4 posts tagged “solidworks”
As mentioned in my last post, Steve Wozniak (iWoz) was one of the keynote speakers at the just concluded SolidWorks World. It was great listening to him as he narrated his auto biography - his childhood days tinkering with electronics, his meeting with Steve Jobs, early days of Apple etc. He was so bubbly as he talked, he spoke at hundred miles an hour. His talk had two key messages
1) Simplicity in everything you do
2) Your products can either bend the human who is going to use it because it is non-intuitive or bend the technology it is based on so that it delivers a great user experience.
Of course, the goal is to bend the technology, but it easier said than done. A quick look at all the products out there (despite the marketing claims of "easy to use", "intuitive") still ends up bending the human a lot more.
Well, I am back in Boston after SolidWorks World 2007 in New Orleans. It was a tiring five days but it was a lot of fun. The conference had over 3500 attendees - users, resellers, partners, employees and over 125 members of the press. It was my first trip to New Orleans and there is no sign of any flood damage in the French Quarters where we stayed. In fact, there is no sign anywhere that this city was hit by a hurricane. However, we asked a cab driver to take us to the flood affected areas. Boy oh boy !! just 10 minutes from the French Quarter was one of the worst hit areas that was apparently under 20 feet of water when the levee gave away. I have pictures that I will upload soon and you will see it here in the next few days.
There is a whole lot more to write about the conference including the great talk by iWoz (Steve Wozniak - cofounder of Apple Computers). I will be writing on it in the next few days.
All I need now is some sleep !!
Finally, the project that I worked on for the last 8 months went live. It is the newly redesigned 3D ContentCentral website where CAD users can download 3D models or 2D drawings of supplier components such as motors, electronic connectors, actuators, brackets and so on. With over 235,000 registered users worldwide and with over 175 supplier catalogs with models for millions of part numbers, the site is one of premier resources for product designers on the web.
The project had its challenges and was a lot of fun. The development staff I worked with were great, always ready to make things better.
I welcome you all to come and take a look at the new site and if you are a product designer who designs products using a CAD system, you would welcome such a resource !!
Now off to New Orleans for the SolidWorks World User Conference. I am looking forward to the trip since this is my first time ever to New Orleans and I am waiting to get a glimpse of the city after Hurricane Katrina.
All of us who work do it to earn a living. Yes, that is a given. But is there more to your job than the dollars and cents you earn from it?
I work for SolidWorks, manufacturer of the leading 3D CAD software that enables product designers to design products. What has made my job fun?
In the last 10 years that I have been at SolidWorks, I had the pleasure of designing the software that has had so much impact on people's lives. It is truly pleasing to see the products that have been designed using SolidWorks.
The portable defibrillator that Zoll Medical designs to help a person survive a cardiac arrest or the incubator designed to provide a safe environment for premature babies (see picture) or the latest toys designed by SafetyFirst that my kids play with - the list is endless. This is what gets me going - this is my emotional paycheck. Have you thought about your emotional paycheck? What impact do the products you design have on the world? Think about it - that is a lot more gratifying than the paychecks we receive every month. You may not realize how much impact you may be having in making this world a better place. Give it some thought and be ready to get a fresh new perspective on your job !!
