Autodesk Assistance Program for Unemployed Designers, Engineers, and Architects in All Industries

Autodesk has announced the Autodesk Assistance Program which will offer free student software term licenses, free online training, reduced cost classroom training, and a path to certification for unemployed designers, engineers, and architects in all industries. Autodesk Assistance Program will be made available through an online portal, where users can access:

• Free Software License: Any 13-month term student license of AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit Architecture, Autodesk Inventor Professional, and/or AutoCAD Civil 3D software.
• Free Online Training: On-demand training available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week provided online through vBooks – powered by Retrieve Technologies, Inc. (internet access required)
• Reduced-Cost Classroom Training: Many Autodesk Authorized Training Center (ATC) partners are offering classroom training at their training facilities for free or for a significantly reduced fee.
• Certification: Certification preparation and exams are available at discounted rates through Autodesk Authorized Certification Centers.

Autodesk has also partnered with various industry organizations on local initiatives. The new Autodesk office in Waltham, Mass. is teaming with the Boston Society of Architects to offer free volunteer-led immersion seminars on building information modeling (BIM) to unemployed design professionals in the Boston area. Seminar attendees receive a free* Revit Architecture student term license, and can also receive American Institute of Architects (AIA) continuing education credit for the seminars.

The Autodesk Assistance Program is being launched in North America. Autodesk hopes to roll the program out in other countries over the next few months. You can watch a video on the Autodesk YouTube channel.