In 1998 when the SOLIDWORKS Training Program was expanding along with the rapid adoption of SOLIDWORKS Desktop software, a need arose to validate that people taking the training were actually learning something. Note: When composing this post, the more I listed out the key events I wanted to cover, the longer the post got! So, if you’d like to read a bit about the things that got us to 500,000, then continue reading below! Avelino, Daniel, Yannick, and Junko it’s a pleasure getting to work with you every day. Finally, to my team who are without a doubt the key component of our success, a big thanks as well. To my boss Ian, thanks for your continued support and guidance and always focusing on the continued success of the program. To the internal team at SOLIDWORKS, from marketing, to the subscription team, the events team for letting us participate in the World Conference every year, and the executive team, thank you for being a part of this achievement. To Mie and Mattias from our technology vendor Tangix, your creativity and desire to provide us the most efficient tools possible not only changed the way we delivered our exams, it’s also what we’re able to use to keep expanding. To my predecessors Mark D, Dave P, and Jeremy L, thanks for building such a strong foundation for us to continue build on. I’d also like to say a huge thank you to the people that have been integral to reaching this milestone. So, to the 500,000 of you, thank you for being part of our not-so-little family! And of course, we also get emails from engineering managers and employees letting us know how earning certifications have helped them improve productivity. Emails from students telling us that they were able to get an interview that led to a job offer because they had a CSWP, as well as emails from out of work engineers telling us that the certification, they have helped them in the same way. One of the best parts of our job is getting emails from people letting us know how having one of our certifications helped them.

We do, of course, have an idea of what kind of numbers to expect each year, but that’s mainly so we can plan what we’ll need for technology needs behind the scenes. Something that you may not expect to hear is that no one on my team is actually given a numerical goal in regards to how many certifications we issue in a year. But throughout the life of the SOLIDWORKS Certification Program we have always focused on the value that the certifications hold for the users who have earned them. I’m very proud to announce that on February 8 th, 2021, we achieved the milestone of 500,000 Certified Users.Ī number of this magnitude certainly provide the opportunity to extract all sorts of fun and interesting numbers, and I’ve run some reports in order to provide some of those below.

Solidworks exam certification