In France and for French speakers worldwide, Mickael at CADatWork, reseller

Hello everyone,

I graduated in 2003, which probably makes me one of the youngest people here — at least compared to the Simplebim team 😉

That said, my experience in construction started much earlier.
Back in middle school, in a technical track, with internships in construction companies and architectural firms in the early 1995s.

At that time, I worked with:

• AutoCAD using a tablet as a trackpad,
• a mouse… without a ball and four button(yes, that really existed),
• and plotters equipped with Rotring pens.

During my final year of studies, I encountered Revit, back when it didn’t belong to Autodesk. Curious, I wanted to understand where this was all heading.

Later on, in a large construction company, I strongly pushed for the transition from AutoCAD to 3D.
After a few years, we eventually delivered a large project entirely in 3D.

As was often the case at the time, many people only saw 3D as a visualization tool.
I focused instead on using model-based quantities, to the point where a department of around twenty people was replaced by three people working directly from the model.

👉 A real victory for me.

For several years after that, I traveled across France to set up departments using these methods.
But I frequently ran into mindsets resistant to change, attached to processes that, for them, had worked for decades.

I eventually decided to move on and explore the world of architecture and project development, training decision-makers on Revit (yes, I know…).

And that was an amazing experience.
Bringing people into a new universe, a new way of designing projects, by gathering partners, decision-makers, engineers, quantity surveyors, and administrative teams around models.
That’s when the word “BIM” started to appear — even though, in reality, we were only using Revit.

Then came 2018.
I joined CadatWork, where I met Sakari, who came to France to train the team on Simplebim, as CadatWork was becoming the exclusive reseller for France.

And that’s when everything changed.

I had very limited knowledge of IFC — like many others, I had been somewhat shaped by Autodesk.
But it was a true revelation.

I explored, learned, tested, failed at times — and enjoyed every step.
I finally found everything that had been missing for me.

With the DataCubist team, the Simplebim approach helped me move forward on real projects.
I was able to test and validate methods and DataFlows that we now teach.

Of course, the industry keeps evolving faster and faster.
And what I truly appreciate is that the DataCubist team very often has one step ahead already prepared.

I enjoyed working with Simplebim so much that, over time, Simplebim came before Revit for me.

Today, I enjoy tackling increasingly complex situations for my clients and projects.
With ever-growing project constraints, there are clearly things we simply couldn’t do without Simplebim.

I’m not always easy to work with — I like to understand, analyze, and challenge what I do.
But when someone shows me that I’m wrong, or that a dataflow works… except in that specific case, that’s pure enjoyment for me.

Today, I use Simplebim about half of my time.
I contribute to its evolution by asking tricky questions, working on the French translation, and beta-testing as much as possible.

To conclude:
IFC, thanks to the DataCubist team, opened up a whole new world for me — one I’m still exploring today.
Your passion influences me, and I hope, in turn, to positively influence others.

Looking forward to exchanging with you here.