There were a number of factors at play in my decision.
With nearly 40 years’ experience and the portfolio to prove it I don’t think I have to qualify much to anyone. At this point in a career it would be very hard to misrepresent much and despite my respect for CAD people it is not really in an ID director’s job description yet my portfolio demonstrates a high level of proficiency in Solidworks.
If I was an employee interviewing at another company, the bulk of my training & software is not paid for by me. This allows me to be more flexible in giving away my time. Especially if I was much younger with much less evidence to present.
As a consultant the acquisition of the software, training, practice time, equipment and the environment to run it in are all mine to bear. I know the value of it and I do not give it away. If CAD work is unusable clients don’t pay for it, model makers can’t use it, my name isn’t on the patent and it’s not on store shelves.
I used the analogy of an attorney in my rebuttal. Would you ask an attorney to represent you in a small case to see how he / she did then have a paralegal review it?
If we don’t respect our field who will? Any time someone asks me for something for free they don’t value it and they’re not getting it from me.