I always look for ways to better myself. Physically mentally and emotionally. (less emphasis on emotional haha) For me it's not just to read self help books but to implement an aggressive attitude to learn. Simple as consistency of constant aggressive learning.
In 1992 my push was to learn telephone/internet related tools such as FTP, modems, Archie and Gopher. I taught internet classes in the evenings at Motorola. In 1994 my mission was to learn Surfacing. In 1995 my mission was to learn HTML and Perl. In 1996 my mission was to learn Alias Studio. In 1998 my push was to learn CDRS the Evans And Sutherland Surfacing tool used by GM and Ford. (they were using CDRS at Caterpillar Cab group in 1998) In 1999, my mission was to teach Alias Studio. In 1998, my focus was on public speaking, so I could present at Pro/E user conferences with confidence. In 2001 I made a push to learn ISDX so I could teach it. In 2002 my focus was on learning Maya and Pro/CONCEPT in order to teach them. In 2003 I taught myself Maya well enough to teach a Design Engine four-week Maya comprehensive class. In 2004 I designed plastics classes and made a push to organize so I could teach a two day class. Another year, 2005, I taught myself Pro/CABLE. By 2006, I had learned Pro/CABLE well enough to teach it. In 2007 I taught myself Routed Systems Designer and made several Pro/E user presentations and made other preparations to teach that. In 2008 my focus is to hone my training skills.
I have made up my goals for 2009. I made a serious effort to learn Mechanism and Animation.... and video editing software. I am open to suggestion for my learning path as 2010 rolls near. Remember consistency is important. Like making a commitment to working out in the gym every day. I go on on vacation and trips teaching on-site classes with no access to a gym so I do push-ups in the morning in the hotel room. Learning in Pro/ENGINEER should be just as consistent. And who better to invest in but yourself?
Each year I give myself a swift kick in the pants (attitude kick) so I can learn something new that will make me more in demand as an instructor. I hope others can take my lead and push themselves each year like me to learn something new at a high level each year.
What are you doing to improve yourself or your situation? Send me an email bart@designengine.com
Design Engine Education
Bart Brejcha
120 N Green St. Ste 605
Chicago, IL 60607
ph: 312.226.8339
bart@designengine.com
www.proetools.com
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
The Dream Job is NOT Impossible
In the united states as recent as 1975, parents would pay an employment agency tall cash to assist their 22 year old son (recent graduate) a job. Dad's paid that fee to conclude and get the kid out of the house as they say (after college). Those 'employment agency' advertisements could not guarantee a job legally but if they had good success rates and client testimonials then people paid the fee. They would manage resume with their customer, pool from the employment agency contacts, coach the candidates and actually assist their clients into obtain a job.
The culture changed to where the hiring manager pays the fees. The later came in the form of a percentage or margin paid out from an hourly rate or a yearly salary depending upon if the job is full time or contract. With the current climate for job acquisitions... manufactures like to try before they buy and opt to hire a candidate for contract first then make an offer after six months.
On a past business plan for design engine I specified that design engine would take a fee in exchange for training, utilizing design engine database, resume building, coaching to assist customers to obtain their dream jobs. In a sense we resorted back to before the 70's where people pay a group for job placement.
It just looks like a Pro/E training class and we call it a four week comprehensive ... in a sense you pay us to get a job but there is a month of work and it usually takes 8 weeks before candidates get their job. And in our case many times it's the dream job candidates want, like Harley, NASA or General Dynamics.
http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_engineer/comprehensive_wkshp.htm
Design Engine has assisted thousnads into obtining their dream job.
The culture changed to where the hiring manager pays the fees. The later came in the form of a percentage or margin paid out from an hourly rate or a yearly salary depending upon if the job is full time or contract. With the current climate for job acquisitions... manufactures like to try before they buy and opt to hire a candidate for contract first then make an offer after six months.
On a past business plan for design engine I specified that design engine would take a fee in exchange for training, utilizing design engine database, resume building, coaching to assist customers to obtain their dream jobs. In a sense we resorted back to before the 70's where people pay a group for job placement.
It just looks like a Pro/E training class and we call it a four week comprehensive ... in a sense you pay us to get a job but there is a month of work and it usually takes 8 weeks before candidates get their job. And in our case many times it's the dream job candidates want, like Harley, NASA or General Dynamics.
http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_engineer/comprehensive_wkshp.htm
Design Engine has assisted thousnads into obtining their dream job.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Downturns become Upturns
"Living in this kind of economy is often intimidating; I see success at this Design Engine: job placements, new product designs and ideas, new business sects formed. Downturns become upturns and here at Design Engine we prepare people for when that inevitable upswing comes" - Bart Brejcha, Principal Engineer, Design Engine
Design Engine believes that ones mind should always be engaged versus taking training courses with a step by step book in front of you. Participants at Design Engine learn to solve engineering problems like a puzzle. They are given a specific problem to solve and are shown specific tools to use to solve the problem. Students develop what Design Engine likes to call a toolbox. Their toolbox is full of processes and work flows that can be used to find solutions to innumerable amount of problems that engineers are faced with daily. And just like a puzzle, after solving it students are left with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction that generates confidence which drives creativity. The confidence also lets engineers have fun with their jobs and then they cannot wait to have the next problem to solve. Armed with this process, designed by Design Engine, our participants feel freedom and confident to find new jobs, solve complex problems, estimate projects, capture form faster or design with more confidence. This is quite unlike other technical schools as they give a book to the student and the student only has one way to go- failure. Design Engine's most popular class is their four week Pro/ENGINEER Comprehensive Course that covers everything from basic modeling to routed cable design, plastics, surfacing and much more. After the class, students have over 160 hours of Pro/ENGINEER training and are ready to be competitive in the job market.
Design Engine Education is a technical vocational training center located in the West Loop of Chicago. Design Engine focuses on teaching industrial designers, engineers, and mechanically inclined individuals how to design and engineer products using 3D software. Design Engine Software: Pro/ENGINEER, Maya, Alias, Rhino, Photoshop, Adobe Flash, among others. When an unemployed individual participants in a course at Design Engine, the Design Engine staff being well trained to help participants locate job as soon as possible runs the participant through a specific process for locating a job. From day one participant resumes are reviewed, revised, and then entered into an online websume database available to hundreds of hiring managers across the country. Students are also allowed to look through Design Engines database of over 10,000 contacts many of which are hiring managers that learned their trade at Design Engine.
Design Engine Education
Bart Brejcha
120 N Green St. Ste 605
Chicago, IL 60607
ph: 312.226.8339
bart@designengine.com
www.proetools.com
Design Engine believes that ones mind should always be engaged versus taking training courses with a step by step book in front of you. Participants at Design Engine learn to solve engineering problems like a puzzle. They are given a specific problem to solve and are shown specific tools to use to solve the problem. Students develop what Design Engine likes to call a toolbox. Their toolbox is full of processes and work flows that can be used to find solutions to innumerable amount of problems that engineers are faced with daily. And just like a puzzle, after solving it students are left with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction that generates confidence which drives creativity. The confidence also lets engineers have fun with their jobs and then they cannot wait to have the next problem to solve. Armed with this process, designed by Design Engine, our participants feel freedom and confident to find new jobs, solve complex problems, estimate projects, capture form faster or design with more confidence. This is quite unlike other technical schools as they give a book to the student and the student only has one way to go- failure. Design Engine's most popular class is their four week Pro/ENGINEER Comprehensive Course that covers everything from basic modeling to routed cable design, plastics, surfacing and much more. After the class, students have over 160 hours of Pro/ENGINEER training and are ready to be competitive in the job market.
Design Engine Education is a technical vocational training center located in the West Loop of Chicago. Design Engine focuses on teaching industrial designers, engineers, and mechanically inclined individuals how to design and engineer products using 3D software. Design Engine Software: Pro/ENGINEER, Maya, Alias, Rhino, Photoshop, Adobe Flash, among others. When an unemployed individual participants in a course at Design Engine, the Design Engine staff being well trained to help participants locate job as soon as possible runs the participant through a specific process for locating a job. From day one participant resumes are reviewed, revised, and then entered into an online websume database available to hundreds of hiring managers across the country. Students are also allowed to look through Design Engines database of over 10,000 contacts many of which are hiring managers that learned their trade at Design Engine.
Design Engine Education
Bart Brejcha
120 N Green St. Ste 605
Chicago, IL 60607
ph: 312.226.8339
bart@designengine.com
www.proetools.com
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Design Engine: More than just a name
The word engine ... it makes the motorcycle go and the car drive. It's the heart and center of a vehicle. In that respect Design Engine is the vehicle for pushing your career farther!
So Design Engine is more than just a name. Its meaning conveys that we push the participants in an organized step-by-step process helping those in their current job excel or helping people find new exciting and more fulfilling jobs. Many past students thank us for the motivation they received even ten years after attending a Design Engine course.
WHY Design Engine is more than just a name:
1. We don't just teach Pro/E or Rhino or Alias at Design Engine; we teach design and engineering. I chose Pro/ENGINEER and designed this course called the four week comprehensive pro/engineer workshop.
2. Resume help. We help with resume and job placement and/or offer encouragement for advancing at your current position or in your current field. We know what the managers are looking for in designers and engineers. We simply make sure your resume reflects those things. We also prepare you in the class to be able to answer questions during an interview. Our database is filled with thousands of contacts for job applicants or networking that we make available to all of our students for as long as they need them.
3. Our online websume service. After we use our skills to improve your resume we allow you to post your resume on our websume site. Be prepared to receive 5 or more calls per week! Notice the list is fairly short, we take students down once they find jobs.
Sample websumes:
http://www.design-engine.com/markhackett/
http://www.design-engine.com/mattkeeley/
4. Assistance with contract agencies. The agencies call us for applicants because we often custom train individuals for jobs that are in demand. For example, there are many open requisitions for Pro/CABLE and RSD users and we often teach 2 weeks of both Pro/CABLE and RSD in our four week Pro/ENGINEER class.
--at any given time there are five Pro/CABLE or RSD jobs on Dice or CE weekly.
5. Motivation. Design Engine breathes inspiration into people and inspires them to reach for new tools with new vocabulary in both Industrial Design or Engineering. For example, by showing a mechanical engineer what an industrial designer is and thinks, we open an entirely new field for more employment.
So Design Engine is more than just a name. Its meaning conveys that we push the participants in an organized step-by-step process helping those in their current job excel or helping people find new exciting and more fulfilling jobs. Many past students thank us for the motivation they received even ten years after attending a Design Engine course.
WHY Design Engine is more than just a name:
1. We don't just teach Pro/E or Rhino or Alias at Design Engine; we teach design and engineering. I chose Pro/ENGINEER and designed this course called the four week comprehensive pro/engineer workshop.
2. Resume help. We help with resume and job placement and/or offer encouragement for advancing at your current position or in your current field. We know what the managers are looking for in designers and engineers. We simply make sure your resume reflects those things. We also prepare you in the class to be able to answer questions during an interview. Our database is filled with thousands of contacts for job applicants or networking that we make available to all of our students for as long as they need them.
3. Our online websume service. After we use our skills to improve your resume we allow you to post your resume on our websume site. Be prepared to receive 5 or more calls per week! Notice the list is fairly short, we take students down once they find jobs.
Sample websumes:
http://www.design-engine.com/markhackett/
http://www.design-engine.com/mattkeeley/
4. Assistance with contract agencies. The agencies call us for applicants because we often custom train individuals for jobs that are in demand. For example, there are many open requisitions for Pro/CABLE and RSD users and we often teach 2 weeks of both Pro/CABLE and RSD in our four week Pro/ENGINEER class.
--at any given time there are five Pro/CABLE or RSD jobs on Dice or CE weekly.
5. Motivation. Design Engine breathes inspiration into people and inspires them to reach for new tools with new vocabulary in both Industrial Design or Engineering. For example, by showing a mechanical engineer what an industrial designer is and thinks, we open an entirely new field for more employment.
Friday, October 16, 2009
http:///www.PTCUSER.ORG user presentations
Considering the state of the economy and the poor attendance of various PTCUSER events, I offer a series of presentations that educate participants on plastics, diecasting, and forging related to Pro/ENGINEER. My hope is to increse the attendance. If your group would be interested in having me speak at your next http://www.ptcuser.org/ event contact 312.226.8339 and arange with whom answers the phone.
Abstract
For the the talk next month I would like to do a presentation to the group regarding free form surfacing using Pro/SURFACE and ISDX. The 45 minute talk leads the group down a path by taking a chair through many design scenarios. By manipulating curves and surfaces the seat goes through many iterations of design. The chair starts out as a basic surface geometry and then I take it through a series of modifying techniques and the geometry matures the form from basic ugly char to a task chair for the office into an Indy race car seat, then into a seat for outdoors and so on. I display all the modeling techniques live and after the demonstration I will explain how these modeling techniques work all while getting the audience to understand how surfacing can enhance their overall product look all while remaining easy to modify. Being able to model surfaces like this can save design engineer 80 to 90 percent on a typical surfacing project.
Past Presentations
My presentations are typicly packed with tips and techniques for helping designers get their jobs done faster smarter and with less mistakes. One talk for example is titled, "Mistakes Easily Made with Plastic Part Design: and how to avoid the typical mistakes,". Most plastics part designers for example get a sink mark in their parts even when they know all the rules. I simply share tips from my plastic part design class for avoiding all those mistakes such as using relations and parameters to maintain a 70 percent rule for ribs with respect to the nominal wall thickness http://www.proetools.com/courses/plastics/plastics.htm . Other talks I do are related to ergonomics and offer specific techniques for surfacing modeling joysticks to seats to drill housings. Other topics I have presented on in the past are with respect to gear design and Mechanisms. For example using Pro/ENGINEER and a top down design example of a single cylinder engine and mechanize it all from scratch live http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_engineer/mechanism.htm . Other topics that are of significant interest are my A class surfacing http://www.proetools.com/courses/isdx/level7.htm , basic surfacing http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_surface/intro.htm , making IGES geometry parametric http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_surface/advanced_import.htm, harness design with RSD http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_engineer/procable.htm and Pro/CABLE. Since I know Pro/ENGINEER and teach product design and engineering workshops, I do not use Powerpoint. That fact can be funny sice most of the user presentations are powerpoint presentations.
Bart Brejcha bart@designengine.com http://www.proetools.com/ 312.226.8339
Abstract
For the the talk next month I would like to do a presentation to the group regarding free form surfacing using Pro/SURFACE and ISDX. The 45 minute talk leads the group down a path by taking a chair through many design scenarios. By manipulating curves and surfaces the seat goes through many iterations of design. The chair starts out as a basic surface geometry and then I take it through a series of modifying techniques and the geometry matures the form from basic ugly char to a task chair for the office into an Indy race car seat, then into a seat for outdoors and so on. I display all the modeling techniques live and after the demonstration I will explain how these modeling techniques work all while getting the audience to understand how surfacing can enhance their overall product look all while remaining easy to modify. Being able to model surfaces like this can save design engineer 80 to 90 percent on a typical surfacing project.
Past Presentations
My presentations are typicly packed with tips and techniques for helping designers get their jobs done faster smarter and with less mistakes. One talk for example is titled, "Mistakes Easily Made with Plastic Part Design: and how to avoid the typical mistakes,". Most plastics part designers for example get a sink mark in their parts even when they know all the rules. I simply share tips from my plastic part design class for avoiding all those mistakes such as using relations and parameters to maintain a 70 percent rule for ribs with respect to the nominal wall thickness http://www.proetools.com/courses/plastics/plastics.htm . Other talks I do are related to ergonomics and offer specific techniques for surfacing modeling joysticks to seats to drill housings. Other topics I have presented on in the past are with respect to gear design and Mechanisms. For example using Pro/ENGINEER and a top down design example of a single cylinder engine and mechanize it all from scratch live http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_engineer/mechanism.htm . Other topics that are of significant interest are my A class surfacing http://www.proetools.com/courses/isdx/level7.htm , basic surfacing http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_surface/intro.htm , making IGES geometry parametric http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_surface/advanced_import.htm, harness design with RSD http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_engineer/procable.htm and Pro/CABLE. Since I know Pro/ENGINEER and teach product design and engineering workshops, I do not use Powerpoint. That fact can be funny sice most of the user presentations are powerpoint presentations.
Bart Brejcha bart@designengine.com http://www.proetools.com/ 312.226.8339
Friday, October 09, 2009
A delema for training...
An engineer wants to take training but does not have the money for the four week class. http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_engineer/comprehensive_wkshp.htm
there is a delema worthy of discussion.
Let me paint my learning curve/progression. First we state one obvious point. Engineers tend to learn on their own... That is why you hire an engineer because they figure out how to do things.
I learned surfacing on my own... after two years of using it (1994) I was the expert. I imported geometry from Alias, rebuilt it in Pro/SURFACE and basically set standards at Motorola for managing import geometry. Three years (1997) later I realized only in hindsight how little I knew after that two year mark of 1994. Five years later (2002) I forged new modeling techniques and incorporated surfacing from the high end Alias users. I sat at GM at night watching learning listing.... then tried all that in Pro/E pushing hard on what I knew to forge further. I realized how much more I knew about surfacing from that 1997 mark. I hit road blocks and used software to surpass the road blocks. five years later... its 2007.
I designed the Pro/E surfacing week so to aid participants to compress that learning and discovery time of 10 years into a five day workshop that I wish I could have had 15 years ago.
So the delema seams simple. What is your time worth and how much money can you make with these tools/skills? For me I know I would have failed less, modeled faster, created modifiable models, satisfied the design teams, made managers happier, kept that one job, charged $10 more per hour, and end the end made more money.
there is a delema worthy of discussion.
Let me paint my learning curve/progression. First we state one obvious point. Engineers tend to learn on their own... That is why you hire an engineer because they figure out how to do things.
I learned surfacing on my own... after two years of using it (1994) I was the expert. I imported geometry from Alias, rebuilt it in Pro/SURFACE and basically set standards at Motorola for managing import geometry. Three years (1997) later I realized only in hindsight how little I knew after that two year mark of 1994. Five years later (2002) I forged new modeling techniques and incorporated surfacing from the high end Alias users. I sat at GM at night watching learning listing.... then tried all that in Pro/E pushing hard on what I knew to forge further. I realized how much more I knew about surfacing from that 1997 mark. I hit road blocks and used software to surpass the road blocks. five years later... its 2007.
I designed the Pro/E surfacing week so to aid participants to compress that learning and discovery time of 10 years into a five day workshop that I wish I could have had 15 years ago.
So the delema seams simple. What is your time worth and how much money can you make with these tools/skills? For me I know I would have failed less, modeled faster, created modifiable models, satisfied the design teams, made managers happier, kept that one job, charged $10 more per hour, and end the end made more money.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
New Classes for Engineers interested in Aero Dynamics with Pro/ENGINEER
We have several new classes at Design Engine that go far beyond our regular surfacing classes and far beyond what the PTC resellers are capable of. For the past 15 years, Design Engine has put specific focus on product design training and with that, we developed A-Class surfacing workshops in both Alias, Rhino and Pro/ENGINEER. These classes matured over the years. See these links:
http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_surface/level7.htm
A-Class Surfacing using ISDX
http://www.proetools.com/courses/alias/level5.htm
Alias A Class Surfacing in Auto Studio
NEW CLASSES: Aero Forms for Aerodynamics Engineers
The new classes we have implemented are for engineers and individuals without degrees interested in working with Aerodynamics engineers or Aero forms.
http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_surface/level9.htm
Surfacing Aero Forms using Pro/ENGINEER
Since there is a huge demand for highly skilled surfacing experts (and we noticed an even higher demand for Pro/E surfacing in the aerodynamics companies like Boeing, Northrup Grumman, and General Dynamics), we created this 2-day workshop. It is recommended that individuals interested in this class first take our 1-week surfacing class and then come back a month or so later for this 2-day aero Dynamics workshop.
http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_surface/level7.htm
A-Class Surfacing using ISDX
http://www.proetools.com/courses/alias/level5.htm
Alias A Class Surfacing in Auto Studio
NEW CLASSES: Aero Forms for Aerodynamics Engineers
The new classes we have implemented are for engineers and individuals without degrees interested in working with Aerodynamics engineers or Aero forms.
http://www.proetools.com/courses/pro_surface/level9.htm
Surfacing Aero Forms using Pro/ENGINEER
Since there is a huge demand for highly skilled surfacing experts (and we noticed an even higher demand for Pro/E surfacing in the aerodynamics companies like Boeing, Northrup Grumman, and General Dynamics), we created this 2-day workshop. It is recommended that individuals interested in this class first take our 1-week surfacing class and then come back a month or so later for this 2-day aero Dynamics workshop.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Michicagn workers
Workforce Investment Act
WIA federal grant training money now available to Michigan Residents to empower the unemployed and underemployed in many states. To inquire please call 312.226.8339. Ask about WIA and how can we help you get a job. See us on the Michigan WIA Training Providers site!
DESIGN-ENGINE|EDUCATION has joined the Workforce Investment Act effort to help the unemployed and underemployed gain career training that is enabling and empowering in the workplace. Michigan's WIA program will give you funding to take our four weeks of Pro/ENGINEER Training.
Due to the slow economy and the large number of unemployed persons in the United States the federal government has made certain grant money available for training underemployed. Some grant money is available for manufacturers training their current workforce too.
With the grant, Design Engine Education gives our most popular four week comprehensive computer aided design software Pro/ENGINEER. We have helped over 2,000 people obtain employment from our four week comprehensive workshop over the past 15 years.
You don't have to be unemployed, funding extends to large companies as well. Take Pro/ENGINEER training for example: an engineer gets laid off from a major manufacture and has 3,000 plus hours on Pro/ENGINEER. He or she can take our four week class with WIA funds to first get acquainted with Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0 training then undergo two weeks of Pro/SURFACE Training and ISDX Training or Mechanica Training and Pro/CABLE. The person leaves our Pro/E training with skills most employers don't even have. Often with out even advanced notice, we will custom build any course.
The faculty and staff at DESIGN ENGINE|EDUCATION are committed to helping you find the career you are looking for or to help you excel in your present career. We are your advocates and we want to help you grow with skills and technique. Your success is of utmost important to us. We also provide help with your resume and offer insightful interview help. In the design world, our highly recognizable name can be an excellent way to get your foot in the door at your dream job. We maintain an active relationship with contract agencies such as Aerotek, Peak Technical, Black Diamond, Oxford International, and Butler to name only a few. Contract agencies actively recruit from our resume bank of past students. After you take a class with us, our doors are forever open to you whenever you need them!
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