A Student's Eye View of the PTC/USER World Event

by James Lynch, University of Ireland  

My first experience of a PTC/USER World Event came in June 2004 when it was held in Nashville, Tennessee. I was lucky enough to be a member of the team that won that year’s PTC Award in the education, college and university category for our Battleship Bismarck entry. The University of Limerick in Ireland saw this as a fantastic opportunity to promote the university and to provide some of its students with a possibly career-defining chance to showcase their work on an international stage.

RUG Chairs meet in Orlando. (Left to Right: Dan Marsalek, Mike Venegoni, James Lynch)

To be honest, at the time I was only vaguely aware of PTC/USER—and for that matter, the true dimensions of the world that is Pro/ENGINEER. While the Bismarck was chiseled out with brutal determination and a burgeoning use of Pro/ENGINEER’s features, I had no real idea how to take advantage of this engineering tool and I was ripe for a master class.

From the moment I stepped into Exhibition Hall on Sunday to the closing ceremony in the Grand Ballroom on the following Wednesday, my overall impression of the PTC/USER event was one of reverence and yet of comfort within its welcoming atmosphere—the same things I experienced again when I had the opportunity to return in 2005. Here are some of the specific benefits I gained from participating in the PTC/USER World Events. 

Networking. I think the one thing that stands out for me personally (and at first took me by surprise) was the friendly, informal atmosphere. From what I can recall, this year’s event in Orlando had over 1,500 attendees. At one point or another, I feel as if I probably had the opportunity to talk with every one of them. Well, maybe not, but networking definitely wasn’t a problem! I read a statistic some time back that over 70% of all job interviews are obtained through personal contacts and networking—something I’ve found to be true myself. I left both the 2004 and 2005 conferences with over 100 contacts with people working in every area of industry and quite a few job prospects. You couldn’t possibly ask for better opportunities!

Industry knowledge. As a prospective graduate who would soon take the leap into the working world, another most important thing I brought away with me was a clear perception of the MCAD industry and undoubtedly a vastly improved knowledge of Pro/ENGINEER. At the conference, I took the opportunity to find out what the industry is looking for and what companies expect from a graduate. I asked about what Pro/E users find stimulating about their jobs, and of course what the negative aspects are. I heard many stories of people taking varied career paths to get where they are today. This forced me to ask myself why I wanted to be an engineer and why I veered to the design end of things late in my education. I came to understand what it is that I want for my career and how best I can achieve this. 

Job opportunities. Perhaps like any other student attending an event like this, the thought at the forefront of my mind was that the 400 or so companies represented at the World Event—ranging from Maserati to Raytheon, Richard Childers Racing to Rolex—were essentially 400 prospective employers. Where else could you find an opportunity like that? In addition, after listening to all of the advice and comments that my peers had to offer, I found it easier to make the switch from academia to the professional world and with more confidence than I had before attending the conference. 

During a job interview with the company that I am currently working with, it was a real benefit to talk confidently and knowledgably about the direction industry is taking, the impacts of the emerging Asian and Indian markets on the MCAD community, and PTC’s strategic plans for Pro/ENGINEER. I think this knowledge distinguished me from other candidates and gave my employer the confidence to allow me to find my feet in the industry. 

Technical information. Probably one of the better presentations I attended at this year’s conference was Matt Loew’s It’s Called Pro/ENGINEER for a Reason!, where he explained how Stewart and Stephenson converted a 340-page US Army spec into a Pro/ENGINEER skeletal model using advanced relations and behavioral modeling. It’s these things that universities simply cannot teach, and this type of information that can set you apart from every other graduate from the 2,500 or so institutions teaching Pro/ENGINEER around the world. 

PTC presence. Another aspect of the conference that came as a surprise to me was how closely PTC/USER and PTC work together. The resources that PTC dedicates to the conference are quite astounding. The availability of the product line managers for each of the functional areas ranging from Tim Harrison, the product line manager for all of PTC’s Industrial Design solutions, to John Buchowski, who deals with all of PTC’s Structural and Thermal simulations, you can pretty much get the answer to any technical question you have about Pro/E! Add to this any number of PTC’s free hands-on workshops that ran throughout the conference, the best practice seminars, the expert user presentations, or this year’s introduction of a PTC University lab. 

All in all, it doesn’t matter whether you are a novice like myself or have been using Pro/ENGINEER since R2, you are going to learn something by attending a PTC/USER World Event. In my opinion, this conference provides invaluable insights into the world of Pro/ENGINEER that you won’t find anywhere else. 

James Lynch is a design engineer working with Design Partners in Wicklow, Ireland and also  pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Limerick. He can be reached by email at james.lynch@ul.ie.