This is a story about a user who lost his job in today's recession and his solution to getting back on track with a little help from Bentley. To set the scenario up, an unsolicited email came in from Felix Fletcher of Nashville, Tennessee, USA addressed to Steve Rick (Bentley). It involves his experiences with Be Employable, and Bentley Institute's distance learning.
NOTE: I have done some light editing on the letter with Felix's permission.
Take it away Felix!
December 17, 2009 Hello Bentley Systems Family, Since graduating from college, I have been working for 23 years in architectural firms fulltime without ever spending a single day unemployed. In January of 2009, I was laid off (and on my birthday!) This was completely new territory for me so I really didn't know what to do. At the next local user's group meeting I attended I learned about Bentley's new Be Employable program that allowed unemployed professionals like me to download Bentley software and take online training for free. That sounded unbelievable but I was already a member of Be Communities, so I checked it out. Be Employable could not have happened at a better time. It gave me an idea. Even though I felt no need to reinvent myself, perhaps I could upgrade myself. I decided I wanted to learn everything that I could about MicroStation V8i. Even though I had been using and managing MicroStation for 16 years, I wanted to learn the features and capabilities that I never used along with the new features in MicroStation V8i which had just been released a few months before I lost my job. Through Be Employable I took over 140 hours of instructor‐led online training from April to August. I encouraged other former coworkers who had lost their jobs to participate in the Be Employable program and start learning too. On a personal note, I had underrated the value of daily accomplishments. Being unemployed, that feeling of accomplishment was much more difficult to achieve. Bentley training became my source of accomplishment. I would not let a two week period pass without receiving or reviewing some training. That kept my spirits up, my skills tuned and my professional hopes alive. I'm really thankful for Bentley's assistance during this recession. The person who came up with the idea for Be Employable deserves a humanitarian award in my opinion. I especially feel thankful to my favorite three instructors: Steve Rick, Tom Dywanski, and Linda Klaastad. Their knowledge of MicroStation is quite impressive and their teaching skills deserve much credit too.They helped my learning experience to be both rewarding and enjoyable. In September, after 8 months of unemployment, I began a new job at the Department of Energy as a BIM Manager. Although I've had 16 years of experience using and managing MicroStation, I believe the training I received from Bentley during my downtime gave me the confidence to land the new job. Of course during my job interview I did toss the comment out there that I had recently received over 140 hours of Bentley training. I'm back to feeling the enjoyment of accomplishments in the workplace again. I believe that my new employer is happy with the experience that I bring to the team. Maybe someday I'll ask the question if my training made a difference with my interview. The training definitely made a difference with my knowledge and my confidence. Felix J. Fletcher Nashville, Tennessee, USA
December 17, 2009 Hello Bentley Systems Family, Since graduating from college, I have been working for 23 years in architectural firms fulltime without ever spending a single day unemployed. In January of 2009, I was laid off (and on my birthday!) This was completely new territory for me so I really didn't know what to do. At the next local user's group meeting I attended I learned about Bentley's new Be Employable program that allowed unemployed professionals like me to download Bentley software and take online training for free. That sounded unbelievable but I was already a member of Be Communities, so I checked it out. Be Employable could not have happened at a better time. It gave me an idea. Even though I felt no need to reinvent myself, perhaps I could upgrade myself. I decided I wanted to learn everything that I could about MicroStation V8i. Even though I had been using and managing MicroStation for 16 years, I wanted to learn the features and capabilities that I never used along with the new features in MicroStation V8i which had just been released a few months before I lost my job. Through Be Employable I took over 140 hours of instructor‐led online training from April to August. I encouraged other former coworkers who had lost their jobs to participate in the Be Employable program and start learning too. On a personal note, I had underrated the value of daily accomplishments. Being unemployed, that feeling of accomplishment was much more difficult to achieve. Bentley training became my source of accomplishment. I would not let a two week period pass without receiving or reviewing some training. That kept my spirits up, my skills tuned and my professional hopes alive. I'm really thankful for Bentley's assistance during this recession. The person who came up with the idea for Be Employable deserves a humanitarian award in my opinion. I especially feel thankful to my favorite three instructors: Steve Rick, Tom Dywanski, and Linda Klaastad. Their knowledge of MicroStation is quite impressive and their teaching skills deserve much credit too.They helped my learning experience to be both rewarding and enjoyable.
In September, after 8 months of unemployment, I began a new job at the Department of Energy as a BIM Manager. Although I've had 16 years of experience using and managing MicroStation, I believe the training I received from Bentley during my downtime gave me the confidence to land the new job. Of course during my job interview I did toss the comment out there that I had recently received over 140 hours of Bentley training. I'm back to feeling the enjoyment of accomplishments in the workplace again. I believe that my new employer is happy with the experience that I bring to the team. Maybe someday I'll ask the question if my training made a difference with my interview. The training definitely made a difference with my knowledge and my confidence.
Felix J. Fletcher
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
This email also came with a separate but interesting story regarding Felix's experience related to Bentley's distance learning:
I needed to brush up on some workspace management skills, so I decided to review your MicroStation V8i For CAD Managers class I previously took with you [Steven Rick, Bentley] using the link I have to the Elluminate recorded session. It is really cool to be able to sit through an entire class session again almost as if it were live. Since it's recorded, I obviously can't ask questions, but the coolest thing just happened. During the live class session, you needed to send the students a .cfg file. You decided to try out using the Elluminate file transfer. While I'm sitting here listening to this recorded session, I start searching my hard drive for the file that you sent to us back in June. Suddenly, BING! A file transfer dialog pops up asking me if I want to receive the file that Steve Rick is sending! Elluminate not only recorded the session, but it actually sent me the file as if the session was live! I started laughing so hard I had to share it with you. I don't have any questions for you. I just wanted to share a laugh.
I needed to brush up on some workspace management skills, so I decided to review your MicroStation V8i For CAD Managers class I previously took with you [Steven Rick, Bentley] using the link I have to the Elluminate recorded session. It is really cool to be able to sit through an entire class session again almost as if it were live. Since it's recorded, I obviously can't ask questions, but the coolest thing just happened.
During the live class session, you needed to send the students a .cfg file. You decided to try out using the Elluminate file transfer. While I'm sitting here listening to this recorded session, I start searching my hard drive for the file that you sent to us back in June. Suddenly, BING! A file transfer dialog pops up asking me if I want to receive the file that Steve Rick is sending! Elluminate not only recorded the session, but it actually sent me the file as if the session was live! I started laughing so hard I had to share it with you. I don't have any questions for you. I just wanted to share a laugh.
From all my fellow colleagues here at Bentley, thank you Felix and good luck in your new job.