Meet Argentina’s 10-year-old self-taught SOLIDWORKS star

When Hernan Malleret began working at home parttime he never expected SOLIDWORKS would become a full-time interest for his 10-year-old son Tomas. Hernán’s inquisitive son would often stand near his father’s workstation fixated on the design work transpiring before his eyes. Tomas would watch intently, mentally capturing all of the screen movements as Hernán completed his models. At this point, a new engineer was born.

Soon after Tomas began taking an interest in his father’s work, he pushed to try SOLIDWORKS on his own. Hernán handed him the keys to the car and Tomas began exploring the design world in front of him. “He found a way to model what he wants by himself,” Hernán said. “In all, the learning curve took one hour a day for about a month and a half.”

Now Tomas spends his free time modeling fantasy characters from his favorite television programs and movies (featured below) as well as rethinking machine parts. His favorite SOLIDWORKS tool while bringing fantasies to life? The Sweep Tool. Why? To Tomas, and to many other users for that matter, “it’s magic.” Sounds like perfect fodder for the SOLIDWORKS World 2016 product introduction skit.

Currently, Tomas is aspiring to create a solar-powered device with his newfound engineering knowledge. However, his work will not stop at the sun. In the future, Tomas is hoping to transform his early SOLIDWORKS learning into a shining technical career – just like his father. As Hernán put it, “my father used to say that ‘what is inherited is not stolen.’”

SOLIDWORKS Education Edition 2015-2016 is now available to students and educators. Learn about new features today!