The Trainee's Guide to the Graphisoft

Oleksandra Vakariuk
Graphisoft
Graphisoft

My nostalgia doesn’t go way back, in fact, I’m used to hearing people share they have been working in Graphisoft for as long as I exist. I’ve been a trainee at the Budapest office for a bit more than two years now, and it’s sure fun here. I never would have imagined I’d be dancing to 80s hits I heard my parents listen to at the office terrace during a team building.

I learned about Graphisoft, and Archicad in particular, in the university where I study. We’re lucky to have representatives from the Budapest office to teach an advanced course there. I still remember learning about Master Layouts and Drawings five minutes before the test from Szabi Miko, thanks to him I got a 5 that day.

Even during the classes, our teachers mentioned many times that they’re looking for trainees and everyone is welcome to apply, but to be honest, I was afraid I’m not geeky enough. They talked about Archicad features, BIM, and other software like there’s nothing to it. And probably I wouldn’t apply if it wasn’t for the email they sent at the end of the semester when I so originally thought ‘why not, there's no harm in trying’.

 

I took this photo while waiting for the interviewers to arrive. Hope I'm not going to be in trouble for posting this.I took this photo while waiting for the interviewers to arrive. Hope I'm not going to be in trouble for posting this.

It was my first official interview, so I did not exactly know what to expect. At that moment, Graphisoft was hiring Technical Support Engineers, so, naturally, there was a test to answer some emails from users seeking for help with the issues they’ve experienced. The first one was from a girl who tried to move some Walls and Slabs to another layer but only a few were “listening” to her. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out what the issue is but ended up asking my interviewers for help. Moha quickly explained to me what the issue was (do you have a guess?), and we went on with the interview. Right there I learned that Graphisoft is all about Teamwork and it’s ok to ask for help.

A couple of weeks later I came in for my first day in the office and Dani showed me around. I met some people from my department, lots of new faces and names from all around the world. We were standing there, everyone introducing themselves one by one and then one of the managers asked if I could remember at least one of the names (I guess I looked that startled). To everyone’s surprise, including mine, I said the correct one referring to him.

 

I go by Sasha. That's a short version of my first name in my home country.I go by Sasha. That's a short version of my first name in my home country.

That was the 11th of March 2020, and I would surely forget this date if not for what happened on March 13th, my second day in the office. All of a sudden, the CEO announces an All-Hands, I’m given a laptop for WFH and headed back to my dorm only to spend the next year and a half in virtual meetings. For most it became a ‘new normal’, while for me, returning to the office was the ‘new normal’.

But here we are, now my teachers are my colleagues and I help develop a smooth journey with our products for our users as part of a new team. Having had an easy time with Archicad myself, I understand that I enjoy using it because I know how to, and I had help getting there and that’s the key to being successful with any software.

By the way, coming back to that university class… Once one of the teachers said that he can do a project in Archicad without post-processing in other software. Of course, I did not believe him. And here is one of my projects entirely made in Archicad half a year later (only texts and labels were added later because I didn’t know how to import a font yet).

 

Delta. My Urban Design Project in Budavár, Budapest. Spring, 2020Delta. My Urban Design Project in Budavár, Budapest. Spring, 2020