New software has a habit of arriving before the training does, if the training arrives at all. You might have to move to a new 3D modeler due to company or client requirements. Or perhaps a firm’s best AutoCAD designer suddenly needs to learn Revit.
The work keeps coming either way, so you learn the tool. The forums have plenty of people who did exactly that.
Image source: WrightStudio/stock.adobe.com, AI-generated.
Learning by Doing
In August 2026, an architect with three years’ experience posted on Autodesk Community asking for career advice. Still learning Revit, they wanted to know whether they should join a firm and learn it on live projects while earning, or look for a firm that offers structured BIM training. The replies leaned toward live projects. One user had taken a community college course before graduate school and said the real learning didn’t start until office work on actual projects. Another said to take the paid job even if the firm doesn’t mentor well, since nothing stops you using the software more ambitiously than the people around you.
On Practical Machinist in June 2025, a user described switching from CATIA to Inventor and learning it from a subscription video library. They downloaded the tutorials, worked through the basic sketching exercises and a sample engine model, then moved on to their own parts. After 16 to 20 hours they were proficient enough for the job. They are learning the rest as they go.
The same thread shows the other side. It started with a user attempting to teach themselves SOLIDWORKS. Frustrated, they said they couldn’t get a circle to snap to the center of a hexagon, and couldn’t delete one shape without losing the whole sketch. A number of other machinists offered ideas to help get them going.
In a March 2025 Practical Machinist thread on learning Mastercam, one user put the method plainly: the only way to learn it is “to spend time fumbling through the menus.” Others in the thread pointed to the vendor’s free courses for the basics.
READER POLL
When you last had to learn new software, how did you do it?
Where the Field Splits
The same Mastercam thread also holds the counterargument. One user had spent years on a different machining program before switching to Mastercam for a year. They worked through nearly every free course the vendor offered, and still said that even experienced users need some training, because the software doesn’t work the way you’d expect. What they already knew about machining carried over, but knowing where to find things in the menus didn’t.
A former reseller instructor, posting on Autodesk Community in November 2024, said many people in their Revit Essentials classes had already tried learning from a book and hadn’t learned what they needed from it. The instructor’s preference was on-site training, with the session built around the team’s own questions. On Archinect in August 2025, another user made a related point: not everyone learns well self-paced, and an instructor in the room can see what is sticking and what is still confusing.
The strongest vote for self-guided learning came from someone who had been sent to take a class. In the August 2026 Autodesk Community thread, one user recalled an employer sending them on an AutoCAD course years ago. By the time it ran, they had already taught themselves more than the class covered. They brought real projects along and used the instructor to help solve the harder problems. When they later moved to Revit, there were no local classes available. They say the forums, search, video, and a few good books go further than a class could. Their one condition on taking a class: make sure the employer pays.
The Archinect thread itself started with a self-guided question. A firm’s AutoCAD expert wanted to learn Revit on his own, and a colleague asked for a manual or a step-by-step program. Some replies supplied exactly that, including short daily online lessons. Others described what their firms do instead. One suggested handing a learner a mid-size project as a PDF set and having them rebuild it in Revit on company time. “Let them make mistakes and learn,” as they put it. Another firm sends new hires to a week-long virtual class when needed, paid for by the firm, and runs refresher and lessons-learned sessions through the year. A third keeps an in-house curriculum because its Revit setup is customized enough that even experienced users have to learn it. The following month, a reply suggested buying the tutorial subscription under a business account so the next hire inherits it.
So, almost nobody argues against learning by doing. The split is over whose time it happens on, and whether anyone checks the result.
Jo Suggests
Learning on a real project is how several people in these threads say they actually learned. Make that official: give the learner a completed job and its drawing set, a week of company time to rebuild it, and a senior designer to review the model at the end. That counts as training, whether or not it happens in a classroom.
If you pay for a class, arrange for people to bring their own projects to it. The user who outpaced the AutoCAD course still got something from it, once real projects were used as examples.
Separate learning the software from learning your firm’s rules and CAD standards. Tutorials handle the first one well enough, but only you know your templates, standards, or why your title block is built the way it is.
Finally, ask the self-taught person to write down what they figured out before they move on. Otherwise the next hire fumbles through the same menus from scratch.
The good news is that in the end, the work gets done.
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Methodology Note: We based this column on public discussions from the past two years on Autodesk Community’s Revit Architecture forum, Practical Machinist’s CAD/CAM forum, and Archinect’s discussion forum. We used AI to find discussions, log accounts against their sources, and develop a first draft. We then checked the source material, rewrote, and edited. The experiences described are participants’ own accounts. We did not verify their training histories or their employers’ practices.
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FAQ for CAD Training PlansHow do CAD and BIM users learn new software when their firm doesn’t train them?In public forum discussions, practitioners describe working through vendor tutorials or a subscription video library, then moving on to their own parts or live projects. Others rely on forums, web search, video, and a few good books. Several say the real learning did not start until they used the software on actual office projects. Is it better to learn Revit on live projects or through structured training?Forum practitioners lean toward live projects, but not unanimously. A former reseller instructor said many trainees who had tried learning Revit from a book hadn’t learned what they needed, and preferred on-site training built around the team’s own questions. Another practitioner noted that not everyone learns well self-paced, and an instructor can see what is sticking. Is paid CAD software training worth it if you already know a similar program?Practitioners disagree. One user in a machining forum said even experienced users need some training, because the new program doesn’t work the way you’d expect. Another had already taught themselves more AutoCAD than their class covered, but still got value by bringing real projects and using the instructor for harder problems. Their one condition: the employer pays. How can a firm train staff on new CAD software without a training department?Firms in an Archinect forum discussion described several approaches: having learners rebuild a completed mid-size project from its drawing set on company time, sending new hires to a paid week-long class when needed, running refresher and lessons-learned sessions, keeping an in-house curriculum for customized setups, and buying tutorial subscriptions under a business account. What can’t online CAD tutorials teach new staff?Tutorials can teach the software itself reasonably well, but they cannot teach a firm’s own rules: its template, its CAD standards, or why its title block is built the way it is. That firm-specific knowledge needs in-house time or a trainer working with the firm’s setup, and what self-taught staff figure out should be written down. |
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