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Longtime MicroStation guru makes Axiom
his new home!
CLEARWATER, FL, USA — At first glance, Mike Arroyo
may seem like a mild-mannered guy. But once this nicknamed
“MicroStation Evangelist” gets on a roll, there
is no one that can escape his enthusiasm. His zeal has converted
droves of CAD shops to the MicroStation doctrine and his knowledge
of MicroStation has shaped MicroStation-training courses for
years. Now, his fervor will be redirected to helping Axiom
customers.
Interestingly enough, Mike’s undergraduate years were
spent as a student of theology and philosophy, earning a B.A.
degree from Elmhurst College in Illinois. He continued working
on a Masters degree at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama
when a friend asked him to “help teach a computer programming
class at his local community college.” From that point
on, he was hooked on computers.
Mike took some time out of his busy day to sit down with
MicroStation Today to chat about his past, present
and future in the MicroStation field.
MicroStation Today: Mike, for
those few MicroStation users who may not have yet heard of
you, give us a brief summary of your background in the CAD
field.
Mike: I worked in a production
environment for several years at Northrop DSD in Chicago and
taught CAD courses at Harper College as an associate professor
in the Engineering department. Then, in 1989, I accepted a
training position with Intergraph.
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| Mike Arroyo, MicroStation guru
and recent Clearwater, Florida transplant. |
During my years at Intergraph, I experienced some of my greatest
growth. When I wasn’t teaching MicroStation, I was giving
presentations at tradeshows and user group meetings. I became
the unofficial “MicroStation Evangelist.”
In 1994, I left Intergraph and started a new company called
Softvision. We focused on providing the best educational experience
to our customers including the use of the World Wide Web.
Our creativity and energy caught Bentley’s attention
and the Bentley brothers summoned us. We discussed the value
and the impact of good education, which resulted in the birth
of the Bentley Institute.
Within a few months, Bentley hired the entire Softvision
staff and I was named the Director of Education, given the
charge to launch the Institute. However, this role was interrupted.
The tension between Bentley and Intergraph continued to build
until a legal battle for control of MicroStation ensued. I
was reassigned to do tradeshows and conventions as a keynote
speaker and to expand the “academic program” —
which was an initiative to incorporate MicroStation into more
academic curriculums — for Bentley.
In 1997, I resigned my position at Bentley and refocused
my vision of using the Web to deliver better MicroStation
training. By late 1999, I was part of the launching of JCafe
Incorporated and LearningBay. LearningBay was the first
of its kind: a web-based learning management system. And now
I am with Axiom.
MicroStation Today: What made
you decide to join Axiom?
Mike: The move to Axiom was
an easy one. I had been working closely with the staff here
for over a year, helping position and sell LearningBay.
I knew that if LearningBay and our MicroStation
courses — recently released on CD as the DGN Personal
Trainer courses — were going to impact the MicroStation
community in a great way, I had to move to Axiom.
However, another reason for making the move to Axiom included
the opportunity of working closely with Retrieve. This
is a unique knowledge system designed to help organizations
capture, organize and distribute their best practices and
policies, using a web browser. This will be the hottest
product in 2005. I am really jazzed!
MicroStation Today: What do
you think of the Axiom bunch so far?
Mike: The staff at Axiom
is very unique. Their primary focus is to provide the best
software and support to their customers. This is almost an
obsession. Everything is measured and calculated to provide
the greatest impact to the customer experience. And yet, they
make the work environment very enjoyable.
MicroStation Today: If you
could have a conversation with anyone, living or dead, who
would it be and why?
Mike: I would love to have
a conversation with Steven Hawking. He possesses one of the
most brilliant minds in science in spite of, or perhaps because
of, his debilitating disease — amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is a disease
marked by the gradual degeneration of the nerve cells in the
central nervous system that control voluntary muscle movement,
which causes muscle weakness and atrophy. Our conversation
would include a discussion about the fabric of space, black
holes and his point of view on string theory. [Editorial note:
String theory is a unified theory of the universe, which postulates
that the fundamental ingredients of nature are tiny moving
objects, called strings, and not static particles. This is
hoped to be the theory that fully explains and links together
all known physical phenomena.]
MicroStation Today: Favorite
quote?
Mike: “Short pencil
is better than long memory.” This is a quote from the
fictitious Honolulu Police Force crack detective and worldwide
celebrity, Charlie Chan.
MicroStation Today: When did
you last “break the rules”?
Mike: Last week…but
I can’t tell you any details. Let’s just say I made
it to work on time.
MicroStation Today: Thank you
for taking the time to chat with us Mike.
Mike: No problem, anytime!
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