Mike Puckett's Blog

Readers & Users, Who Do You Like To Hear From?

Ever since Solidworks World in San Diego, there has been a 'virtual storm' brewing.  As all of you have probably figured out, quite a few Solidworks Bloggers were invited to Solidworks as press, and treated the same.  Without speaking for the rest of the blog crew, I can say we certainly were a segregated crowd.  During press day, we took up a lunch table of our own, during press conferences we mostly sat along the same tables, and in the press room, we occupied tables next to each other while clicking away on our various laptops.

So the storm has been centered around the legitimacy of a blog writer, versus a member of the traditional media.  Roopinder Tara of Cad Insider has been writing a series about this very topic.  His most recent post talks about bloggers getting the scoop over the traditional media.  He makes some very good points.

Most of the on going discussion has been given by both sides, but now I think its time to hear from those that scroll through the blogs, and not those that type them.  Check out The Cad Insider Post and leave a comment letting Roopinder know if you prefer to get your CAD news from a printed or online mainstream site, or if you enjoy the blogs more.  It's time to hear from those that count, you!

Heading Home...

And just in time.  Tonight's forecast low: 11 Degrees!  Ok, so thats not too bad to half of the country, but for a Californian, thats about 59 Degrees too low.  We did get a chance to see a little bit of snow fall this morning, but it was nothing much.  Who knew it could snow while the sun was out?  After our morning meeting we headed to the Mall of America.  4.2 Million of shopping bliss.  Each of the three complete floors (the fourth is just partial) is almost .6 miles around.  I was able to cover all three while we were there.  Hopefully that was enough walking to endure the next 5 hours of flying.  The Mall's Website says that if you were to spend just 10 minutes in each of it's stores, it would take you 86 hours to see them all.  We only had about three, so I skipped a few.  Who knew a mall needed not only one Victorias Secrets, but three?

Tomorrow its back to work to finish off one lens project, and embark on the next.  The best part is, it's fun to do.  Pictures to follow tonight.

Here In The Snow

Well we finally made it here late last night around 9.  Yesterday was the first time I have ever experienced any type of major airport problems, and I guess it wasn't all that major.  Minneapolis is pretty much what I envisioned, except there is snow everywhere.  While driving around at about 9:30 last night, I was amazed that everything looked so deserted.  In So Cal, the restaurants stay busy until 11, here, it looked as if everything was closed by 9!

It hasn't started to snow yet, but there is plenty on the ground.  One good thing about traveling to a snow city, is it reminds me why I enjoy the warm weather!  We are off for our meetings, and hopefully to sign some new contracts!

Planes That Can't Fly

I'm trying to figure out if its better to have a possible 16 hour delay, or fly on a plane that has mechanical problems.  For now, I will take the 16 hour delay.  After getting up at 5am on a Sunday morning to arrive nice and early at LAX, we are told our plane is stuck in Hawaii, and isn't scheduled to arrive in L.A. until around midnight!  Evidently the plane is having technical difficulties.  So they offer us the option to depart an hour and a half later than scheduled, but we will have to do a 3 hour stop in Phoenix.  I guess things could be worse, we could have discovered the plane problems mid-flight, and then had to deal with it.

So here we sit at the Tequileria just outside gate 17 at Phoenix airport.  Delays are fine, as long as there are chips and salsa, and ice cold Dos XX Amber in 32 ounce glasses to keep us occupied.  Next stop, Coon Rapids Minnesota!

Head East Young Man!

Ok, so maybe 35 isn't so young, but I am heading east, Minneapolis to be exact, and we are staying in a city named Coon Rapids! I must say we couldn't have chosen a more fun time to go considering the weather!  Yes, todays forecast was for a balmy 15 degrees, but lucky for us, there was no wind, so it actually felt like 15 degrees.  Um news flash here, even if it felt like 40 degrees, it would still be cold!  We are in luck however, Mondays forecast calls for it to be twice as warm (or is that twice as cold?) which means a nice toasty 30 degrees!

Yes us California boys are used to our 70 degree temps, and we love it.  Anyone that was in San Diego knows what we are used to (before it began to rain).  What I didn't mention is that they are predicting snow showers.  I'm not even sure I know what a snow shower is, let alone ever been in one.  In fact, in my entire life, I have only ever been outside while it is actually snowing, a grand total of about 5 times, and that was last April while I was in Germany for 5 days!

As much as I would like to complain, at least I can say I have been to one more state, and we are going to meet with a new customer to iron out some contractual stuff for a new project, so it's well worth it.  I will be taking along the laptop loaded up with Solidworks 2008, and lots of impressive models to wow as many people as I can.  It will also give me a chance to finish off a big Oakley project thats officially due next Friday, but will now be a week early!  Speaking of Oakley, guess I will head down to the factory store to get me a nice cozy snow boarding jacket before I leave!

So I will try to post some good pictures from our trip which begins Sunday Morning.

Making It On Your Own With Solidworks: Small Business Owner Interview

Part two of our small business interviews focuses on another well known name in the Solidworks community.  Devon Sowell of 3-D Design Solutions provides his customers full service mechanical design and drafting services, along with Solidworks consulting, training, and teaching including PDMWorks, and Enterprise Implementation.  Devon also provides custom programming services using Visual Basic.NET, and can also support Agile PLM services.

Devon is a very energetic person, and is always a pleasure to meet and speak with.  You can find him Solidworks World, and some local events giving presentations of different caliber, covering different topics.  To reach Devon, click to one of the links above.  Here is the transcript of Devon's interview:

1.       What was the biggest determining factor that drove you to finally venture out on your own, and start a company? I’ve been self-employed most of my life. My Parents were also self-employed most of the time.

2.      Did you always want to have your own CAD business? Yes, see question 1.

3.       What was the most difficult part of getting your business going? Choosing which CAD software to buy.

4.       If you could give one piece of advice to someone contemplating making the same move you did, what would that be? Only one piece of advice? Take classes in Small Business Management, Accounting, and Investing; hire a good Financial Planner & Accountant; Save for retirement; purchase Errors and Omissions and General Liability Insurance; pay all Taxes on time; keep up with new methods and technology, Network often; remember 95% of all new businesses fail, it’s OK  to fail, as long as you learn from your mistakes. That’s more than one!

5.       Did your involvement in the Solidworks Community help lead you to decide to start your own company? When I started, there was no SolidWorks Community that I was aware of. It has come on strong during the past 4 years or so.

6.       Has knowing Solidworks as opposed to other CAD packages helped with generating new business, and keeping others? Yes, it has.

7.      Does the Solidworks software package make it easier or more difficult to be successful? It’s not about the software; it’s about providing a service and keeping the customer happy.

8.       Finally, knowing what you know now, would you still undertake going out on your own? Yes, of course. Being self-employed is more difficult than having a salary position, I work longer hours and put in a tremendous effort, but I love it!

The third and final part of the small business interviews will conclude next week with another Solidworks "Chump", stay tuned.

Service Pack 3.0 Gets Released To All

Jason Raak seems to have the inside line on service pack releases.  Late tonight, Jason posted about the release of service pack 3.0 for Solidworks 2008.  In the SP 3.0ev sub forum on the main Solidworks forum, a few users have been saying that some annoying bugs have been fixed, and overall performance had been improved on.  Also this marks the official support of Vista 64 bit which I will venture into as soon as my new 'just for fun' Dell laptop arrives to use for fun and dedicate my M90 to Solidworks.

So if your a Solidworks Subscription Customer, head on over to the customer portal for your download.  You can also access by clicking Help > Check for updates inside Solidworks. 

Navy Succeeds In Hitting Wayward Satelite

Last week I mentioned the story about the U.S. spy satellite that was going to be targeted by the Navy for destruction due to its failure leading to an earth crashing trajectory that included remnants landing in North America.  Tonight the Navy was successful in hitting the satellite some 130 miles above earth, but it wont know if it succeeded in destroying the hazardous fuel tank aboard it for a day or so.

The full story can be found here.

Free Graphics Cards Are Always Nice

If you use Solidworks, you know that having a Solidworks approved and tested video card is one of the biggest parts of a computer when talking about performance.  Most of the time, issues within Solidworks can be attributed back to the video card not being sufficient, or not having current drivers.

So how much do we expect to pay for having stability in our work stations?  Well that depends on how big you check book is.  Middle of the road cards will set you back upto $1,000, and high end cards go up into the thousands of dollars.  Well from time to time, free comes along, and free is always good.

nVidia has graciously donated a $699 Quadro FX 1700 video card to be given away to some lucky attendee at tomorrow night's meeting of the Los Angeles Area Solidworks User Group.  Now this won't be just a raffle item, that some lucky ticket holder will win, those who choose to participate will have their Solidworks skills put to the test in a competition that will allow fellow User Group members to choose the winner.

So if your in the Los Angeles area, make sure to click the link above to get the meeting details, and plan to attend to get all the details for the contest.

Thank you to nVidia for supplying the card for the give-a-way.  For more info on the card you could win, click here: nVidia Quadro FX 1700

 

Making The Big Jump To Self Employeement

While it's the American Dream to work for ones self, it's not a very easy road all the time.  It takes a different kind of person to take on such a task, and then be successful at it.  I'm not here to announce my move, in fact, I am very happy working where I work now.  I have a great group of guys that work along side me, and I honestly love going to work everyday.

I recently contacted a few of the more well know independant people that have successfull CAD based business, and asked them a few questions.  Here is the first installment.

Matt Lombard is surely a well known name in the Solidworks and CAD industry.  Some of my earliest online Solidworks ventures were on Matt's original Verizon Based Site.  Certainly one of the most entertaining and thought provoking blogs in the Solidworks arena, Matt Speaks is where Matt shares his musings with the world.  Let's also not forget the well pened Solidworks 2007 Bible, and the next installment now available for pre order, Solidworks Complex Shapes & Surfaces Bible.

Matt's company, Dezignstuff, is where Matt makes his real dough.  Dezignstuff does complex modeling and plastic part engineering work.  He also does consulting to companies to help with Solidworks implementation, and process development for firms looking to improve their skills.

Here is the transcript of the interview:

1.     What was the biggest determining factor that drove you to finally venture out on your own, and start a company?

I was working for a reseller, and was going nowhere fast with them. They refused to make use of my eagerness to do things, and it was obvious they didn’t really want me there.

2.     Did you always want to have your own CAD business?

I don’t want to think of what I have as a CAD business. I’m an engineer, and do a lot of product development type work, in addition to writing books.

3.     What was the most difficult part of getting your business going?

Getting my previous employer to fire me so that I had the motivation to just do it. In the end instead of getting fired, I just quit and they gave me a months worth of work, which was enough to give me all the headstart I needed.

4.     If you could give one piece of advice to someone contemplating making the same move you did, what would that be?

Make sure you’ve got a lot of sources for work, and a lot of general contacts before you make the jump. Make the most of your talents by working in a specialty niche. Generalists are too easy to find, but specialists are worth their weight in gold. Do things the right way (legal software), and get a good accountant for tax advice. Treat people with respect.

5.     Did your involvement in the Solidworks Community help lead you to decide to start your own company?

Probably. That’s where so many of my contacts came from. I have work that just falls out of the sky on me, far more than I can handle. I have to turn away a lot of work, or pass it on to some of my other independent buddies.

6.     Has knowing Solidworks as opposed to other CAD packages helped with generating new business, and keeping others?

SolidWorks is good software to know for sure, just for the contacts, but sometimes you need other software to do the job, or to do it correctly. I have needed Rhino and Pro/Engineer to do my work.

7.     Does the Solidworks software package make it easier or more difficult to be successful?

In my field, complex shapes, SolidWorks makes it difficult. Complex shapes in SolidWorks are cantankerous beasts, so other people aren’t willing to take them on. The shapes would be easier to create in some other package like Rhino, VX, Alias, Pro/E, but enough people want their data in SolidWorks that there is a demand for this kind of work, regardless of which tool is actually the best.

8.     Finally, knowing what you know now, would you still undertake going out on your own?

Definitely. I would have done it much earlier. I would make sure that I had connections in the mafia, though, to encourage people who want me to do work for free. That is the biggest negative of working for yourself – you gotta be the strong arm sometimes.

You can find Matt at the links above.  To get an even more in depth look at Matt's evolution into business, check out his post on the subject from last year.  Also, if you see him at a Solidworks event, be sure to say hi, he loves to talk shop.

Stay tuned for part two of the series where we hear from another small business owner who deals with a different portion of the Solidworks software.