SEU16: Day 1

My take on SEU16 is going to be a little bit skewed. I wish I were sitting in technical sessions on programming or data management or analysis/simulation, but instead I was manning the booth chatting up community members. My usual workday consists of sitting by myself in my attic office with occasional interruptions from my assistant Zoe. Ok, Zoe is my dog. So any day I can get out of the house and talk to real people face to face is a good day. Many if not most engineers dream of working alone in silence, but too much of a good thing is often just that – too much of a good thing.

There were many faces missing from the reception tonight that I’ve grown accustomed to seeing at these events. You all know who you are, I don’t have to call you out in public. Each of you were truly missed. Still, there were plenty of old and new friends here this year to make this reception feel positively huge. I’ve heard it described as “the largest non-Cincinatti SEU crowd ever”. What that means in numbers I’m not sure I can say, but the reception room was large, and was full of people.

I heard from a lot of people who every year make a point to come to this event because they know that the things they learn and the relationships they establish both affect the quality and productivity of their tools for the coming year. Coming to SEU is an investment in your own future. Those who come every year wield an on-going influence on the future direction of their CAD tool of choice – Solid Edge.

This year some new items are going to be announced that I believe are absolutely key to the future of engineering in the modern age. This is part of the reason why I chose Solid Edge over other programs – I think they understand that a practical view of today and visionary look toward the future are not mutually exclusive, and in fact, do intersect. There is a continuous link between where we are and where we are going. Companies that believe in the “disruption” plan are desperate for a product development hole-in-one lottery shot, in contrast to the methodical, measured progress that helps Siemens customers plan for the future.

And until then I’m glad to greet comrmunity members at the booth or in the technical sessions. I’ll get my chance at the sessions tomorrow. Thanks for everyone who stopped by today and chatted.