Chief Learning Time


4hotshoez
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I would like to get a rough idea of how much time is need to learn Chief before someone is able to put together a residential design with with normal construction methods and then produce plans (Site, Foundation,1st, & 2nd floor, roof) building section and wall section, elevations and a few schedules. I am talking about learning and not time to produce. I realize the learning never stops, but I need something to go on to share with the company.

 

Thanks,

Todd

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Ummm, that all depends

 

seriously, some climb the learning curve fairly easy and some never climb it

 

your prior experience and ability to learn are big factors

 

no one size fits all

 

I'm sure you will get other opinions ranging from easy to hard

 

you may want to contact CA's customer service to see what they recommend

as they offer training also

 

Lew

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If you were to hire a new person, how long is a reasonable range of time you might allow to produce the first project from knowing nothing through learning with help to completion?

 

Hours? Days? Weeks? or Months?

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Hmmm, we did our first remodel project using Chief 9.5

and while learning Chief completed the model and basic plan set in weeks (< 30 days)

 

this was an 1880's house with 3 floors completely gutted and re-done

then sold for $750,000

 

we did a permit set rather than full-blown CD's

that was all the Wash DC planning dept needed

 

CA used to have a 90-day money back guarantee

but changed it to 30 day as too many users were completing their projects

and then returning the software for a refund

 

Lew

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If you were to hire a new person, how long is a reasonable range of time you might allow to produce the first project from knowing nothing through learning with help to completion?

 

Hours? Days? Weeks? or Months?

This is hard to answer but IMO, forget hours. How much time are you willing to spend each week? For example, if you're only willing to spend 5 to 8 hours a week, well....How well do you remember things? Repetition helps you remember things. It's always good to find someone that will help you 1 on 1 when you get stuck. This will save a lot of time. 

Things I recommend for new users:

1. Study the room dbx and all options.

2. Click on a lot of objects and study the edit toolbar at the bottom of the screen to see your options for editing.

3. Use the "All tools configuration" for your tool bar.

4. Get familiar with the snap tools.

5. Get familiar with layer sets and annotation sets. A little more difficult but a must (especially for doing layouts).

6. Try to understand how to do roofs manually. Eventually, you'll have to edit a roof.

7. Get familiar with the elevation cameras. The back-clip camera especially. The back-clip camera will help trouble shoot modeling problems big-time. 

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I always recommend that the first model should be your own house/apt

or use a family member or friends place

 

doing a real world project that you have constant access to can make for

an incredibly fast learning curve

 

learning features in isolation of an actual project is good but just not as fast

 

Lew

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The best way for me was to just start drawing and learn as you go. I took a couple of classes and that's all it took. Of course I'm still learning every day. Just learn what you need at first, the other will always be there to learn. Self-employed and had no time

to learn, just get in there and go.

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I'm with Perry.  Self employed, bought the program and jumped in with 2 feet, am mostly self-taught and refer to the videos or ask here when I stumble. 

 

It did take me several weeks to get proficient (I am by no means an expert - I still have a LOT to learn) and I tend not to learn how to do something until it comes up in an actual job condition (IOW when I am forced to) :rolleyes:  But I can draft up an ucomplicated plan, produce construction docs and do fabulous renders in very short time.

 

From  no-clue-what-I-am-doing to ready-for-prime-time took me, I'd say, a good 2-3 months but I don't draft all day every day.  If that were my only responsibility I'd say it would have been even faster than that.

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Todd,

 

I sold my first remodeling design the first day I used it but it took a lot longer, making a living to really "master" the program relative to a full set of CD's for permit submittal. The only person who can insure speed in terms of learning is you based upon how much time you put in relative to study followed by practice. The more self-disciplined you are is the only factor you can control in terms of speed of learning and competence.

Anyone else's ideas are merely their opinions and not relevant to you.

 

DJP

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OK, from what I am hearing from you all is fairly consistent despite your uncertainty. For a committed, dedicated user it should take about two weeks to get through basic training with a simple project to work with. Then that person should feel pretty comfortable getting around Chief and know most things within a month. Then to become a strong user that can deal with some of the unique feature with ease and be quite proficient producing designs and documents within 2 to 3 months. Anything after that depends how far the user wants to go or what type of projects are done on Chief.

 

Does this seem like a fair assessment of the comments so far?

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Todd, This is question is probably obvious, but just for clarification, the learning time you wish to determine is for someone completely familiar with the design process, nomenclature, the desired contents of CDs, etc? In other words, YOU, not a new hire. Correct?

 

I think your assessment is fair, given that those that commented started learning CA a number of CA revisions ago. Each revision has added more capability, thus requiring new learning but also simplifying some previously manual steps. I would be curious to hear from CA Marketing/Sales as they would likely have more exposure to the range of learning curves. As you have probably noticed, at the present time there is a relatively small number of active contributors to this forum compared to the total number of CA users and the most active are quite knowledgeable about CA (I'm not in this category). So, your sample size is small and likely not entirely representative of the total CA user population. Have I added enough caveats? :)    

 

 

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