New contributor

I'm based in the UK, but work in a consultancy.

News group is great is you have troubles, or want some sympathy when you need to rant about SW....

Lee

Welcome to the club - I went solo back in September after five years as project manager at a CAD/CAM company. The NG is a good place for problems, ideas and generally making you feel less paranoid (you realise that you're not the only one with SW hassles!!) Where abouts are you based and what area are you working in and what software do you have? My background is marine engineering from a Mechanical Engineering degree and I have contacts with a couple of other SME's and consultants who cover everything from ID to Naval architecture and Bio mechanics. It's always good to know what others are up to and have a "I know a man who can" solution for the customer! Working for yourself is lonely, but I wouldn't go back (speak to me in 18 months time!) - I've got a hell of a lot more design work done in the past two months than I did in two years dealing with projects. See the website at

for some of the stuff I've got involved in. Best of luck Deri

Hi David,

I started about 5 years ago working for myself, personally I found it quite difficult to keep the motivation going, seemed all to easy to stop and make a coffee and jam sandwich! I also found that it was at times difficult to stop work at a sensible time, once I got stuck into a problem I was there until 3 in the morning, unable to stop and start again the next day. Another problem that slowly raised it head was that my clients began to realise that they could phone me any time of day and get an answer to questions! The best move I made in the early days was to move to a purpose built brick shed at the bottom of my garden, seemed to break the link between home and work. I now have a business partner and 4 employees working from offices in the centre of Southend, althought the same problems still exist, like late payments and bad debt, i would'nt change it for the world. I wish you all the luck in the world, just remember keep smiling no matter what the client changes or the absurd delivery date he's asked for! Send us an email with a little description of you experience, you never know we might be able to pass some work between us if we get busy!

Regards Simon Miller

SGM Design Limited

Advice -

1- don't put your office anywhere near the Kitchen. You will put on alot of weight! I estimate 1 stone per year.

2- This ng is mainly made up of Americans - so be careful with the use of 'irony' if you know what I mean. Only joking of course.

3- Add Jon Banquer to your filter list. :-) as others will understand.

4- Don't get depressed when talk of fees are quoted on this news group

- Just change the $ for £ and you will be fine . Things are done differently in the States. When we buy things they change the $ to £ and get ripped off but when we sell services we change the $ symbol on the rate to £ and leave the number the same - so it works both ways. I am always amazed at the low pay rates in US compared to here so just don't get worried. They do not apply this side of the pond.

BTW based in Cornwall

Regards

Jonathan Stedman

What is "SW"?

Solidworks

South Wales.

Please I ahve the flu and it really hurts when I laugh !!!

SoftWare ... ___

And if it happens to be NSW, it would be New South Wales.

WT

south west

Deri wrote -

Deri's comments have added meaning when you realise he is based in Mid Wales and you have smutty sense of humour. Extra meaning if you know how to pronounce/mispronounce the name of the town. It does include/rhyme with some Anglo-Saxon word that is not suitable for this news group.

Deri - No offense meant - I have actually been to Machynlleth many times in my student days - is the Sustainable Energy Centre still going strong - I am afraid I have lapsed a bit since my student ideals.

Regards

Jonathan Stedman

Say, noticed you've done some marine architecture stuff. Do you know where I might find some engineering data on planing hulls. I'm wanting to model up a small (18 to 20') planing hull with some functional geometry. Most of the swx models I've run across are visual representations that don't seem like they are functionally accurate. My local library doesn't have much of anything. Thanks Bill Allemann

Are rates really higher in UK than in USA?

How much is the difference?

It costs $1.69 (USD) to buy one pound (GBP). He's saying that the difference is 1.69:1.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

ive got a good tip

get some premises to operate doesnt even matter if its a little shed from this is good as

1. it gets you up in the morning to actually go to work like everyone else that way when the phone is ringing at 11 am you will answer it

1. as stated above move away from the kitchen i used to weigh 9 stone(english folks) now im 15

2. it will stop you getting strange looks from the neighbours ,i do because if im having a bad day all i do is swear and curse at the little black box that should be doing what its told, they wonder why im in the house all day on my own screaming and swearing

4.try and avoid distractions living across from a gymn is quite distracting as all that i see from the bay window is hot women tooing an froing at lunchtimes(keeps me out the kitchen though)

no seriously though if you can get somewhere cheap and nearby it kind of improves your motivation commitment and general attitude no end

set up 3 years ago still going strong in the uk

Gentlemen, Thanks to you all for taking the trouble to reply. Thanks for your words of encouragement and advice. It is really appreciated.

Best Regards

David Bowles.

The Rhino NG has quite a few people on it (although using Rhino rather than AutoCAD) involved in boat design, who may be able to advise you.

The group is just called rhino, on the news server news.rhino3d.com

Matthew

Paul

They must have known that! they were being ironic..... its the basis of UK Humour you know?

Alan