Unlike the other topics in this blog, my knowledge of SOLIDWORKS is extensive. In my 4+ years at my previous employer, I was using SOLIDWORKS on a daily basis. I would like to reinforce and demonstrate this knowledge by accrediting myself with the SOLIDWORKS certifications. By achieving the available certifications, I will be able to prove my SOLIDWORKS knowledge – This will be beneficial upon my return to industry.
There are three levels to the certification offered by Dassault Systems – accredited, professional and expert. The University of Brighton offer accredited and professional certifications to students, so I would like to achieve these. Subject to my progress through the rest of the topics in this blog, I may be able to work towards the expert level certification.
18/10/23 – Research has been done into the SOLIDWORKS accreditation, I have read through the practice paper for the entry level SOLIDWORKS accreditation, CSWA (Associate level). I am confident that my professional experience in the past will enable me to pass this exam first time, therefore I am looking to complete the associate level accreditation as soon as possible before moving on to the next level of accreditation (Professional)
25/10/23 – I have successfully completed the CSWA exam this week – I completed the practice, and jumped straight into the real exam. As expected, I found that my previous experience of using SOLIDWORKS professionally was more than enough to get me through the associate level exam. The next stage is to do some research into the topics of the CWSP professional exam, in order to identify some potential weak areas in my SOLIDWORKS knowledge before I take the exam.
01/11/23 – I have successfully completed the CSWP exam this week – I completed the practice, and jumped straight into the real exam. It was certainly a step up in difficulty from the associate level exam, but fortunately most of the topics involved were areas I am familiar with from my career as a junior design engineer using SOLIDWORKS. I got 3 out of 37 questions incorrect, and fortunately at the end of the exam SOLIDWORKS informs you which these questions were, and what topics they were about. My next steps are twofold – I would like to look into these weak topics to strengthen my SOLIDWORKS mechanical design knowledge, and I would also like to look into additional SOLIDWORKS certifications. the plan was to touch on the SOLIDWORKS simulation certification in the second semester along with the simulation package ANSYS. however since I have completed both the CWSA and CWSP in mechanical design I will look into these accreditations in SOLIDWORKS simulation in this semester.
The completion of the above certifications has done two significant points for my professional development:
- My knowledge of SOLIDWORKS is now documented, and has been quantified for future employers
- I have identified any knowledge gaps that I can develop to further my ability in using this tool.
Fortunately, the acquisition of these certificates was very time efficient – as they are readily available to take for all students within the university, and my previous work experience was enough to pass both exams first time. therefore, considering the benefits listed above, the completion of this topic was well worth the time invested. A future step for me is to work on the areas that I fell short on in the CSWP exam – namely utilising the shell feature to its full potential, and developing my abilities with the path mate tool.