Ok, so maybe you’re asking yourself, “Who is this guy, and what qualifications does he have?”  Well, I’m nobody special, just a regular user like yourself.

My name is Brian McElyea and I am a Senior Mechanical Engineer and pseudo-CAD Support for Intuitive Research & Technology Corporation (INTUITIVE).  I am a Certified SolidWorks Professional (CSWP), and a founding member of the North Alabama SolidWorks User Group (NASWUG). I began this blog because I wanted to be more involved with the SolidWorks Community and have a little input.

My first exposure to CAD software was AutoCAD™ 10 in my college drafting class.  The bulk of the class was still on drawing boards at that time, but we did spend the last 2 weeks on the computers!

After I graduated college, I went to work as a manufacturing engineer building Carrier HVAC units, tanning beds, and USPS drop-boxes (the big blue ones you see on street corners).  While I was there, I played around on AutoCAD™ 12 at that time helping to develop sheet metal flats.  From there, I went on to more of a quality engineering-type position using AutoCAD™ 13 (ack!) and a third-party software that worked vaguely similar to Mechanical Desktop™.

I had another brief manufacturing stint at another contractor before joining Miltec Corporation.  I started at Miltec in January 1999 using AutoCAD™ 14, and we quickly moved on to Autodesk® Inventor™ as soon as it was released and ran with it until R8.  (They kept the seats for legacy’s sake so I still played around on it some, but my skills became rather rusty.)

I have used SolidWorks software since October 2003 (starting with SolidWorks 2004), and was instrumental in the conversion from Autodesk® Inventor™ at Miltec.  I was also responsible for the implementation and administration of Miltec’s PDMWorks Enterprise installation.  At the time I left Miltec, I was supporting 12 network seats of SolidWorks and approximately 16 users spread over three different locations!

In July of 2008, I joined INTUITIVE as a Senior Mechanical Engineer.  I am also going to get to stretch my CAD administration wings here; we are in the process of implementing Solidworks Workgroup PDM and are planning a jump to SolidWorks Enterprise PDM in the future.

I’m very excited and pleased with the direction SolidWorks is moving in, and anticipate each new release with much excitment.  I also like to keep abreast of the CAD industry in general and all the new technology and capabilities being introduced; hence the name CADFanatic.

Brian McElyea
Senior Mechanical Design Engineer
CAD Manager/Support
Certified SolidWorks Professional (CSWP)
Certified SolidWorks Professional  – Sheet Metal Specialist (CSWP-STML)
Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA)

Disclosures & Disclaimer:
I use DS SolidWorks Corp. software daily in my full-time job. However, DS SolidWorks Corp. provides me with a non-commercial license of SolidWorks Premium for ongoing educational and research purposes. I am in occasional contact with employees at DS SolidWorks Corp and am sometimes asked to provide feedback on new products or programs. I am not compensated for these efforts.

Additional disclosures/disclaimers may be made in individual articles as warranted.