New Kitchen & Bath Designer learning Chief - SSA or Chiefexperts.com?

[Maple]

I am a CKD and taught myself with the help of the training videos, a couple of webinars and a stubborn commitment to getting good at the program. I also had no previous CAD experience but have always been fairly computer savvy which does help quite a bit.

It took me a good 3 months to get up to speed and I'm stilling learning new tricks almost 2 years later. I can produce really good plans, construction documents and excellent renderings now as well as make design revisions on the fly in front of clients, which is immensely helpful. The only things I sometimes get 'stuck' on now are when I am presented with a complex roofline, since I don't have to deal with those very often they can sometimes be time-consuming as I puzzle them out on my own. But then I will have the methodology in my tool belt for the next time that situation arises.

Reading between the lines it sounds like you haven't actually purchased the program yet. When you buy your first version you should be getting the SSA along with it, so do take full advantage of it. As someone mentioned above there are many dozens of training videos available (I suspect you are not 'seeing' them because you haven't actually bought the program) and if you get really stuck on something you can buy some one-on-one tutoring directly from CA as well.

Just a piece of advice - as you consider which version to buy, bear in mind what kind of work you ordinarily do. I started out with the Interiors version but quickly upgraded to the full Premier version because of all the remodeling that my firm does - Interiors just didn't have the full functionality that I needed but it may be fine if all you do are simpler interior bath and kitchen projects.

Good luck!