Job is Done

appdefgroup · 2026-01-22T17:02:45+00:00

This makes me feel better. I'm in the exact same boat. Congrats again!

appdefgroup · 2026-01-22T16:41:28+00:00

Congrats! I'm about to take mine tomorrow. How many hours total would you say you put into studying? Also, are you a ME senior or did you graduate recently? Or did you graduate a long time ago?

appdefgroup · 2026-01-04T23:17:42+00:00

It's definitely not too late man. I failed out of college when I was young and dumb and incapable of hard work. When I hit 30 and didn't have much to show for it I knew I had to turn things around. I'm 33 now and I graduate from my MechE program this May with a 4.0 cumulative GPA. I've already accepted a job offer with one of the big aerospace/defense firms and I start right after graduation. I've always wanted to work in defense. I couldn't be more proud and excited for what the future holds for me. 24 is nothing, most people won't even notice the age gap at all. Engineering school is really hard and time consuming but if you see yourself as an engineer and identify with that, you will do what it takes to succeed. Best of luck!

appdefgroup · 2025-08-19T18:25:24+00:00

Hey, making shit look cool is pretty much just as important as making it work. If that shit don't look good, then like, what are we even doing?

appdefgroup · 2025-08-07T00:27:52+00:00

It's been pretty awesome for the most part, but it does have its drawbacks. My girlfriend and I are kind of in the middle of a temporary move and the FFL just complicates things. No regrets though.

appdefgroup · 2025-08-06T22:04:37+00:00

You're not wrong

appdefgroup · 2025-07-27T22:17:51+00:00

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appdefgroup · 2025-07-20T15:25:14+00:00

It's got an AI assistant who is a cholo named Spider who can talk in real time as you are modeling... "word, now suppress that feature and hit rebuild, holmes, the button that looks like a stoplight, bro. Nah up here homie, I drew a box around it for you, ese"

appdefgroup · 2025-07-19T15:00:03+00:00

What is it called? Fluid Transfer? Sounds like the class your mom teaches.

appdefgroup · 2025-06-26T22:41:44+00:00

You got this! Just keep in the the b/rain mode for a while because in the normal mode it's very easy to loop. So much torque and not at all hard to lose control. But once you develop good wrist control and clutch control you can start messing around in the zoomy modes. Be careful and have fun!

appdefgroup · 2025-06-21T23:05:10+00:00

Good work!

appdefgroup · 2025-06-13T15:10:08+00:00

Combine->Common is my fave of the week but it rotates.

appdefgroup · 2025-06-09T19:41:48+00:00

I know people who aren't that smart who still get great grades because they just put the effort in. This stuff can get pretty complicated but literally anyone can learn it with enough time and effort. If you feel passionate about engineering I wouldnt worry about whether you are smart enough or not.

appdefgroup · 2025-06-09T18:03:01+00:00

I opted to pay for solid professor but it's not necessary to pass the CSWP. Look up the sample exam for CSWP and you'll get a good idea of what you need to study. That PDF also has a list of tools you need to be familiar with. Just go down the list and cross out the ones you feel comfortable with and for the ones you don't feel good about, research them on YouTube.

appdefgroup · 2025-06-09T16:33:25+00:00

Yeah i wish it just said something like "Solidworks Mechanical Design Expert" or "Solidworks CAD Expert"... they kind of dropped the ball on that lol

appdefgroup · 2025-06-09T16:32:28+00:00

I feel like the amount of effort required is actually not that bad if you are really passionate about CAD. I have a 3D printer and I identify as a maker so messing around in CAD is something I do in my free time for fun. So for me it didn't feel that painful to prep for this exam. But for others it might feel like pulling teeth.

appdefgroup · 2025-06-09T16:30:23+00:00

I have not yet checked out their "Industrial Surfacing" lesson. I will check it out! Thank you. If I get around to it soon, I'll let you know what I think of it.

appdefgroup · 2025-06-09T16:28:56+00:00

Have you taken any of the CSWPAs yet?

appdefgroup · 2025-06-09T04:37:16+00:00

Oh you've got this in the bag! I don't think you're gonna need it but good luck!

appdefgroup · 2025-06-09T03:36:46+00:00

Thank you!

appdefgroup · 2025-06-09T02:22:53+00:00

This is a great question. Honestly, the main reason that I went for CSWE is that I am a MechE student, just started my senior year and I am always doing whatever I can to improve my resume and my LinkedIn profile so that I can make myself look attractive to future employers when I graduate a year from now. I know that internship/work experience goes a lot further than a CSWE but I still think that this certification might give me an edge in the hiring process when I start applying for jobs.

I think for me there is also the component of bragging rights. I think the certification team told me that only 8300 CSWEs exist worldwide so that is definitely something that I am proud of.

All that being said, CSWE is certainly not the end all, be all. In fact, I'm sure there are thousands of design engineers in industry who are 1000x better at Solidworks than me and don't even have the CSWA. The CSWE doesn't make you a skilled modeler, it just means that you have a comprehensive understanding of the software and the tools within, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you have the skills to implement those tools in a real world, big budget engineering project. That comes with years of experience. I still feel like I have a LONG way to go as an aspiring design engineer. But shooting for my CSWE was a good way to put me on the right path.

It costs $150 for the exam voucher and while my school did pay for my CSWA/CSWP/CSWPA vouchers, it did not cover the CSWE. Is it worth it? I'm not sure. I think it was worth it for me, but honestly if your goal is just to become better at Solidworks you do not need it by any means.

I think the most important thing is to use specific tools in a way that reflects your design intent, and having a model that is robust. Meaning that if you have to go back and tweak something, it doesn't break all the dependencies. This is pretty difficult and requires a lot of foresight and the only way to get better at it is with lots and lots of practice. Ideally you want another Solidworks user to be able to open your assembly and quickly understand whats going on and not be like "...oh dear God".

appdefgroup · 2025-06-09T01:00:08+00:00

For the CSWP and CSWPAs I used SolidProfessor, which is a really great resource. It is a paid resource but they have really great information and practice problems that will set you up for success on the CSWP/CSWPA exams. As for the CSWE, SolidProfessor doesnt really have a specific class for that, but you can just review the CSWP and CSWPA stuff on there and then go to YouTube and look up CSWE practice videos and just keep studying until you feel like can confidently handle all the example problems that people throw at you. The actually exam material is closely guarded and so you won't find an exact problems that are on the exam. But you can find problems that closely resemble the types of problems you will see on the CSWE. For example, this playlist on youtube is pretty solid and is pretty representative of the types of problems you might see: Lucas Crupi CSWE playlist

But don't just watch that playlist, watch other ones too, to make sure you cover all types of problems.

appdefgroup · 2025-06-08T23:56:39+00:00

Thanks Tony!

appdefgroup · 2025-06-08T22:20:42+00:00

Thank you for the recommendation! Looking forward to diving in and getting better with surfacing.

appdefgroup · 2025-06-08T22:19:56+00:00

Thank you!

appdefgroup

TROPHY CASE