Why I Applied to Autodesk Expert Elite – People Behind the Pixels

[#1]

It was never about the software.

It was about voice, space, and the courage to keep shaping architecture even when the world shakes.

I applied to Autodesk Expert Elite not for a badge but to honor a journey that began in a small village near Kyiv and continues through BIM education, mentorship, and design stories written in Revit.

Until 2020, I worked as a BIM manager in Kyiv architectural and construction teams, helping implement processes and supporting projects from concept to documentation.

Since 2022, I have been running a YouTube channel as a space for support and knowledge sharing.
It grew into something more — a way to reconnect architects and students who had to leave Ukraine, and those who stayed but needed new tools to keep building.

🗽Marta, my friend since university, embraced Revit while relocating during wartime. She later moved to the United States, where she continues her career as an interior designer.

🏭Maria, once my teammate in a groundbreaking BIM group, worked as an architect in the core design team. Later, she transitioned to Revit, applying it to laser-scanned industrial buildings in Switzerland.

🏗Taisia, now a licensed architect, was once my colleague at the same company. Back then she was a lead architect focused on large-scale projects. Her curiosity about Revit never faded, and over time she explored it deeply — from private houses to biomorphic forms.

✈️And Valerii, a young talent from Kharkiv, developed a floating-runway airport diploma project while learning Revit remotely from Canada, reminded me why mentorship matters most.

---

BIM Mentorship Across Borders

Sometimes our biggest professional victories don’t come with certificates — they come with stories.

Last year, a young architecture student from Kharkiv, Ukraine, Valerii, found my Revit tutorial on the Da Chang Cultural Centre via YouTube. Inspired, he reached out for mentorship to help complete his Bachelor's thesis: an airport terminal, located in Victoria, Canada.

Despite the chaos of war and continuing his studies remotely from Canada, he stayed determined. Over the course of 14 one-on-one Revit consultations, we worked together — from importing CAD topography and modeling the site to mastering complex Revit forms and visuals.

Our final session lasted three hours, exactly during the brief window of electricity we had that day, following a night of missile attacks on Kyiv.

He successfully defended his diploma with 94 out of 100 points at Kharkiv National University of Urban Economy (named after M. Beketov). Today, he hopes to apply for a Master's in Building Science at the University of Toronto.

---

All of these stories remind me that Revit is not just software.
It is a design language.

I believe in meaningful BIM, independent learning, and building communities through voice, not just systems.

Thank you to everyone who stood with me on this path.
Let’s keep creating.

"The post was translated and polished with the help of Gemini."

Your architect by voice,
Kateryna

[ABR_Kate]

Thank you so much to the Autodesk Community Blog Team for this great opportunity.

It means a lot to me, and I am so appreciative.

I’ve walked quite a path to be able to tell these stories and it means the world to me when colleagues take a moment to read them.

[2105956480]

I am an AutoCAD user from China, and I found your experience quite touching. Additionally, if someone with visual impairment wants to use CAD, what specific industry should they pursue? Do you have any suggestions? Yes, that person is me.

[ABR_Kate]

Thank you for your kind words, Jiawei @2105956480 .
Over the past three years, I often worked and mentored online using only a 15.6'' laptop and not the best eyesight. Very often, my view was just a narrow strip of a wide-format monitor on the other side. But what truly mattered was not that, but spatial thinking, understanding processes, and the ability to explain algorithms clearly.

That is why I believe people with strong analytical skills and spatial imagination can find their place in BIM — for example as coordinators, modelers focused on documentation, or even as teachers and mentors.

Your persistence is inspiring.

[ABR_Kate]

I'm excited to share this project! This is a diploma project by Valerii @vmakho, the young architect I mentioned in my article. I'm very proud of his progress and how he has developed his project, "Victoria Seaplane Hub - Revit Project".

It’s now published in the Autodesk Community Gallery. I wish him all the best as he pursues his professional dreams.

[studentatc19]

I left my country at a young age due to genocide by the communists. I'm currently incarcerated due to the American injustice legal system but hope to return home one day to use what I learned while in my situation to help my country. What you are doing is an inspiration that there are people who are still willing to rebuild after a tragic occurrence in their country and not think of themselves.

[ABR_Kate]

Thank you @studentatc19  for sharing your story. Work, logical tasks, and mental challenges can be one of the best ways to stay focused and keep hope alive. The knowledge you gain now will one day help you contribute to reconstruction or projects that support people who, like you, have faced extremely difficult circumstances.

[studentatc25]

Hello Kateryna; 

Your story is a very powerful testament of resilience... You have a deep perspective of how REVIT impacts your life.  I come to you as a living testament to the power of transformation, the indomitable strength of the human spirit, and the significance of embracing remorse, and the LOVE of AUTODESK REVIT!

Thank you for sharing, and I look forward to learning from you once i'm released...

[ABR_Kate]

Thank you for such valuable words, @studentatc25 

It's very meaningful to know that tools like Revit and BIM can provide strength and inspiration even in extraordinarily challenging times. I wish you strength and growth and growth—remember that knowledge always opens new opportunities.