Last month at SolidWorks World, our CEO Jeff Ray announced a new initiative that will be going live about a month from now. We’re calling it the Engineering Stimulus Package (ESP for short), and we’re hoping to spread the word to as many people as possible.

If you look at sites like LinkedIn, it’s not hard to tell that the design community isn’t immune from the global economic conditions. There are lots of bright, hardworking engineers and designers out there that are suddenly finding themselves without work, and are wondering what their prospects are. This is where we’re trying to help. While the complete details of the ESP will be announced later, here’s the general idea:

• Any unemployed design professional in the US or Canada will be able to register and download a Personal Edition copy of SolidWorks online. The license is good for 90 days, and will be renewable once. There will also be a watermark preventing the software from being used for commercial purposes.
• The software will be accompanied by extensive training materials that a current SolidWorks user can use to sharpen his or her skills. People new to SolidWorks should actually be able to use these materials to learn the application and become proficient. Which leads to the next part.
• Once the user is comfortable with the application, he or she will get a chance to take the Certified SolidWorks Associate test for free. We’ve found that employers actively seek people with SolidWorks certification, and applicants with a CSWA (or CSWP, the next step up) certification stand out in the interview process.

Like I said, we’re still working out the final details, but we’re hoping to get as much early visibility for this program as possible so we can help as many people on day one as we can. So if you can use some assistance getting back on your feet, or know someone who can, keep an eye on this blog, as well as the SolidWorks Blog, for more info.

(image courtesy of Brian McElyea)