Take to the polls: Jobs
Published 20 September 2010
Posted by Stephen Holmes
This week’s question is all about what you look for in a job
Following the success of last week’s poll, we took a little time to analyse the results, locking away D3D’s editor in chief with the stats - here’s what he had to say:
“The results are in from our first weekly poll and we got a good response, enough to show that there’s some interesting results and conclusions to be drawn.
The first is that the D3D audience is one of early adopters, with a 38% jumping on a new release of their workhorse software on the first release. Add in the fact that another 26% of users will get on board after the first service pack is released.
For me, the third place in any poll is always interesting as you can usually guess the first two. In third place are those that wait until the third party applications are ready.
This is something that’s come up in recent months as a constant source of criticism from some users - the delay between a major software release, the development team releasing the updated API (Application Programming Interface - on which third party vendor’s rely) and the third party development community being able to update, test and ship their products for that new release.
Some vendors wait a whole 6 months before getting the API code out to the partner community and that’s clearly causing something of a sticking point. Finally, its interesting that the number of users that upgrade both when their clients do so or their IT department approve it is telling.
So, further questions I wonder about are these, particularly relating to the third party add-on world. Are those mission critical applications that you’re waiting on, are they CAM solutions, data management solutions or more specialised tools? Also, how do you know when your clients have upgraded? Is a diktat sent out or is it more informal?”
Feel free to leave your comments below.
But now for some more Monday morning clickable democracy with our question for this week:
What is your key criteria when looking for a new job?
20 September 2010
This poll ended on Mon, October 04, 2010 - 1:30:25.
Comments:
I have a good job, so I have a bit more option to be selective. My career focus is Autodesk product design and development, eventually having some ties to Japan. So my goals are Career Development, Design Software used, and Company reputation. It is difficult to decide which is most important.
Posted by John Evand on 20 September 2010 at 12:17 PM
Getting back to the upgrade question I was one of the “wait until the add ons are ready” people. This is a huge issue and it is getting worse with each release. I use Keyshot for rendering and every year Luxion have to wait months for the SolidWorks API to be updated before they can read the native SW format. So what this means is that I will not update until my workflow is all in sync.
The situation is no different for other CAD vendors.
When will CAD companies realise that it is the outputs that matter most to the end user. By this I mean we are judged on what we produce, whether that is a drawing, a render, an animation, or 3D data or a simulation analysis or a part. Why can’t CAD vendors ensure that the APIs that are linked to the file format are ready for release - and fully tested - at the start of beta, not months after release at SP2 or 3. They would like us all to use their own systems but that is unrealistic.
When we all move to the cloud and there is no “release” what happens then? Will the file format be fixed to allow 3rd Party developers to develop code around a stable format, or will they be expected to constantly develop to a moving target? In which case all that will happen is we will see a move away from native formats back to generic formats again.
On the job front, for all those applying, pick up the phone and call your prospective employer before you even fill in an application form or send an email. Design is a people business. Email is impersonal. Call.
Posted by Kevin Quigley on 20 September 2010 at 11:08 PM
I’m a new graduate and I’m currently in the process of looking for my first job. I am really wanting to remain in Glasgow if possible and am looking for work in the surrounding area, but if I were to get my dream job further afield it would be difficult to turn it down…
While at the moment I am only applying to jobs that I reeeeeally want, I know that there will come a time when I simply need a job, any job. What have other people’s experiences been with getting their first job? Am I right in thinking that getting your foot on the first rung of the ladder is the hardest?
I chose self-fulfilment/happiness in this poll because if I am where I want to be (location), doing what I want to be doing (career development), gaining experience and earning a good wage, I’ll be happy!
Posted by Louise Cochrane on 20 September 2010 at 10:00 AM