Our Story
We Sharpen the Minds That Design the Future
What began as a better way to learn engineering software became a platform built for continuous growth. Today, SolidProfessor helps technical teams, educators, and individual learners keep building skills that hold up in real work.
Origin Story
A Better Way to Learn
SolidProfessor didn't start in a classroom. It started in our customers' offices.
Tony Glockler and Pedro Santana met at a local SOLIDWORKS reseller, which meant they spent their days inside the companies actually using the software they sold. They kept seeing the same problem: powerful tools running well below their potential — not because teams weren't capable, but because software taught in a single classroom course didn't stick once people got back to work. They set out to build something better: short, clear lessons people could return to when the real work began.
In December 2002, they incorporated SolidProfessor and shipped the first product the following June: Core Concepts, videos burned onto a CD. It stayed a nights-and-weekends project for another four years before growing into the ecosystem we have today — still built around the same idea: clear answers when you need them.
Getting a five-day training and then sending people on their way was just not cutting it. There was a bigger level of support needed to keep people invested in using these powerful tools to their best advantage.
Tony GlocklerCo-Founder & CEO, SolidProfessor
The Journey
Two Decades. One Idea.
The tools changed. The delivery changed. The reason we started didn't.
← Scroll to explore the timeline →
How We Show Up
We Hold Ourselves to a High Standard
Innovate Always
The way people learn keeps changing. We'd rather experiment early than defend what used to work.
Own the Outcome
We take initiative, learn from what works and what doesn't, and take on problems outside our comfort zone.
Embody Excellence
We hold our work to the standard our members would set for their own. Teamwork is how we get there.
Lead with Respect
We say what we think, and we say it well. Candor and courtesy aren't a trade-off here.
Why Our Content Is Different
We Won't Cut the Cost of Clarity
SolidProfessor lessons are built by combining subject matter expertise with instructional design and content production. We break complex topics into short, clear lessons, add hands-on practice, and keep content updated so people can find the right answer when the work gets real.
It's the difference you feel the first time you answer in ninety seconds instead of forty minutes.
The Impact
What Twenty Years of Hard Work Adds Up To
What started as a better way to learn and teach technical software has grown into a platform that helps engineers, educators, and teams keep building skills that last.
20+ Years
Building Technical Training
15,000+
Expert-Led Video Tutorials
54M
Lessons Delivered
39+
Software Solutions Covered
Our proudest moment isn't a business milestone
It's real-life outcomes for our customers
A few years back, co-founder Pedro Santana was at an education conference, there to learn, sitting in the audience for a talk by a high school engineering teacher. She was telling a room of fellow teachers how she'd gotten her students through industry certifications — credentials that let them enter the workforce with skills that changed what their lives could look like.
Partway through, she started talking about SolidProfessor: what it had meant for her students, and for her own teaching. She had never met Pedro. She had no idea anyone from the company was in the room, and he had no idea her talk would mention SolidProfessor at all. That moment captured what we care about most: helping people in classrooms, teams, and careers do work that matters.
I was blown away by her story. The emotion I experienced in that moment will be difficult to match.
Pedro SantanaCo-Founder & President
Along the Way
Recognized Across the Industry
Awards, partnerships, and press from across two decades. Click the link to read the full release.
Our Customers
Teams That Put SolidProfessor to Work
Medical Devices
Getting a global engineering team certified
A structural heart device leader replaced in-person classes with custom learning paths — and could finally track who was progressing.
“I passed every test the first time.”
Andre Aranez, Process Development Engineer
Read the story
Work Truck Manufacturing
30 minutes saved on every question
Knapheide traded text-heavy reference books for searchable training, cutting roughly half an hour of troubleshooting per inquiry.
“I couldn't imagine going back to the old way of training.”
Justin Steele, Engineering Manager
Read the story
Site Furniture Design
Training that scales as fast as the team
Landscape Forms' engineering team doubles every six years. More than 75 designers have worked through 1,500+ tutorials — onboarding new hires without pulling senior staff off their own projects.
“Learning is endless with SolidProfessor.”
Todd Halstead, CAD Admin
Read the storyReady to Get Started with SolidProfessor?
Whether you're building a team, a classroom, or your own career, we'll help you find the right place to start.