What Is the Best Way to Learn SOLIDWORKS?

What is the best way to learn SOLIDWORKS? It is the first question almost every beginner asks when they open the software and start thinking about designing real parts and assemblies.

SOLIDWORKS (stylized in capitals) is a solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) platform developed by Dassault Systèmes and used across mechanical, product, industrial, and manufacturing design. Millions of designers and engineers rely on it because it combines powerful modeling tools with an interface that is designed to be intuitive and easy to use.

Because SOLIDWORKS is widely adopted in industry, learning it well can significantly improve your job prospects and productivity. However, the software is still a large, professional toolset. How fast and how comfortably you learn it depends on two main factors:

• Your approach as a learner – how consistently you practice, how you solve problems, and how comfortable you are with 3D thinking.
• The learning resources you choose – tutorials, courses, communities, and certification paths.

Below is a structured, practical way to learn SOLIDWORKS effectively, whether you are a student, a working professional, or a hobbyist.

 

 

Easiest Methods to Learn SOLIDWORKS

There is no single “perfect” way that works for everyone, but most successful SOLIDWORKS learners follow a similar pattern:

1. Confirm that SOLIDWORKS is the right CAD tool for your goals.
2. Get familiar with the interface and built-in tutorials.
3. Choose the right mix of instructors, courses, and online resources.
4. Practice deliberately with real parts and small projects.
5. Evaluate yourself regularly and learn with the community.
6. Validate your skills through official SOLIDWORKS certifications.

1. Understand Your CAD Options Before You Commit

Before you invest serious time, it is worth doing a bit of “homework” on CAD software in general. There are many CAD tools on the market (SOLIDWORKS, CATIA, Inventor, Fusion 360, Creo, and others), each with different strengths, licensing models, and target industries.

SOLIDWORKS is a Windows-based 3D CAD and CAE solution used extensively in mechanical design, product development, industrial equipment, consumer products, and education. If you plan to work in fields like mechanical design, manufacturing, machine design, or product development, there is a strong chance employers will expect or appreciate SOLIDWORKS experience.

On the other hand, if your long-term work is focused on architecture or purely civil engineering, you might eventually lean more toward tools in the BIM/architecture space. The key is to make a conscious choice: if your target roles, local job postings, or school programs emphasize SOLIDWORKS, then it is indeed a very strong CAD package to commit to learning.

2. Explore the SOLIDWORKS Interface and Built-In Tutorials

Once you have installed SOLIDWORKS, resist the temptation to immediately model something complicated. A short, systematic tour of the interface pays off for months or years afterward.

Spend time understanding the main areas of the screen: the graphics area, the FeatureManager design tree, the CommandManager toolbars, and the PropertyManager. Learning where sketch, feature, assembly, and drawing commands live will make every future tutorial or course easier to follow.

SOLIDWORKS includes a full set of built-in interactive tutorials. You can find them under Help > SOLIDWORKS Tutorials. The “Getting Started” and “Basic Techniques” sections walk you through hands-on examples that teach sketching, basic features, assemblies, and drawings step by step. These tutorials open in a separate window, show you what to click, and often include estimated completion times so you can plan short practice sessions.

At this early stage, your goal is not speed or perfection. It is familiarity: getting comfortable with how SOLIDWORKS behaves when you sketch, extrude, add relations, change dimensions, and rebuild models.

3. Choose the Right Instructor and Learning Resources

Your “instructor” does not have to be a single person. Most efficient learners combine several sources:

Use official help and online learning from SOLIDWORKS

SOLIDWORKS provides extensive online help and documentation that can be accessed from within the software or via the web-based help system. This is excellent for looking up specific commands, options, and workflows once you already know roughly what you are trying to do.

In addition, the MySolidWorks portal and related services give you access to hours of online learning content, including video lessons, exercises, and quizzes. You can work through structured learning paths at your own pace, which complement the built-in tutorials and instructor-led training.

Leverage quality video courses and tutorials

Free video content (especially on YouTube) is a popular way to get started, but quality varies a lot. Look for creators with engineering backgrounds, clear audio, and full project-based tutorials rather than disconnected commands.

Beyond YouTube, many professional online learning platforms offer curated SOLIDWORKS courses, including “SOLIDWORKS Essential Training” and dedicated certification preparation classes for exams like the CSWA. These courses often include downloadable files, exercise sets, and quizzes.

There are also specialist providers such as CAD-focused learning platforms that offer structured SOLIDWORKS learning paths from beginner to advanced levels.

Consider instructor-led or reseller training

If you prefer a classroom-style experience, SOLIDWORKS is sold and supported worldwide via value-added resellers (VARs), many of whom offer official instructor-led courses like “SOLIDWORKS Essentials”, “Advanced Part Modeling”, and “Assembly Modeling”. These classes usually include:

• Printed or digital training manuals
• Hands-on exercises with sample models
• Access to certified instructors who can answer questions live

The main trade-off is cost and scheduling. Instructor-led training can accelerate your learning significantly, but self-paced video and the built-in tutorials can be more flexible and budget-friendly.

Trial-and-error learning: powerful, but slower

Learning by experimenting on your own – building parts, breaking them, and fixing errors – is extremely valuable because you remember mistakes vividly. However, relying only on trial and error generally takes longer and may lead to “bad habits” or inefficient workflows if you never see how experienced users approach similar tasks.

A practical compromise is to combine approaches: follow high-quality tutorials or courses to learn the “right” way to model, then experiment freely on your own projects between lessons.

4. Keep Practicing with Realistic Projects

No matter how many tutorials you watch, SOLIDWORKS only becomes comfortable when you use it regularly. The goal is deliberate practice, not just clicking around.

Some effective practice strategies include:

• Recreating simple mechanical parts from dimensioned drawings (brackets, bushings, shafts, plates).
• Taking everyday objects (a phone stand, hinge, clamp, bottle cap) and modeling them as accurately as possible.
• Building small assemblies – for example, a vise, a hinge with pin, or a simple gearbox – to practice mates and design intent.
• Creating basic drawings with views, dimensions, and annotations so you understand the full part–assembly–drawing workflow.

Before you move on to a new command or feature, revisit the previous one in a different context. For example, if you have learned revolved features, try using them in three or four very different models (a knob, a pulley, a bottle, a handle). This prevents you from “collecting” commands you promptly forget.

As a rough indication of the depth expected in serious courses and advanced certifications, many academic guides recommend substantial hands-on practice (often on the order of 100 hours or more of structured learning and project work) before attempting the more advanced exams. You do not need that much to become productive, but it underscores how important sustained practice is for mastery.

Finally, practice is easier – and more enjoyable – when you are not doing it alone. That is where community and user groups come in.

5. Self-Evaluate and Learn with the Community

If you are enrolled in a good course (online or in person), regular quizzes and small projects will usually be built into the curriculum. If you are learning on your own, you need to create that structure yourself so that you can measure progress honestly.

Set up regular self-assessments

Here are some practical ways to evaluate yourself:

• Use tutorial checkpoints and quizzes. Many SOLIDWORKS learning resources – including built-in tutorials and online learning portals – include knowledge checks or short quizzes at the end of lessons. Take them seriously; if you miss questions repeatedly on a topic (for example, sketch relations or mates), revisit that module.
• Download exercise sets and sample exams. The official SOLIDWORKS Certification Catalog provides information about each exam, along with sample exams and recommended training paths. Even if you are not ready to sit an exam, working through selected questions is a great way to test your skills under time pressure.
• Create your own “mini-projects”. Once a week, give yourself a challenge that combines what you’ve learned – for example, “Model and fully constrain a small bracket, assemble it with two fasteners, and produce a dimensioned drawing.” Treat these as small design tasks, not just random practice.
• Ask others to review your models. If you have friends, classmates, or colleagues who use SOLIDWORKS, ask them to look at your FeatureManager design tree and give feedback on design intent, feature order, and sketch quality.

Join the SOLIDWORKS User Group Network (SWUGN) and other communities

SOLIDWORKS has an active global community, anchored by the SOLIDWORKS User Group Network (SWUGN). SWUGN is run by users for users and organizes local user group meetings, presentations, and networking events where people share tips, real-world case studies, and workflows.

Participating in user groups and online communities has several benefits:

• You see how experienced users structure models and solve practical design problems.
• You learn tricks and shortcuts that rarely appear in beginner tutorials.
• You can ask questions and get feedback on your own projects.
• You expand your professional network, which can help with internships, jobs, or freelance work.

If there isn’t a local user group near you, you can still learn a lot from the official SOLIDWORKS forums and online Q&A communities, where users post questions and share solutions daily.

6. Attempt the Official SOLIDWORKS Certification Exams

Once you are comfortable modeling parts, building assemblies, and creating drawings, an official certification is a powerful way to benchmark your skills and stand out to employers.

The SOLIDWORKS Certification Program offers multiple credentials, including three core levels in mechanical design: Certified SOLIDWORKS Associate (CSWA), Certified SOLIDWORKS Professional (CSWP), and Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert (CSWE), along with a range of specialist exams (sheet metal, weldments, surfacing, CAM, and more).

CSWA – Certified SOLIDWORKS Associate (Mechanical Design)

The CSWA – Mechanical Design exam is aimed at entry-level users and students. It tests your ability to create and modify parts and assemblies, apply sketch relations, use common features (extrudes, revolves, patterns, fillets, chamfers), assign materials, and apply standard mates. Successfully passing the CSWA demonstrates that you understand the basics of parametric modeling and can follow typical engineering workflows in SOLIDWORKS.

CSWP – Certified SOLIDWORKS Professional

The CSWP certification is designed for experienced users who can confidently design and analyze parametric parts and movable assemblies with more advanced features and configurations. Many professionals treat CSWP as the baseline credential for demonstrating serious day-to-day SOLIDWORKS capability in an engineering environment.

CSWE – Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert

The CSWE is the highest-level mechanical design certification in the SOLIDWORKS ecosystem. A CSWE is expected to be well-rounded across many areas of the software and able to solve complex modeling problems. To qualify, you must first pass the CSWP and several advanced topic exams (such as sheet metal, weldments, surfacing, mold tools, or drawing tools), which ensures broad and deep knowledge before attempting the expert exam.

How to prepare effectively for certification

For any of these exams, SOLIDWORKS provides exam information pages with:

• An outline of topics covered
• Recommended training courses and tutorials
• Sample exams or practice questions (for most, though not all, exams)

Use those documents as your checklist: if there is a topic on the list that you cannot comfortably demonstrate, spend more time practicing it before scheduling the exam.

Beyond the technical preparation, remember that certification exams are timed. Practicing under time constraints – for example by recreating models from sample exams without pausing – will help you pace yourself and build confidence.

These certifications are issued by Dassault Systèmes and are widely recognized as proof of your SOLIDWORKS skills and your commitment to professional development, which can be valuable in a competitive job market.

Putting It All Together: A Practical SOLIDWORKS Learning Plan

To summarize, here is a practical way to organize your SOLIDWORKS learning journey:

• Phase 1 – Explore and orient yourself. Install SOLIDWORKS, tour the interface, and complete the built-in “Getting Started” tutorials. Aim to become comfortable with sketching and a few basic features.
• Phase 2 – Build fundamentals with structured resources. Follow a beginner course (MySolidWorks path, a reseller course, or a reputable online class). Focus on sketches, parts, assemblies, drawings, and good design intent.
• Phase 3 – Practice on real parts and small projects. Recreate real components and build simple assemblies. Mix in regular self-assessments: quizzes, exercises, and sample exam questions.
• Phase 4 – Join the community. Participate in SWUGN or other user groups and online forums. Ask questions, share your models, and learn from others’ workflows.
• Phase 5 – Certify and keep growing. When your fundamentals are solid, prepare for and attempt the CSWA, then consider CSWP and advanced certifications as your skills and career progress.

If you follow these steps consistently – using high-quality resources, practicing deliberately, and validating your progress – SOLIDWORKS will evolve from a complex interface into a powerful everyday tool that you can use confidently in school, at work, or in your own projects.