Hi All,

I have been an interior designer for 25 years, a solo luxury residential interior designer for the past 10 years in Colorado. As I run my small business, I sub out all my drafting work. It makes better use of my time and is a smart business move.

I have always wanted to work in the commercial and hospitality field, so I decided it's time to give it a try. I have all the interior, construction, and PM qualifications for a senior designer, but because I lack the technical side, no one will hire me.

So here lies my question: please help me prioritize what software to learn to get me in the door between Revit, AutoCAD, and SketchUp

I know there are other programs used a lot, but the aforementioned seem to be in every job listing.

To add to the question, do firms ever send their employees to training?

Thanks for the responses.

SAVE YOURSELF AND DO NOT APPLY!

This organization excels best in exploiting its employees in the grandest scheme possible. Dare to associate yourselves with them if you want to experience the following:

1. Unpaid government-mandated benefits. They will promise you upon admission that these benefits are already underway, and that is only one of the many lies they will tell later on.
   
2. Delayed salary. If you want to experience starving on new year's eve due to an unreasonably delayed salary, this is the best company for you. Hell do they care about your bills. The accountant would simply tell you that she is too occupied with important admin tasks that she's got no time for the payroll as if the latter is not just as important.
   
3. Non-urgent, vague and templated answers to your concerns. Raise a concern to the accountant (who acts as the admin headmistress), and she would just give you the same answer she gave your colleague having the same concern from months ago. And by the way, this is after your week-long bombardment of her inbox.
   

If you want a rocky hell of a ride towards your dreams, apply to Sigmabear. And experience exploitation in the grandest way possible.

The company I work for is looking to switch construction management software, and I'm responsible for researching our options. I came across BuildBase while searching online, and it seems to check a lot of the boxes we're looking for.

I used ECI at a previous company and honestly wasn't a huge fan, so I'm hoping to find something different this time around.

If you've used BuildBase, I'd love to hear your experience. How is it for job costing, purchasing, accounting, invoicing, project management, and overall usability? How does it compare to Sage, CMiC, Buildertrend, or other platforms?

Any honest feedback, good or bad, would be really appreciated!

Disclosure up front, since self-promo rules matter here: I make one of the tools in the test (Ncored). So I am biased, I will not say how mine did, and I am posting this to build a shared reference and hear what you use, not to advertise it. Check all of it yourself.

I am a practising architect, and heavy PDF sets that crawl when you scroll and zoom have annoyed me for years. The exports out of AutoCAD, Revit and ArchiCAD are some of the worst for it, especially multi-discipline packages where the file gets large and every sheet is dense. So I ran one dense drawing through about a dozen PDF editors on one Windows PC and one Mac, same moves in each, and made the file downloadable so anyone can re-run it.

The surprises:

- Bluebeam Revu was not the smoothest on this dense drawing. Once open it loads fast, and its markup and Studio are still the benchmark for coordination, no question. But panning it flashed white and reloaded the primary layers before the detail filled in. Heavy Revu users, if your experience is different I would like to hear it.

- PDF-XChange Editor was surprisingly smooth, though the interface is a dated Windows-toolbar look.

- A couple of consumer editors went choppy or would not load the heavy drawing at all.

Two things I want from this sub:

1. What do you actually use for heavy AutoCAD, Revit and ArchiCAD PDF sets, and does it hold up when the set gets big and dense?

2. What should I add or re-test? Name any editor you think belongs, and call out anything you think I got wrong.

I will add your suggestions and re-run them on the same file so it stays a shared reference. The recordings and the downloadable drawing are in the first comment below.

Standard caveat: your hardware and files differ from mine, so it is one data point, not the last word.

I’m graduating soon with a degree in Structural Engineering – Sustainable Building (in Sweden), and I’m curious to hear what others with a similar background ended up doing.

What do you work with today?
• *BIM?*
*• Structural engineering?*
*• Project management?*
*• Infrastructure?*
*• Sustainability?*
*• Something completely different?*

Personally, I want to work with BIM and 3D modeling, coordinating different disciplines and planning how projects should actually be built rather than just calculating every detail. I enjoy designing solutions, solving problems, and finding the balance between technical functionality, sustainability, and aesthetics.

**For those already in the industry:**
• *What does your day-to-day work actually look like?*
*• What software do you use the most?*
*• What skills have been the most valuable?*
*• Is BIM a good long-term career path?*
*• If you could start over after graduation, what would you do differently?*
*• what’s your tips / advice?*
*• do you like your job? If yes/no, why?*

I’m extra interested if anyone is from Sweden, Scandinavia or England, so please don’t be shy to go into detail or write longer replies :)

I’d love to hear about your career journey, advice, and any tips for someone about to enter the industry.

I’m holding civil engineering degree( Srilanka). Now I’m studying masters in bim. I don’t have any experience in bim field. I have a year experience as site engineer. How can build my self to find the BIM related job? I’m looking job in uk

What are your thoughts on Stanza Technologies (Philippines) for BIM Architectural/Structural?

Hi everyone,

I've been studying Revit for a while now, and I'd like to hear from people who are already working with it, especially those working remotely.

I have a few questions:

• How long did it take you to land your first job using Revit?
• What level of proficiency do you think is needed before applying for jobs?
• What kind of tasks does someone in an entry-level Revit position usually do?
• If you had to start learning Revit from scratch today, how would you structure your learning to progress as quickly as possible?

A bit of background: I'm an Architecture student, I have some basic programming knowledge, and I'm interested in learning Dynamo. I'm also planning to learn pyRevit in the near future to get into automation.

My goal is to land a remote job related to Revit and eventually specialize in BIM and automation. I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences, what skills you think are worth prioritizing, and any advice you wish you had received when you were starting out.

Which IFC issues consume the most time in your workflow?

I’m particularly interested in:

The types of issues you see most often.

How frequently they occur.

How much time they cost.

Whether you repair them internally, send the file back to the author, or use another approach.

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience.

Edit: I’m a civil engineering student working with Bonsai and IfcOpenShell. I’ve worked with IFC files myself, but I know different companies use different authoring tools and workflows, so I’m trying to understand what issues people actually run into in practice. I’m not selling anything here—I’m genuinely interested in learning from real-world experiences.

How i would export some revit sheets in dynamo?

Is getting job as bim designer as a fresher in japan from India a great start for career

Can i switch from japan to dubai or other countries after 3 4 years of job experience in japan

Will the experience in japan beneficial ?

Hello everyone! what is the best siteor app for applying sa BIM or Revit modeler?

Hello everyone I am a 4th year architecture student and I am willing to connect with people who are focusing on project management and bim focused students.

I Want to start my bim journey and need help with that so anybody who wants to connect please contact me.

Hi everyone, I'm currently considering a career change. I'm a 3D Artist who has worked in the games industry and some VR projects but with the state of the games industry, I'm hoping to find a more stable career and from what I've seen BIM is more stable and overlaps with some of my experience.

I don't have a degree in architecture or engineering, but I was wondering if there's jobs I could get in the field by learning AutoCAD and Revit and making some portfolio pieces. From what I understand, I'd be looking at BIM Technician and Modeler roles.

Is this a good move or would I be wasting time and money? Am I wrong about any of this? Is the industry less stable than I know? I'd really appreciate it if you could help me out, thank you!

Every day I see multiple posts of people saying they built these tools that aim to help bla bla bla. Even the posts and their replies are all formulated and worded by AI. Nothing about it feels authentic and human.

This is probably part of a bigger problem, not just in our industry. But everything is feeling so saturated and tiring by these low effort ideas.

I’m tired fellas.

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in learning Dynamo in depth to get a handle on it and maybe film some course in the language used in my country.

And along the way, maybe advise offices/build scripts for them.

My question to you is this: From your experience, how useful is Revit Dynamo in architectural offices? Is it worth learning it in depth?

Does AI weaken it?

With the recent Content Catalog update limiting active version support to Revit 2024-2027, I'm curious how other firms are managing their family libraries.

I understand the base version is always retained, and older versions remain available for download, but once a version falls out of Content Catalog support (like 2022 and 2023), it can no longer be upgraded or inserted through Content Catalog workflows. That makes older content difficult to use on current projects.

Are firms proactively batch-upgrading their entire libraries each year, maintaining multiple versions, or using another strategy to stay ahead of the version support changes? I'd be interested to hear what has worked well for others.

I guess the same question applies to Autodesk Forma no longer supporting older Revit versions. How are firms handling that? Are you upgrading your office templates to the oldest Revit version still supported by Forma and ACC each year, or are you taking a different approach?

It seems like Autodesk is moving toward a rolling support window, so I'm curious what everyone's long-term strategy is for keeping templates, family libraries, and active projects compatible without constantly scrambling to upgrade.

هناك توجه كبير نحو أتمتة التصميم والبناء في رؤية المملكة. ولكن عند التطبيق في المشاريع الصغيرة والمتوسطة، نواجه معوقات في التكلفة والخبرة. كيف ترون مستقبل هذا التوجه؟ هل سيفرض نفسه كمعيار إلزامي قريباً؟

Hello so I'm a 4th year architecture student this year and I still have 1 more year to go before I get my degree or graduate from college.

Now recently, I've been really wondering what path will I take after I graduated from architecture. I'm not really great at this because it was just a second option for the school that I really want to attend and the course was too expensive. I'm also not a great Contributor at this, mostly carried by my teammates at a project tasked by our professor but that doesn't mean I'm lazy. The stuff that I usually do is just doing floorplan or things that needed to be finished. But generating ideas, it's hardly my thing for I'm struggling with this, although can still contribute some.

How did I became Interested at BIM. Well recently I've heard about some architects becoming an Autocad Specialist so I dig deep into it and I found BIM. That's when I finally probably had an idea of something I would probably want to do so I just started studying this time because before I was just lazying due to I'm uncertain who I wanna be.

So far I'm just currently Studying Revit, our professor gave us a YouTube channel where we can grasp how to use Revit. It has 3 parts playlist, Prelim, misterm, and Finals. All video mostly an hour long tutorials. Although I did heard that BIM is more than that, It also includes other softwares like Archicad, rhinoceros, grasshopper and etc.

Now with this background information I give about myself. What kinda of BIM I should be to start studying it or prepare myself after I graduate and what softwares should I study? To start with it.

Note that my country is not that great for I live in Philippines and idk if there's company here I can work being a BIM technician of something. So mostly I may employ myself working on Online jobs for BIM. Although I'm not yet knowledgeable about BIM so any advice I would appreciate.

Revit still appears to be the default BIM platform for MEP, especially in larger engineering firms and multidisciplinary projects. It has established tools for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing modeling, system calculations, documentation, coordination, and fabrication workflows.

However, Archicad seems to be making a more serious push into this space with MEP Designer. It looks particularly interesting for firms that already use Archicad for architecture and want MEP engineers working within the same environment.

Vectorworks is harder to assess. It has strong BIM and design capabilities, but I still see it discussed more often in architecture, interiors, landscape, and entertainment than in full-scale MEP engineering. That may be different for smaller multidisciplinary practices or in certain regions.

I am interested in what is happening on actual projects, not just what each company’s marketing says.

For those working in MEP or BIM coordination:

• Are more engineering firms adopting Archicad or Vectorworks?
• Is Revit still the automatic choice when architects, engineers, and contractors need to coordinate?
• How well does Archicad’s MEP workflow handle calculations, system design, documentation, and clash coordination?
• Are consultants delivering native models in anything other than Revit?
• Which platform are employers currently asking MEP candidates to know?
• Have interoperability and IFC improvements made software choice less important?

My current impression is that Revit still leads MEP by a wide margin, while Archicad is the one making the clearest attempt to challenge it. Vectorworks may be improving, but it does not yet seem to have the same visibility among dedicated MEP teams.

Is that accurate in your market, or are you seeing a genuine shift?

Hola a todos,

Últimamente he estado desarrollando Modunex, un software como servicio (SaaS) multiusuario para la gestión de la construcción con BIM real, no solo almacenamiento de documentos. Renderiza modelos 3D directamente en el navegador (a través de Autodesk Platform Services / Forge) y los integra a los flujos de trabajo diarios de un equipo de proyecto.

Funciones hasta el momento:

• Visor BIM 3D: sube un modelo, se traduce en segundo plano y lo visualizas mediante URN en el navegador.
• Solicitudes de información (RFI), entregas, especificaciones (con análisis de especificaciones asistido por IA), planos, problemas de coordinación, listas de pendientes/calidad.
• Cronogramas/Diagramas de Gantt, correspondencia, geomapa, flujos de trabajo personalizados.
• Multiusuario, con planes y facturación.

Publico aquí porque prefiero escuchar las verdades ahora que después del lanzamiento. En concreto:

1. Si trabajas en construcción/arquitectura, ingeniería y construcción (AEC), ¿cuál es el único fallo en el flujo de trabajo de tu herramienta actual que te haría cambiar?
2. ¿Consideras que el "BIM real en el navegador" es un punto a favor, o es algo deseable pero no esencial, en comparación con las tareas rutinarias (solicitudes de información, presentaciones) que funcionan correctamente?
3. Para los profesionales de SaaS, ¿cómo fijarían el precio de una solución que compita con Procore/ACC, pero dirigida a empresas más pequeñas?

Con gusto compartiré capturas de pantalla o un enlace a una demo en los comentarios si hay interés (no quiero que esto parezca publicidad). ¡Crítica sin miedo! Para eso estoy aquí.

Gracias 🙏

I'm doing research on this topic, creating a automated digital flow from BIM to Etab , but I'm new on this topic ,so I want to know any research gap on this topic and any advice

Hi everyone,
I’m an architect with a little over 7 years of experience. Most of my career has involved architectural drawings, coordination, 3D modeling, rendering, and project-related work. However, my current salary is around ₹70,000/month, and I feel like I’ve hit a ceiling in terms of both learning and earning.
I’m considering investing time and money into learning BIM (Revit, BIM workflows, coordination, Navisworks, etc.), but I have a concern.
If I switch to BIM now:
Will my 7+ years of architectural experience still carry value?
Or will companies see me as just another BIM fresher because I don’t have professional BIM project experience?
How difficult was the transition for those who moved from architecture to BIM?
Did it significantly improve your salary and career opportunities, especially for international roles (Middle East, Australia, Europe, etc.)?
If you were in my position today, would you make the switch?
I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have made this transition or are currently working in BIM. I’m trying to make a decision that will have the biggest long-term impact on my career.
Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has experience w/ Virtual Machines for BIM Work. We have some personnel overseas and would like the to work of Virtual Machines. For those who have worked w/ VMs, I would appreciate your insight on the following:
1. What was your experience using Virtual Machines?

1. What type of work were you doing? Point Clouds, General Modelin, etc..?

2. What was the company you were using?

3. What was the cost of the machine? We're looking to be as cost effective as possible although we know BIM VMs are quite pricey.