Christopher Benner
I recently spoke with Phil Eichmiller, Principal Software Engineer at Autodesk, Inc. Phil is very active in our Community and agreed to be interviewed for this blog. He is also the host of a Community Conversations series: Getting started with 3D modeling in Fusion 360, which next takes place Wednesday, May 18th 2022 at 10 am PST. Visit the Community Conversations site for details on this and all upcoming sessions. Now, let’s meet Phil.
I am a product designer, now software quality engineer for Fusion 360, testing Fusion with a customer perspective. Also a part time instructor at Portland Community College teaching Fusion 360 for CAD students and seasoned professionals alike. I have a passion for connecting people to their inner potential, either through my teaching or helping on the Fusion forums, or just in person. Let’s design and build a better future together.
Question: How long have you worked for Autodesk?
Phil: Nearly 10 years. (9 years and 11 months to be exact.)
Question: How would you describe your role at Autodesk? What does a typical workday look like?
Phil: My role is a QA, which means Quality Assurance. I test the product like a customer does, and deal directly with customer crashes and reported issues. My number one job is to provide a complete report to developers for each issue, a “bug report”. It should include key information like what the problem is, how to reproduce it, what the impact is to customers, and how easy it is to work around it. My workday starts (coffee) with a long round of email follow up, (coffee) then I check on crashes, and (coffee) see what customers are saying on the Forum. Later I’ll do focused testing for new features, or improvements, or maybe organize a test event called a “bug bash” to do general testing for an upcoming product release.
Question: What do you find interesting about your role? What are the challenges? What do you find satisfying about your work?
Phil: The interesting part is learning what our customers do with Fusion. Every customer contact shows me a new use for Fusion, new customer expectations, and new problems to solve. It can be challenging to understand the problems sometimes, within the limits of forum posts. Not everyone communicates the same way, or has English as a native language, so you get to learn to read between the lines and sometimes use google translate. It’s all satisfying in the end, connecting with someone who I can identify with – as a former CAD operator and fabricator, and then helping to remove obstacles in their daily work by reporting and prioritizing their bugs.
Question: What drives you to be involved with the Community as much as you are?
Phil: I was once a CAD user, spending over 10 years using Inventor to make designs. I spent time on the forum getting help from more experienced users, and Autodesk people! I want to be that beacon for the customers of Fusion 360. I want them to look back on their time with Fusion as filled with challenges, victories, and community. Everyone grows and none of us do it alone. I want to help others on their journey.
