Back in January, I put up a post about SolidWorks certification being free and how I thought it cheapened the whole exam. At SolidWorks World, I interviewed Jeremy Luchini and we discussed my thoughts. He explained why they’d made the changes and it seemed reasonable, though I wasn’t fully convinced. About a month ago I took the Sheet metal exam, which I figured I’d pass with no problem. I’m ashamed to say that wasn’t the case. Though I made the mistake of taking it at work, complete with interruptions, the test was definitely more difficult than I thought it would be. I hate humble pie, but I’m chewing on it right now.
Jeremy, and his team, have really done some great things with the certification program. They now offer five different certifications:
- CSWP – Core Modeling Specialist (8,329 world-wide)
- CSWP – Advanced Sheet Metal (457 world-wide)
- CSWP – Advanced Surfacing (61 world-wide)
- CSWP – FEA: (35 world-wide)
- CSWA (8,086 world-wide)
You can get complete info on each of the exams here.
They’ve revamped the certification site, making it possible for you to see which exams you’ve taken and how you did. If you’re a manager, you can set up a test event for your team and track their progress. You can also export the info to Excel and see what areas to focus on for training.
I know what you’re thinking, “quit rambling and tell me how to win!”. Ok, here’s the deal; the first ten people to email me and a signed, and notarized, document stating that they will forever be a diehard Red Sox and/or Patriots fan will win.
Too much for you to swallow? Ok, I’ll make it more simple. The first ten people to email me the correct answer to the following question win: In what year was the CSWP program launched?
Each winner will get a free certificate for their choice of exam. Simply email me your answer and which exam you’d like to take. Once I have the ten winners, I’ll send them their codes.
