We've now got tens of thousands
of people using SolidWorks
throughout the UK and commercial
organisations.
We got single operators, one man
company's, sole traders, small
companies, medium companies and
then we've got large global
brands who are using the
product.
So it's become fairly ubiquitous
it's become really like a de
facto standard for SolidWorks in
the UK. As well as that,
we've got schools colleges and
nearly all universities teaching
the product.
So there's a generation of
SolidWorks users who are coming
out into the marketplace and
it's their product of choice and
that makes hiring people with
already having some skills and
already with an acceptance of
that technology very very easy.
So my name is Caitlin Neil.
I study motorsport engineering
at Oxford Brookes University.
I just finished my second year
and I'm currently on my one year
placement with SolidSolutions so
I started using SolidWorks while
I was at university for both
university projects and while
working with the formula student
team as well.
When it came to starting to
choose my placement I knew that
I wanted to be working with
SolidWorks and I wanted to be
working in CAD and my
outplacement advisor university
recommended SolidSolutions as a
really good company with some
really great engineers Who'd be
able to teach me a bit more
about CAD.
So as part of my role as an
intern I focused primarily on
training and supporting
customers on our phone line.
I really enjoy this aspect as I
love problem solving and working
with customers and working with
a wide range of different areas
of engineering and different
companies with different
focuses.
After three months on my
placement I was already training
customers and speaking to them
on a support desk and I've been
really enjoying that so far.
When I first joined the company
I'd just graduated from
Leicester university University
with a design degree.
I was very keen on product
really like the industry and Im
still within the design
industry.
So yeah I followed that route
and after a few months i found
myself going out and seeing lots
of different customers who were
using the product and they're
all using it very differently
and it's quite interesting to
see how they all used it so
definitely. I think the
challenge is perhaps one of the
things I personally like I'm not
particularly excited by job
title or by role or
responsibility.
I like challenge thats in my
professional life and in my
personal life and I think as a
result of that we've probably
gone out and hired people who
think similar. SolidWorks is a
really diverse product and as
such our customer base has lots
of different industries
encapsulated within it and that
gives us an engineers the
opportunity to kind of dip in
and out of those industries and
puts challenges down before you
each day.
One of the things that people
really enjoy that gives them
interest is the range of
customers that we work with.
So from sectors such as the
nuclear industry through to
Formula 1 through to high tech
medical devices even the Royal
Shakespeare Theatre and
designing sets.
So no one day and no one
customer is the same as any
other.
So one of the things I've
enjoyed most is a teaching our
solidworks essential course.
So that's kind of our basic
SolidWorks course.
So it's a four day course where
we go right from the very
beginning and the basics of
using SolidWorks all the way
through to some more advanced
level as well.
Why I enjoy seeing someone who
maybe isn't an experience at
SolidWorks doesn't really know
much about the software
sort of learn and progressed
over those four days and I feel
really good.
at the end of these four days
knowing that i've made a real
difference in that person's job
and they can go back to work and
use SolidWorks on a daily basis.
My background is in mechanical
design and 3D printing and I
worked in industry for a few
years at some of our customers.
Part of the kind of incentive to
working here is there's lots of
opportunity to get involved with
training courses both internally
and externally.
So this really gives you the
opportunity to kind of test out
different parts of the software
and find your own niche.
My year is broken down into sort
of quarterly activity and so
generally I have a quarterly
bonus on I go after and there's
this different target set for
me.
Those those bonuses you know can
be really rewarding and really
motivating for you to go after
and obviously across the course
of the year as well there is a
commission structure which
provided you do well again is
really motivating they don't cap
any of that.
So at the very top of it if you
finish the year really well
you're in a really strong
position and you can feel a real
buzz towards the end of the
year.
I think professional would be
one of my key words to describe
how we do business and the
people we recruit.
That's borne out by the kind of
customer satisfaction results we
get every week.
We're a very capable group of
individuals with a lot of
different skills across a lot of
different functions.
We've got more elite qualified
engineers at SolidSolutions than
any other company in the world.
So I think the third word would
really be enthusiasm.
We see that borne out in the
FEEFO scores we get every week.
I think we see it every day in
the kind of level of effort that
we put in by the people in the
company.
There's a lot of hard work. At
SolidSolutions
there's a really good atmosphere
around the office
we've got a really enthusiastic
team and outside of work
we also socialize a lot as well.
So one of the big things I've
enjoy on my dear year placement
is getting to know everybody in
the company.
Everybody's been really inviting
and really welcoming and they've
helped me get to grips with both
software
and kind of working in a
professional environment and
there is also loads of really
great social trips as well that
I've enjoyed going on to so far
in the year. One of the things
thats's very important to us
when we started the business and
something we try not to lose
sight of because it was very
important we enjoy what we do
and the things that that's
resulted in the company being a
very social company.
So you find a lot of activity
that people relate to.
People tend to stay in the
business a long time and enjoy a
social life around solid
solutions.
We do lots of trips we've done
ski trips, cycling events, we go
walking up in the Lake District.
Many of us have been there many
years together working together
and that makes working that much
easier when you enjoy what
you're doing.
So when I talk to people about
why they should join
SolidSolutions it's the
atmosphere of fun actually is
one of the first things that I
talk about. The social
activities that we do are a
really key theme for most of our
employees that love to get
involved in that kind of thing.
We recently completed our second
Sunday Times Best Companies to
Work for survey and we were
particularly delighted because
having been accredited as the
best company to work for the
previous year this year we were
also accredited as a best
company to work for and one of
the top 75 companies to work for
in the Midlands
so we've progressed each year.
So at the moment we are over 200
people in the company we're
looking to grow that we want to
get up to 300 people. We are at
50 plus million turnover
business we want to get 80
million in the next few years so
it's very important
we all understand that that's
the objective.
That's where the challenge is
and that's where we're going.
But we need to do so focusing on
maturing that we continue to
deliver great customer service
and satisfaction and to ensure
that we can maintain that
position as a top reseller in
the UK,
one of the top resellers in
Europe, one of the top resellers
in the world.