new user learning curve

I have about 3 years power transmissions experience..

I am currently working thru advanced assemblies in the official
tutorial manuals..

In general, assuming I am working at it for about 2 - 4 hrs/day,
how long does it take a good user to become job ready...


Also are there any medium to large assemblies ( 150 parts +) posted
anywhere for practise...???

Keener on learning

 

its 10x faster with a non fat headed live coach .. a coach that will
show you ONE thing, like 'draw a straight line' at a time..and ONE way
to do it... then you drill that for a few minutes. .. until you are
making straight lines all over the place easily.

Then you do the next thing, no extended explanations. You get
*retention* that way. You do say for instance, curved line..then a
closed arrea, then a simple extrude... then place an axis... then a
revolve... you can get all that done in a day, stress free... then
combine them for a considerable capability...it can go very
very fast that way.

If your coach tries to show you 'the right way' such as fully
constrained at first... then that complexity screws up the base
learning curve... first you draw a stinking part... screwed up as it
may be... thats easy... then when you have that down pat... a part
will go south on you.

then you learn that needed to place some dimensions on it early or
whatever... you get retention that way. withoug retention you
get a nervous condition...too many balls in the air. ONE minor
thing at a sitting, in my case sometimes over night, produces very
fast results... the brain integrates what it learns during the day
during sleep....without that integration the brain is much less
functiional.

trying to learn too fast causes such log jams..


without doing it log jam style...but one thing at a time you can learn
the 100 things you need to know so you can progress on your own and be
viable.. in 2 or 3 easy weeks.




After you can do a hundred or so moves, you will be productive. The
right coach, who does not confuse you with 98 ways to do something, or
try to get more than one thing addressed a time. By those means it
took me 2 weeks to get up to 3D on autocad 14..... and two hours to
learn to build a steel frame, and assmple parts to a skid in Solid
edge. 2 hours. You have to enforce the one thing at a time rule
on your coach...as the coach will get ideas when he is teaching you
and want to jabber those at you... its fatal.

You must direct each detail of your own learning approach... thats my
view at least and Ive had some experience with it.



Previous SE training took 24 hours, about 5% retentionable,
smoke..mirrors, jabber, 35 ways in 10 seconds to do an extrude.....
not the way to go. cut those guys off at the knees...I wasted 6
months on that approach.


Find a local high school kid that knows SW and pay him to teach
you ...you define the lessons...you pick what you do each lesson..not
anyone else, regardless what they think.... it is *your brain you are
are programming. its different from theirs. There are only a few
key basics you need to understand in solids modeling ive found to get
rolling.


the old saw, learn to do it right the first time, misses these crucial
points, and thats wy Inventor for instance is a 4 semester college
course through simple assemblies..


after you have those and can produce...then...and only then dies it
pay to get more complex. Many examples of that in life. A chemist
can read an entire book in two days and understand it all... a new
student needs to get 'atom' down pat first...that might take a
week.

Tutorials by nature cause you have to retain many things in yer brain
at once in order to do the step... for a good example of tutorials
I like though see
Youtube vid tutorials on TurboCAD...I also like the video tutorials I
got from a private party for SE... he is very brief, much to the
point, and talks mainly to identify the buttons he is clicking on....
he ends for instance... with one word. end.

He understands what is required for retention, others seem to think
that you learn by long, detailed explanations... those are good for
later, much later, but not at the front end.





Phil Scott

 

one other thang.... you will use about 1/100 of your net skill set
on any job
often an entire career...and starting off you get only peon work (or
impossible jobs
set up to accomplished by idiots)... your coping and interpersonal
skills will
be all you nead beyond what you have imo.

On the exceedingly off chance you were asked to draw an SW assy that
you didnt
know how to, you could pick that up in the work day...as you might
know by now,
most of that time is wasted anyway... catering, and running up the
hours for the
client, or burocracy so they can get a larger budget he next year.

Most of what you will be asked to do 99% of it will be applying
standard
approaches to new hillsides so to speak...and yes there is engineering
involved,
with your peers focusing the incidental and totally ignoring anything
that might
take brainz...

It might be more important for you to spend a week with each of the
other systems on the
market, get their 30 day free trials...skim thier manuals, learn their
terms, and learn to
draw a brick or two...and print it.

When they notice you using those other terms for a while you will be
considered a total
guru... with a few years experience you already know not to show any
signs of intelligence.

thats good. go forth my son and do well. wear your shirts 1.5 size
too large, heavily starched,
killer watch, 200 dollar loafers...killer haircut twice a month.


If you want to attract the secretaries dont shave once in a while....
and ignore them. They are like
cats,you have to wait until they sidle up and and start rubbing yer
leg.






Phil scott

 

There should be aboout a dozen ways to do this.
Or more, depending.

 

what do you think about over 20 hours of live one on one
training, ..couldnt find the steel library,
or drag a piece of steel onto the screen and stick it to a plate...
it took two hours with the next
guy.. and we had breaks,d iscussed red headed women and flat tracking.

your 12 hour estimate is about right imo... for me it woould have to
be over two weeks though, so each
item has time to sink in.

I tell people that I work with, 'if what Im showing you is not fast,
very clear, and easy' Im not teaching
you right so speak up if thats the case.




Phil scott

 

Aug 04, 2009

Thanks for the reply ....Youre right about retention rates.....

I know I learn the best by doing (like most adults)...

And from what I've seen from the demos of the local VARS.....they seem
to train them (the instructors)
in a special way to teach effectively.... ( I guess its because they
own the software...that is Dassault ) ...
Something the local colleges and universities can't match.
And the popular textbooks that are out there are not much help for
me...Maybe I'm slow but I like to see more real world assemblies and
models to work from...

 

My advice, and Im a cheap bastard, is to find a student who is good on
the software
and pay him his rate 30 to 50 dollars an hour to tutor you over 10
days, but only an hour a day.
so you dont get too much to assimilate... then you practice for a few
hours between sessions.


you make it easy for him or her...drive to meet
at a coffee shop or whatever... and you tell him exactly what you want
to do.

or some out of work engineer would be good at that too...if its in his
software skill set.

and keep it to that. So you will spend a paulty 200 or 300 dollars
and get what you couldnt
in months of doing video tutorials...thats been my experience so far.


You have to watch out, Ive noticed some tutors will drag it out until
their 2 hours or so is almost burned off,
then show you quick at the end the easy clean way, thats not
uncommon.


Phil scott