The Benefits of Student Status

The other day I was looking at a bulletin board in the main lobby of the tech college where I take welding classes. I noticed a flyer for the University of Wisconsin's software web store. I looked closer and noticed that Wisconsin technical college students are also authorized to get student deals from the UW store. They carry Adobe products. I'm a big fan of Adobe so I was excited to see that I can get a great deal on the CS4 Design Premium bundle. It has InDesign (page layout for print), Photoshop Extended (image editing & 3D images), Illustrator (drawing), Dreamweaver (web design), Flash Pro (web animation), Fireworks (web graphics) and Acrobat Pro (PDF document creator). This bundle would cost me about $1300 if purchased at retail. The school deal would give me a 2 year personal use license for $299! I also puts me on the upgrade path, so that when my student license runs out I can purchase the full retail license for the upgrade price.


Then I started thinking about Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. I'm a fan of Vectorworks from Nemetschek so I checked out their website and lo and behold! They have a recently created student portal featuring free one year student licenses for Vectorworks Designer 2010!! This is a profesional CAD package with 3D rendering that normally costs $2400. It features modules for machine design, architecture, landscape design, and theatrical lighting. I applied online and got approval the next day. I downloaded the wares and was up and running right away. The Nemetschek student portal is rich with free training resources as well.


I'm welding, I'm blogging, I'm planning for the Wrenchtech/Shop Kulture website and now I have access to software to make it all more fun and easier. Yes I'm having fun.