To BIM train or not to...

I still remember clearly how I first learned AutoCAD. From a book, step by step, in DOS.

I give the authors the credit for they started me straight on 3D, no mucking around with Flatcad in the early 90s.

The chair I created within the first chapter was a bit like the picture accompanying this post.

Times have changed, no longer have I got the will or patience to follow a step-by-step guide to learn a software from scratch.

‘Can I figure it out?’ Is the minimum threshold for establishing the usability of a package for me these days. This attitude may come across as arrogant, but it is still a far cry from what new, much-younger-than-me users will be showing towards various teaching methods offered to them in the years to come.

Actually, I’m faced with a bit of this mind-set even these days, the young don’t care much for training, while the old expect everything to be broken down into easily digestible portions and spoon fed.

Reality is somewhere in between – to get into BIM one needs some basic training, then practice and support.

Lots of practice and lots of support.

How much exactly of each depends on where you’ve come from, how much you’re prejudiced, your views pre-coloured.

Sometimes I give this advice:

“You don’t need training, you need a complete brain-defrag!”