In a couple of months, my company will be switching from Creo to Solidworks. I've been here using Creo/Pro-E for 20 years. So... what can you tell me about it? What should I be aware of? What will I need to know or do?
I'm leaving this a little vague, because I don't want to influence everybody towards a certain kind of answer. But I will say we haven't used PDM with Creo, but will be on PDM with SolidWorks. At our division, we have two engineers and four designers. A couple of us use FEA, but mostly the designers just model parts and make assemblies and drawings.
The decision was made at the corporate level to (1) save a boatload of money, and (2) bring most of the company onto the same platform. I have my frustrations with Creo, but I've been hearing rumors about functionality that I'm going to lose, and it's making me nervous.
What functionality have you heard you're going to miss? I'm not familiar with any CAD software other than SW, but there may be something that will work as well with a different workflow.
And the best advice I can give you from watching this forum for almost 10 years is this: Don't get frustrated when SolidWorks doesn't work the same way Creo does. Keep an open mind, and learn what works and what doesn't. I firmly believe that SolidWorks (and probably other similar software) is easier to learn if you don't have any preconceived ideas about how it should work. I know at least one of the former AutoCAD users here swore up and down that it was better than SW when he first started learning it, but he eventually changed his tune. And he still doesn't know 25% of what it can do.