skilled with Solidworks
A Solidworks certificate is tangible proof of your level of skill with the Solidworks software platform. Instead of stating in your resume that you are merely proficient with Solidworks, a certification level accurately describes just how good you are. Moreover, being certified means that your name will be included Solidwork’s globally searchable registry of certified users.
2. Some companies require certifications for particular positions
Solidworks is such a widely adopted CAD platform that many companies consider it the standard technology for assessing the CAD-related skills of employees and applicants. The development of Solidworks certification has provided these companies with clear-cut requirements for some of their technical positions. This means that some job openings or positions may only be open to applicants with the appropriate level of Solidworks certification. Whether you’re looking for a new job or looking to climb up the career ladder in your current company, having a Solidworks certification can be a huge leg up from the competition.
3. You can attend the annual Solidworks World
Being Solidworks certified also means that you get an invite to the annual Solidworks World, a multi-day conference that gathers all the experts and Solidworks certificate holders. This annual event is a great opportunity from you to expand your skillset through the hundreds of technical sessions facilitated by the proverbial experts in their fields. This is also a great chance for you to form networks with like-minded professionals.
Aside from the annual conference, Solidworks also sends out invites to certificate holders for other exclusive events. It’s not all work and no play for Solidworks, as these events can range from technical seminars to cocktail parties and all-access baseball stadium tours. These events are seriously amazing and show just how far Solidworks will go to keep their community happily engaged.
4. Getting a certification can be freeFree Solidworks Download For Students
Taking a certification test can be considerably expensive but here’s the secret: it’s possible to get certified without paying a single penny! If you have an existing Solidworks license and are signed up to any of their subscription services, then it’s possible that your service offers the benefit of a free certification process.
Solidworks Certification Course:Check out this course on Udemy and pass the exam.
Final thoughts
In such a competitive world where software skills can be picked up easily, earning a formal certification can be a huge advantage. With the levels of Solidworks Certification, there is now a systematic way of determining the level of proficiency of each user with the Solidworks CAD platform. It will take a lot of training, time, and money to move up to the higher certification levels. However, there are also plenty of benefits, the biggest of which is the opportunity to apply to jobs or positions that require a specific level of CAD software skills. If you have any experience in working with Solidworks, then we strongly recommend that you consider starting the process of getting the Solidworks Certification.
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Solidworks High School Projects
As a professional engineer or CAD technician, it’s important to keep your skills honed. By continuously learning new modeling and evaluation techniques, users can become more productive and innovative in tackling design challenges.
But once an engineering challenge has been solved, how can a designer ensure that their ingenuity and proficiency with the software will be recognized? For that matter, how can team leaders identify standout designers on their teams? One of the best ways to satisfy both of these issues is to become a certified CAD user. SOLIDWORKS Certification
As one of the most widely used MCAD packages on the planet, SOLIDWORKS is an excellent example of how certification can distinguish a standout designer or design engineer from the rest of the crowd. Dassault Systèmes currently offers 13 different certification exams covering skill levels from associate to expert and several advanced topic exams (Surfacing, Weldments, Mold Tools, Sheet Metal and Drawing Tools) that single out skillsets.
Though Dassault maintains a wide range of tests that cover skill levels from beginner to expert, the three most import exams are the Associate, Professional and Expert exams (the last also requires passing four of the five individual advanced topic exams). Associate Certification
The SOLIDWORKS Associate exam (CSWA) is the starting point for many CAD high school or college students who are looking to prove to employers that they can walk into a job and be productive on day one. The CSWA is a practical test (like all SOLIDWORKS professional certification exams) that covers 3D modeling, design concepts and sustainable design over the course of three hours.
As a testament to the quality of the tests, entire states, and even a country, have mandated the use of these exams for all the students studying CAD in their universities. Mike Puckett, senior manager of the SOLIDWORKS certification program, points to Ireland and Florida as examples.
To pass the CSWA, users must achieve a score of 70 percent. Dassault claims that some 65 percent of those who take the exam pass and that 102,127 students have completed their CSWA certification. Professional Certification
When a user feels that their professional career could be enhanced with a higher level of CAD certification, Dassault offers the Certified SOLIDWORKS Professional program (CSWP). Over the course of 3.5 hours, the CSWP exam tests your ability to create parts from drawings; edit equations, parameters and feature order and create assemblies, among a variety of other skills.
Unlike the CSWA, the CSWP is split up into three segments, each of which can be taken separately. To pass the CSWP, users need to score at least 75 percent on each segment of the exam. Not surprisingly, professional users who take the CSWP have a higher passing rate than CSWA examinees, with 74 percent gaining certification. In fact, across the globe there are 32,328 CSWPs, each of which is likely master of their CAD domain. Solidworks School DownloadExpert Certification — The Few and the Proud
Finally, the most daunting test in the SOLIDWORKS certification program is the Expert exam (CSWE). To achieve the level of SOLIDWORKS Expert, users must have already obtained a CSWP certification and have also completed four of the five individual advanced topics exams.
Each advanced topic exam lasts 90-minutes and is an exhaustive examination of a special topic within SOLIDWORKS. To pass a special topics exam, users must answer 75 percent of the questions correctly. After completing the five prerequisite tests for the CSWE, users are challenged by a test that’s not only comprehensive, but also has a little mystery. Unlike all other SOLIDWORKS exams, the CSWE has no practice test available that provides insight as to which topics might be covered. Examinees walking into the CSWE will need to be ready for anything. To pass the CSWE exam, users must answer 85 percent of the test correctly. Oh, and just as a way of illustrating how challenging the CSWE is, Puckett mentioned that across the globe only 2,339 SOLIDWORKS users have managed to earn Expert certification. That’s only two percent of the total number of people with a SOLIDWORKS certification (over 110,000). So, What’s Certification Mean in the Real World?
With SOLIDWORKS offering opportunities to validate your CAD skills across the entire trajectory of your career, one might wonder whether certification translates into a higher salary, more job opportunities or even just the comfort of job security. While SOLIDWORKS does not research users’ employability or salaries before and after testing, Puckett offers Disney as an example of a company that places quite an emphasis on SOLIDWORKS and certification.
Disney Parks and Resorts is one of SOLIDWORKS’ showcase customers. According to those who do the hiring over at Disney, SOLIDWORKS certification won’t necessarily guarantee you a job, but it will land you an interview. In a competitive job market where engineers and CAD techs are vying for the most interesting and cutting edge jobs, getting your foot in the door at a company that’s as innovative as Disney says a lot about the certification exams. Though I’ve outlined the value that SOLIDWORKS certification, or for that matter, any CAD certification provides, there will still be cynical engineers out there arguing that certification programs amount to nothing more than a revenue stream that provides little to the end user. For anyone with that opinion, I suggest you turn up at SOLIDWORKS World or any other user conference. There you’ll find the greatest concentration of certified users that you could ever assemble. Chat those folks up, and ask them their opinions about certification. Your concerns should wither quickly. But if that’s not proof enough, do what I did. Give Mike Puckett a call. Not only is Mike in charge of SOLIDWORKS certification, he’s also actively invested in it. After speaking with him for an hour, I was convinced in the value of the program. I think you’ll find the same thing. Taking and Purchasing an Exam
SOLIDWORKS certification exams can be taken from any computer that hosts a seat of SOLIDWORKS 2009 or greater. The test is administered online in a secure client window separate from the core software. The SOLIDWORKS Associate exam runs $99, the Professional $99 and the expert exam will cost $149. Individual topic exams cost $19.95. If you fail an exam, it can be retaken but only after an exam specific waiting period has elapsed, usually 14-30 days.
About the Author
Solidworks Projects For High School
Kyle Maxey is a mechanical designer and writer from Austin, TX. He earned a degree in Film at Bard College and has since studied Mechanical and Architectural drafting at Austin Community College. As a designer Kyle has had vast experience with CAD software and rapid prototyping. One day he dreams of becoming a toy designer.
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