Mechanical Engineering major...Inventor or Catia or Solidworks?

[Pablo Ferral]

Don't ask us - ask the people you want to work for!

Seriously, do some research. Find the kind of companies you would like to work for, check out their website and see what they use. If it doesn't say on the website, see if you can find the email address of the CAD manager and send a polite Email to ask them. If you can't find their Email address (or you don't know who the CAD manager is) - phone the company, explain your question and politely ask for the CAD managers name and work address. Then write them a good old fashioned made of trees paper letter!

Think of this as an opportunity. Your training won't win you a job. You have lots of competition. Q: Why would a company employ you - above all the other candidates? A: because they trust you. But why would they trust you if they don't know you?

This sort of question is a great opener, and a good way to start a relationship with the people who work at a company - waaaaay before you apply for a job. And remember, once you've made contact - keep in touch. Don't hassle them, but maybe two or three times a year, send an email letting them know how you are getting on with your training.

This ensures that, when they are leafing through a pile of CV's - your name will stand out.

Oh - and, I would say that, to begin with, it doesn't matter which parametric solid modeller you learn. They all do the same thing (More or less), just with different tools & interfaces. Your time won't be wasted. Specialize once you know what industry sector or company you want to work for.

[JD Mather]

Make sure you get into Environments>FEA and Environments>Dynamic Simulation areas of the product.

[aoe2exp]

"I am a mechanical engineer, and i'm going to focus in aerospace. My ultimate goal is to work for boeing or some sort of aerospace company. I was considering learning AutoCAD but now I don't know. I heard programs like Inventor and Catia are more dominant in the aerospace/mechE industry. Help? I already have a bit of experience in inventor which I did enjoy more. "

I am a mechanical engineer as well that works on the aerospace industry. I have done so for the last 7 years specilizing in interiors and systems. I am experienced on Airbus and Boeing OEM designs.

I've used Autocad for 7 years, CATIA for 5 and Inventor for 1.5 years. Based on my experience and my friends' I would recommend you the following software for you to learn:

- Catia V5 (Try to learn Macros/CATIA programming if you can - there is a lot of money there)
- SolidWorks
- Autocad

Boeing, Airbus and many of their suppliers use CATIA. CATIA is the way to go if you want to stay around and thrive in the aerospace industry. That is just how it is and that is where the money is.

SW and ACAD are still used by much of the rest of suppliers so it would be good to learne them in order to appeal to a broader range of companies.

Inventor is rarely used and I would not recommend spending any time on it. The main reason some companies use it is because it is cheap and the products they manufacture are not complex enough to justify an investment.

[aoe2exp]

I'm probably the most unexperienced person in this thread right now, but I watched some tutorials on catia...this thing looks ancient and over complicated. Just to extrude a square you gotta exit out of sketching mode and then do all this other stuff.

Just my gut feeling, I think inventor is really going to explode over the next few years, which is why i'm gonna work with that I think. It will also help me in my classes more so than catia.

Also, I want to be a mechanical engineer, not a drafter. As an engineer, my main job will not be to just draft, it will be to use drafting as one of many tools in my problem solving arsenal. that is why inventor better suits me...i think.

So, you are saying that a (CATIA) software package capable of designing and maintaining a whole Airbus A380 and the Boeing Dreamliner (structures, systems, interiors, plumbing, electrical systems, etc, etc,) will be dethroned by a cheap (compared to the rest) software that can barely do crippled wireframe, does no surfacing, does a bad job on creating and maintaining links, has no way of organizing reference geometry, Makes top down design a pain, and has never dreamed of complex skeleton modeling? They are just in different leagues, but I will patiently wait for that day.

In Aerospace, as a Design Engineer your job is to produce an efficient design that will interact with thousands of other parts with as little problems as possible *before* production starts. All the designs are aprroved in 3d Model state, so if you can't model you will have a hard time competing with others. Airbus, Boeing and many other OEMs and their suppliers have concluded that CATIA is the right tool for their design and integration of their aircraft for a reason.

If you land a job with Boeing or Airbus, they will send you to learn CATIA anyway. Knowing it already will probably help you in the interview though.

[JD Mather]

aoe2exp

You should get some experience before offering your opinion.
You might know something about CATIA - but the evidence here indicates you know next to nothing about Inventor.

[aoe2exp]

aoe2exp

You should get some experience before offering your opinion.
You might know something about CATIA - but the evidence here indicates you know next to nothing about Inventor.

I am no expert, but I do have some actual working experience. Perhaps you can illustrate us how Inventor stacks up to CATIA on complex tasks done in Aerospace since that is the topic of the OP and following posts by the OP. I have used Inventor enough to conclude that Stitch, Patch, and 3d sketch are no replacement to the dedicated CATIA workbenches (some at extra charge). Adaptive geometry can not compare to the depth CATIA takes linking and Relational Modeling to the point of resizing a whole lavatory (including fastener size/location) with a few inputs. But I will let you illustrate this to us.

[Lazer]

Aoe2exp, lets not have a showdown and hijack this thread on what Inventor and Catia can do! I suggest you start a new thread if you wish to continue with this topic .. and JD don't take the bait!