Do you love your BIM software too much?
The recent announcement of Google killing Google Reader has me thinking about dead software, over specialization, and the dependence on software companies. My readers who use Autodesk products might feel a little uncomfortable for a moment… are you too dependent on the whims of a mega-corporation that is clearly less interested in architects than they were when their flagship product was AutoCAD? Click on that link and count the number of times AutoCAD or Revit are mentioned. And for my ArchiCAD users: are we perfectly at ease with being part of Nemetschek? They have a lot of BIM products. And as much as we fight the good fight against one company having a monopoly on architecture and engineering offices, that battle usually feels uphill. Are we any safer?
We build huge skill sets that are dependent on the whim of corporations, big and small. Think about the people who spent years learning all the defunct software of yesterday (Architron II anyone?). I doubt Revit or ArchiCAD are going anywhere, but what if? Is your skill set resilient to change? Where do function on the Power vs Skill continuum? Are you just learning commands or are you understanding what and why you are doing things? The former means you are one corporate buyout from obsolescence. The later means you can jump between programs and grow your success. The later means you are learning to think BIM, not just think Revit, ArchiCAD, or Vectorworks.
Follow the path of skills and the probability of obsolescence decreases.
What are you doing to stay relevant? What are you doing to become more than just an expert in a proprietary piece of BIM software? What are you doing that makes you irreplaceable? Are you sure a digital native or robot isn’t a few years (or months) away from stealing everything you worked so hard to get?
The answer isn’t to learn Revit, ArchiCAD, Vectorworks and every other BIM application out of fear that you’ll need to know another software. It’s to really understand how you use the program you are using so that you can transfer that knowledge and skill set to another platform (if necessary). Because if you really know Revit will it be that hard to learn ArchiCAD? Or vice verses? No. The hard part is convincing the people doing the hiring that the program on your CV doesn’t matter. It’s your ability to think in the BIM environment and learn new skills that is paramount. Well paramount in this regard at least.
Have you told a recruiter that you can learn another BIM program and become the firm expert in no time? Or do you dream of telling someone that? Regardless of your answer, follow Shoegnome on Facebook and Twitter for more on being an Architect in the 21st Century.
Patrick May
I graduated from Arch school in ’06, having never heard of ArchiCAD before. It is a very usefull skill to be able to learn any software quick (in days), and master the software even quicker (weeks at most)… The first few days of my first job were rough, asking a lot of questions, fumbling through, learning workflow, details, drafting standards, new software, office policies and politics… after less than two months I was the “kid” everyone asked the how to questions.
I have since had very little regard for the platform, and more about what the best BIM workflow is for any size/scale of project; understanding LOD is HUGE! Understanding how LOD is understood by different firms is even more complicated.
I agree completely, and there are generally few articles I ignore (or am irritated by more) than the archicad vs. revit blogs. I’d love to learn new software, but I currently am an ArchiCAD expert; I’d rather be known as a BIM expert, but I guess I haven’t been working THAT long yet…
Stefan Boeykens
I can recall when I left school, I started in an office where they used AutoCAD. They would have jumped on another system (more BIM like, even then in 1997), but the vendor could not promise compatibility between the Windows and the Unix version… Deal broken. Still sad that I missed this. Don’t remember the name, but it was a product that was available as standalone on Unix and as an addon for AutoCAD and MicroStation.
The second office used VectorWorks, which was still called MiniCAD and which I never used. I just took home the manual in the evening and was working on day 2 and at the end of the first week, I was productive and had nothing to learn from my boss anymore.
In the third office, I was using VectorWorks on Macs during the day and one day per week, at home, using AutoCAD on Windows. I soon switched to ArchiCAD for my own projects. Switching back and forth was not a big deal, as I recall.
So yes, learn skills and apply them in the software you have at hand or that your office is using (but at least beg and nag for BIM if you are still drafting in 2D CAD).
Pingback: A great interview and some thoughts about Autodesk » Shoegnome
Sameh El-Sergany (@sameh_elsergany)
Love thae subject and the content specially I felt it was talking about me. I studied urban design and worked in construction field usin my computer skills as almost all program I used were learned by my self.
I will learn anything to work in BIM concept regardless what is the application hoping to find the right place to use my skills well.