Wendy Lim
AEC Community Manager Wendy Lim recently met with Christopher Cowgill, Autodesk Expert Elite, a Licensed Engineer, with 21 years of experience with Autocad/Civil 3D, to talk about his career in AEC, and the value of sharing knowledge in the Autodesk Community.
What attracted you to a career in Civil Engineering?
To be 100% honest, I liked math and liked using AutoCAD, and it was cheaper to get an engineering degree than an architecture degree at college.
What advancement in Civil Engineering are you most excited about and why?
I think the shift toward more connectedness, between design, construction, and now post construction. I’m curious to see how far it goes.
What’s an interesting trend you’ve observed in the AEC industry and what does the AEC industry look like a year from now? five years? ten?
I think the shift toward cloud storage, and project modeling is more than drawing. A year from now I don’t see much change, but 5 or 10 years from now, I can see contractors building things straight from the model, no more plan sets
So much knowledge in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is experience-based. What do you think are the best ways to share knowledge?
Make yourself available to answer questions whenever possible, and actively participate in the forums. Teach others whenever you can.
Now that you using Architecture, Engineering & Construction Industry Solutions, what’s the #1 thing you’re able to do that you weren’t before?
That is a tough question, I’ve been using Civil 3D for more than 10 years, and all the releases blend together. I would say designing in 3d. Previous software was designed in 2 dimensions at a time.
What does being an Autodesk Expert Elite mean to you?
It gives me an opportunity to connect to others, and access to additional resources that make it easier for me to support others whether that is with training or just sharing knowledge. I believe it is also a good way for Autodesk to recognize those that are actively involved in promoting and building the Autodesk Community.
Visit Christopher’s Autodesk Community profile
If you’d like to share your story, get in touch at aec.community@autodesk.com