CSWP Isn't The Only Thing We Do!

The SolidWorks Certification Program is a pretty in-depth program.  On the outside we have several customer facing exams that include the CSWE, CSWP, CSWA, and a handful of advanced topic exams covering topics like mold tools, surfacing, weldments, sheetmetal, and FEA.  What you won't see, unless you work for a SolidWorks Value Added Reseller, are the exams that we provide for our resellers.  We have just over 10 exams that deal with a laundry list of topics all meant to improve the experience our customers have when they interact with their reseller.

Hands down the most complex and toughest exam we offer to our resellers is the Support Tech Core, and Support Tech Upgrade exams.  Every support technician that works for a SolidWorks Reseller is required to pass the core exam at least once, and then is required to pass the upgrade exam each year.

So why the sudden urge to share this with you?  Well this year as one of my projects I am taking over ownership of the content that is included in the support tech core and upgrade exams.  In the past it has been handled by one of our best senior support tech guys, Mark Johnson.  If you are a VAR support tech person, no doubt you know Mark well as he more then likely has worked with you on an issue here or there.  We're also still asking for his input on the exam as well as a group of other SolidWorks Support techs from around the globe.

The support tech upgrade exam is something we do each year that is released right along side the newest release of SolidWorks.  The next release will be this fall and will deal with new features found in SolidWorks 2012.  The exam is 30 questions in 30 minutes and a passing score of 24 or better is required.  The content mainly covers new functionality in core SolidWorks, and also includes technical support issues that may have been encountered during beta.

So if you're a reseller support tech, look for the CSWST 2012 exam early this fall, and good luck on it, we'll be looking forward to seeing how you all do.  SolidWorks 2012 is just around the corner, and there is lots of cool new stuff to see!

 

Comments

[Kevin De Smet]

Mike,

I meant more for users, to join the weldments exam, and molds tool, and surfacing, and FEA etcetera?

[Mike Puckett]

Kevin,

What we typically see at resellers is that they have support techs that support the specialized areas of SolidWorks like PDM and Simulation, and then they have support techs that focus on just core SolidWorks. That means we keep the focus of the support upgrade exam just on core SolidWorks, for now. In the future something like an upgrade exam that focuses on PDM or Simulation exclusively may make sense. For now we rely on support tech exams that deal with those topics exclusively.

[Kevin De Smet]

Are there any plans to round out the exam topics further to coincide with the SolidWorks portfolio? I'm thinking PDM, flow simulation and 3dvia composer.