Planes, Trains, and Automation

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending DriveWorks World 2016 in Warrington, England.  Now you may be wondering, why go all the way to England for training?  Well, that is where all the experts were hanging out this year and it also happens to be where DriveWorks HQ is located.  Maybe next year they will take my Hawaii suggestion a little more seriously.

When I landed at the Manchester Airport, I collected my bags and made my way to the exit.  For some reason, the taxi I had pre-booked was nowhere to be found.  Much to my surprise, I didn’t have to worry about it because Maria Sarkar, the VP of DriveWorks, was waiting to greet me and a few other attendees that had flown in.  First Class.  With training still a day away, I had the opportunity to tag along with Matt, Chris, and Phil from DriveWorks and tour the nearby city of Chester.  What a great way to kick off the week!

Monday morning, it was learning time.  The training was split into two learning paths, DriveWorks Pro training and certification and Advanced DriveWorks training.  Having already taken the Pro Certification last year in Chicago, I opted for the Advanced Training.  Each day was packed full of advanced topics, TONS of new enhancements to DriveWorks, and time to network with other people around the world who utilize DriveWorks.  After a long day of training, we would head down to one of the local pubs to get some food and relax for a few hours.  It was really interesting to hear the ways that each company was leveraging DriveWorks.  Tons of different uses, quite a few of them had nothing to do with CAD.

Wednesday night, after training was wrapped up, all of the attendees headed over to the DriveWorks office for some pizza.  The DriveWorks HQ is a 250 year old barn which has been converted into an inviting, open-space, modern office.  Really Cool.  Thursday evening, the event closed with an awards dinner to celebrate 15 years of DriveWorks and another great DriveWorks World.

I think one of the biggest takeaways for me from this training was how passionate the DriveWorks staff are when it comes to helping people succeed.  The time they put into their events, whether that be helping attendees with travel plans, being a tour guide on a day off, or doing something out of their job description was very impressive.

It was an amazing opportunity and an incredible experience.

Written By: Jason Noteboom – Product Design Engineer | Jason loves solving problems and coming up with new ideas. His focus is machine and product design and he is certified in SolidWorks and DriveWorks. He enjoys playing hockey and building forts for his kids.