Here are several important steps for success with our CAD design and engineering contests.
Important tips for success with contests:
- Ask questions: If the contest description seems incomplete or appears to be missing files, make sure to ask questions in the comments area. You can share the steps for contest success summary with clients to save time explaining what information clients need for contest success.
- Payment pending: See this article for tips on success with payment pending contests.
- Submit early: Submit your design entry in early to avoid missing out on contests that close early. Often, clients will close contests when they see an entry they like best and submitting early avoids this issue. If you are unable to submit early, you should try and let the client know that you’ll be making a submission before the contest ends.
- Add to watchlist: Add a contest to your watchlist to get email alerts for any contest updates posted by the client, including early contest closure notifications (which occasionally happens). You can view your contest watchlist on your user dashboard.
- Design entries: Follow the user terms of service and design originality policy for your design entry.
- Budget: We want to make sure the winning designer is generously compensated for their work. Designers may politely request a budget increase if a prize is insufficient (i.e. $3/hr for contest winner).
- Fraud: Be wary of any suspicious contest activity. A possible red flag is if a new user joins Cad Crowd a couple days before a contest ends and then is awarded the prize. In this instance, a client could’ve created a designer account and tried to award the contest prize to himself/herself.
- Stolen IP/designs: Keep your eyes peeled for any designs that look like they’re directly pulled from a CAD library or free 3D models site. See the “how to tell if a design submission is original” article for tips on spotting intellectual property infringement. Stolen design submissions are rare, however, please report the stolen design or contact us immediately if you’re suspicious about a specific design entry.
Note: If you see any other issues with a contest, simply contact us and we’ll check into it immediately.
