Introduction

At ChampionXperience, we explore how modern engineering tools are transforming the way teams design, collaborate, and learn.
Onshape, PTC’s cloud-native CAD platform, has become a key player in both education and industry, especially within programs like FIRST Robotics, where speed, collaboration, and accessibility are critical.

In this interview, we speak with Darren Henry, Senior Vice President of General Operations at Onshape, about the rapid adoption of cloud CAD, the growing role of Onshape in education, and what the future holds for collaborative engineering.

Interview

Leadership and Scaling Onshape

Hanen: Q1. As Senior Vice President of General Operations at Onshape, what are your main priorities today, and how has your role evolved as Onshape continues to scale globally?

Darren: My main priorities are driving growth and delivering outstanding customer experiences across the entire Onshape community. I am fortunate to work with an incredible set of teams, including marketing, pre- and post-sale technical services, customer success, education, training, and documentation.

As Onshape has scaled globally, my role has evolved from building awareness to helping the organization operate at scale. Today, we spend less time explaining what cloud-native CAD is and more time ensuring we meet the distinct needs of different customer segments. That focus has led to more tailored offerings for commercial customers, startups, educators, and students, while still maintaining a single, unified platform.

Why Organizations Are Moving to Cloud-Native CAD

Hanen: Q2.Onshape adoption is growing quickly across both education and industry. From your perspective, what are the main reasons more teams and organizations are moving to a cloud-native CAD platform?

Darren: In industry, organizations are under pressure to grow faster while improving efficiency, and many are realizing that it is increasingly difficult to achieve either using the same file-based workflows that have dominated engineering for decades. Cloud-native CAD unlocks new ways of working by eliminating infrastructure overhead, simplifying data management, and enabling real-time collaboration. The result is faster iteration, better decision-making, and fewer delays caused by tools rather than engineering.

In education, the drivers are accessibility and engagement. To bring more students into STEM, schools need tools that remove barriers to entry, work on any device, and encourage collaboration between students, teachers, and mentors. Cloud-native CAD makes it easy to get started, stay engaged, and focus on learning and creativity rather than on software setup and administration.

Onshape and FIRST Robotics: A Natural Fit

Hanen: Q3.We have heard that nearly three-quarters of FIRST Robotics teams are now using Onshape, and that FIRST headquarters has also switched to Onshape for field design, making Onshape the official modeling sponsor—a role previously held by SOLIDWORKS.

What were the key reasons behind this transition, and what does this partnership mean for students, mentors, and the global FIRST community?

Darren: FIRST teams operate under extreme time pressure, with student and mentor teams working from school, home, and on-the-go. Onshape fits that environment naturally because it runs on any device, including Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, and Linux, and does not require powerful or expensive hardware. Students can participate using the devices they already have, from any location, and everyone can collaborate in real time on designs that are always current.

For FIRST headquarters, adopting Onshape ensures consistency with the teams, many of whom have already chosen Onshape as their standard design platform. It also simplifies how field designs are shared globally. Instead of managing and distributing large files, FIRST can share a simple link so every team has immediate access to the same up-to-date models. This alignment strengthens the connection between headquarters and teams while reinforcing real-world engineering workflows.

Preparing Students for Real-World Engineering

Hanen: Q4.How important is it that students use the same design tools in education that are also used in real-world engineering and manufacturing environments?

Darren: ​​Strong CAD skills will always be important, but it is equally important that students stay ahead of the curve and understand how engineers will work in the future.

Core CAD concepts are largely universal. Sketching, extruding, filleting, shelling, and lofting translate across platforms, and students can learn those fundamentals with almost any CAD tool. Where modern platforms really matter is in teaching the next layer of skills.

Collaboration, branching and merging, working confidently with shared data, and leveraging AI-enabled workflows are becoming essential in modern engineering teams. Exposing students to these capabilities prepares them not just to use CAD but to contribute effectively in collaborative, cloud-based environments.

First Benefits Teams See When Switching to Onshape

Hanen: Q5.For teams and institutions moving from traditional desktop CAD to Onshape, what benefits do they notice first in their daily workflows?

Darren: The first thing teams notice is that many of the traditional sources of friction simply disappear. There are no installs, no updates to manage, and no license or file issues. Just as importantly, there is no crashing and no lost work. Changes are saved continuously, so progress is never at risk.

Very quickly after that, teams experience how much easier collaboration becomes. There are no file copies to manage, no emailing models back and forth, and no confusion about which version is current. Designs are shared via a simple link, with granular permissions that give teams precise control over access.

As teams gain confidence in the system, they begin to see the power of built-in data management and the ability to restore to any point in the design. Designers start working without fear, trying new ideas without worrying about corrupting files or losing progress. As a result, design iterations increase in both speed and volume, ultimately driving better outcomes.

Collaboration Without Files or Friction

Hanen: Q6.Collaboration is often highlighted as one of Onshape’s strongest advantages. How does real-time collaboration change the way teams design, review, and make decisions?

Darren: Real-time collaboration is more than just simultaneous editing. It is about everyone working from a single source of truth. This unified model becomes a living, shared workspace where design changes, comments, and tasks all exist in one place.

Because everyone is referencing the same up-to-date data, teams do not waste time dealing with file compatibility issues, mismatched software versions, or uncertainty about which model is current. Feedback, edits, and reviews happen directly in context.

The result is faster decision-making, more effective design reviews, and teams that stay aligned throughout the entire development process.

Designing Under Pressure in Competition Environments

Hanen: Q7.FIRST and similar programs operate under tight schedules. Why is Onshape particularly well-suited for fast-paced, distributed, and competition-driven design environments?

Darren: Onshape is particularly well-suited for FIRST because teams can start the season running. There is no software to download or install, which means students are designing from day one. As documents are created and shared, team structure and leadership naturally emerge around the work itself.

Because everyone is working from the same data, teams stay aligned as designs evolve. Students can create a branch in the design data to explore new ideas without disrupting progress, which encourages experimentation while keeping projects moving forward.

Onshape also scales with the team. New students can contribute quickly, while advanced teams can leverage powerful automation and advanced workflows. This combination supports rapid onboarding and high-performance design under tight competition timelines.

Extending Collaboration to Suppliers

Hanen: Q8.You have mentioned that many component suppliers are now also using Onshape. How does a shared CAD platform between teams and suppliers improve design accuracy and efficiency?

Darren: All of the advantages discussed earlier come into play when teams and suppliers work together on a shared platform. When everyone operates in the same CAD environment, communication becomes much clearer because there is a single source of truth.

Everyone sees the same models, the same versions, and the same design intent. This eliminates errors caused by file translation or outdated data and shortens feedback cycles. The result is better alignment and faster progress from design to manufacturing.

Supporting Educators and the Global STEM Community

Hanen: Q9.What role does the Onshape Education Team play in supporting teachers, mentors, and institutions, and what are your main goals for this group?

Darren: The primary goal of our education team is to expose as many future engineers as possible to modern CAD and PDM workflows. We focus on both higher education, where we support college-level curriculum, and K–12 STEM programs such as FIRST Robotics.

The team provides more than just software. They deliver instructional materials, curriculum resources, educator tools, and direct support, while fostering an active global community of teachers, mentors, and students. By making adoption and engagement easy, we help educators focus on teaching engineering concepts and preparing students for how engineering is practiced today.

Essential Skills for Modern Engineering Teams

Hanen: Q10.What skills do you believe students must develop today to succeed in modern, cloud-based engineering teams?

Darren: There are clear layers of skills students should develop. The foundation is strong CAD fundamentals, not just modeling an idea, but building robust and efficient models that can be updated easily as designs evolve.

As students master those basics, two additional skills become especially valuable. The first is learning how to design as part of a team. The second is understanding modern, agile data management practices.

Students who develop these collaborative and data-centric skills are often the most sought after in industry because they can contribute immediately in modern engineering organizations.

Git-Like Data Management for CAD

Hanen: Q11.How does Onshape simplify data management, version control, and design history compared to traditional file-based CAD systems?

Darren: Data management in Onshape was built from the ground up alongside the CAD capabilities, which makes product development feel much more like modern software development.

Every action is automatically tracked, recoverable, and restorable in a Git-like system. Teams can create protected versions to bookmark moments in time, and when milestones are reached, designs can be locked as released revisions.

There are no files at all; only a database that fully tracks every design activity. This enables branching and merging of design timelines and visual comparison of any two design states.

By eliminating check-in, check-out, and file-locking workflows, Onshape removes much of the friction engineers have long struggled with when using traditional PDM add-on solutions.

Enabling Global Collaboration at Scale

Hanen: Q12.Onshape is used by teams around the world. How does the platform support global collaboration across different countries, time zones, and technical resources?

Darren: We have removed much of the friction that traditionally makes global collaboration difficult. Because Onshape runs entirely in a browser, teams can access the platform from anywhere without worrying about hardware constraints, installations, or local infrastructure.

Everyone is always on the same software release, which eliminates version mismatches and compatibility issues across regions and time zones.

We also support global teams through help and training materials available in many languages, and we are investing in AI-powered tools to further reduce language barriers.

What’s Next for Onshape and Cloud CAD

Hanen: Q13.What future developments or focus areas can we expect from Onshape, especially in education, collaboration, and industry adoption?

Darren: The Onshape educational plans benefit from the same continuous enhancements delivered to our commercial products. Every three weeks, new capabilities are added across parts, assemblies, drawings, data management, performance, and usability.

We continue to invest in core engineering capabilities, including Model-Based Definition, improved sheet metal workflows, and overall usability enhancements.

We are also investing heavily in AI. This includes improvements to the Onshape AI Advisor, new FeatureScript autocomplete tools, more powerful search, and the long-term development of AI agents that help users complete tasks. These innovations benefit all Onshape users, including students and teachers.

Advice for Educators Considering Cloud-Based CAD

Hanen: Q14.What advice would you give to educators or institutions that are still considering whether to move to a cloud-based CAD platform like Onshape?

Darren: It has become very clear that installed, file-based CAD tools are not the future of engineering. The industry is moving toward cloud-native, collaborative platforms, and educators owe it to their students to expose them to the most cutting-edge tools available.

The best way to do that is to start experiencing these tools now. The same benefits that have led companies like Garmin, Trek, Ocado, and Garrett to adopt Onshape also directly benefit students and classrooms.

By removing friction and improving efficiency, students spend less time managing software and more time honing their design skills together. This helps them become better designers and unlocks greater curiosity, creativity, and passion for engineering.

Thank you, Darren, for taking the time to share your thoughts with the ChampionXperience. Your insights clearly show how Onshape is helping students, educators, and engineering teams work better together. We truly appreciate your openness and support, and we’re glad to share your perspective with our readers.

— Hanen Bdioui
Editor-in-Chief, ChampionXperience

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Hanen Bdioui

Sales Development Representative at ChampionXperience

Hanen Bdioui is the Editor-in-Chief at ChampionXperience, where she leads content on CAD, VR, and emerging engineering technologies. She works with Dassault Systèmes as a Content Creator and SOLIDWORKS Application Engineer, and contributes as a technical writer for Engineering.com and EngineeRules, covering topics in CAD, PLM, and simulation. Hanen also creates specialized content for 3DEXCITE, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, and Onshape, supporting engineers and companies in adopting modern digital workflows.

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