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davidstraley94
Community Member

Solidworks & AutoCAD

I have just discovered upwork. It sounds like a cool place to make money on the side. I have a normal 40 hour a week job and we are never required to work over time. I personally like working a few more hours and this could be a great place to do it. As far as mechanical designing goes, my company uses Solidworks. Some of these projects that people want done require the use of Solidworks, which costs $4,000 to get a license and the person wanting the job done is willing to pay $25 an hour. This would take a while to recoup the cost of getting Solidworks. How do people on here afford to do work and pay for solidworks or is there a work around like a free version or another program.

 

For people who specialize in mechanical engineering or mechanical design, what are the best programs to use for these jobs?

5 REPLIES 5
mystudiomke
Community Member

Hi David,

 

If it is 4k for a year license, why is this compared to one job at 25hr rate? For giggles, let’s say you purchase the license and work at $25 part-time for 3 months. That would pay that off and the rest be additional income. I personally have CAD, Revit, Sketchup Pro, Lumion 8 + all adobe applications CC and I am able to manage. A tip on CAD is if you still have a student email try Autodesk education licenses. 

 

Other items I would like to say is I don’t think there is enough mechanical engineers on Upwork, I highly recommend you give it a chance. Secondly, clients never really know how much the work is going to cost - they just estimate. I can’t tell you how many I have bid 3 times the amount on a fixed-contract and gotten it. Or even a client who had it at intermediate level and I landed it at my hourly rate ($100). Thirdly, don’t place your rate at $25 if you have experience. I see engineers in the range of $60-$120

 

Hope that helps,

Lila
bobafett999
Community Member


@David S wrote:

I have just discovered upwork. It sounds like a cool place to make money on the side. I have a normal 40 hour a week job and we are never required to work over time. I personally like working a few more hours and this could be a great place to do it. As far as mechanical designing goes, my company uses Solidworks. Some of these projects that people want done require the use of Solidworks, which costs $4,000 to get a license and the person wanting the job done is willing to pay $25 an hour. This would take a while to recoup the cost of getting Solidworks. How do people on here afford to do work and pay for solidworks or is there a work around like a free version or another program.

 

For people who specialize in mechanical engineering or mechanical design, what are the best programs to use for these jobs?


 Well David.  It seems that you are a wannapreneur.  If you want to start a freelancing business then just like any business you need to 'invest'.  And price your services accordingly so you get decent rate of return. If the investment seems high, perhaps you should not freelance.

Did you get jobs 

bilal1474
Community Member

Hello david
I hope you are doing well.

Cracked premium versions available over the internet for solid works.
Thanks
muoixd
Community Member

Hi all,

This is paint point all member can see as freelancer we can't pay for very expensive licensing. That why Cracked software is very popular but the problem is it not stable.

I would like to have a fund that collect donation from our freelancer community that enough to buy liense network and we can work as high professional freelancer.

If you guys agreed, I would like to start it as quick as possible.

I don't know if Upwork they can support an amount or not but better to ask.

Thanks