Can a good Microstation user move smoothly to using AutoCAD

[rhayes.99001]

Is Microstation compatible with AutoCAD? I have an excellent potential candidate who is well versed on CAD Microstation but not AutoCAD. Is it worth pursuing him, learning curve too great?

[dfarris75]

The learning curve is certainly not too great. The programs are similar in many respects (as far as operation goes and the gui is somewhat similar as well). I came fresh out of tech school where I learned Acad into a company that primarily used Microstation and I found it very easy to learn Microstation. I've bounced back and forth between the two quite a bit in my career and I enjoy using both programs, although I know much more about Acad than Microstation.

[Railrose]

The learning curve is certainly not too great. The programs are similar in many respects (as far as operation goes and the gui is somewhat similar as well). I came fresh out of tech school where I learned Acad into a company that primarily used Microstation and I found it very easy to learn Microstation. I've bounced back and forth between the two quite a bit in my career and I enjoy using both programs, although I know much more about Acad than Microstation.

Corporate is talking about changing our program. I'm glad to know the learning curve won't totally bite.

[Brian Myers]

Is Microstation compatible with AutoCAD? I have an excellent potential candidate who is well versed on CAD Microstation but not AutoCAD. Is it worth pursuing him, learning curve too great?

The key is that the basics are similar, so no, the learning curve won't be huge.. yes, there will be one, but its nothing that can't be handled.

[jaberwok]

Is Microstation compatible with AutoCAD? I have an excellent potential candidate who is well versed on CAD Microstation but not AutoCAD. Is it worth pursuing him, learning curve too great?

Initially he will hate acad because of all the small differences which will seem illogical.
Hopefully, that will quickly pass.

[abertigger]

I was originally trained in Microstation, and now use solely AutoCAD. I found the transition quite easy, as I already knew all of the basics of AutoCAD, but, as others have pointed out, it will drive them mad for the first couple of weeks with different keys doing different things!
At my last company, I used both AutoCAD and Microstation with no problems at all, so they are very compatible, and Microstation seems to mirror a lot of what AutoCAD does, so you will find that there will not be too many troubles in the person who is converting. You will probably also find that they will be able to teach you a lot of tips and tricks, as they will know how to do things in Microstation that you can't do in AutoCAD, which will help you find out how to do them.

[shyj9]

If u have Microstation 95 on board then its easy to learn vice-versa. I learned M.station in my previous co. thru the help from M95. There is a help to compare commands in ACAD & Micro. that doesn't exists in the newer versions of Microstation I belive.

[lmitsou]

We have a guy in the company who never worked with AutoCAD before. He was using Microstation. He recently took a three days beginners course in AutoCAD 2007 Essentials and he is flying now. So my answer to your question, from my experience anyway, would be definitely yes.

[Augi Doggie]

Actually, my experience shows that users switching from Mircostation to AutoCAD have less difficulty than going from AutoCAD to Microstation.

This depends on the version as well, Microstation V8 or V8 XM users will probably find it to be easier to switch to AutoCAD than Microstation V7 or J users.

[Avatart]

We use both Microstation and AutoCad and as much as I personally dislike Microstation, you can flit between the two with relatively little effort. Understanding any vector based package will be an advantage to moving over to AutoCad and will set the learning curve to "steep" (ie, "gain elevation quickly", not "lots of work").