Every week in the FME Community, we pose a question to our users. Recently, we asked FME experts around the world: “What advice would you give a new FME user just starting out?” We received some fantastic answers that we want to share! This advice is actually great for users of all skill levels.
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Here are the top 5 pieces of advice that received the most mentions and votes:
1. Use bookmarks and annotations to document what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Don’t rename transformers, and don’t collapse bookmarks. Building workspaces that look neat and tidy is important.
2. Lean on the FME Community. Between documentation, tutorials, webinars, training courses, and the FME Community Q&A forum, there’s no shortage of support available. If you’re stuck on a problem, ask the FME Community for help! It’s also worth checking the community before you start building a complex custom solution, so you don’t reinvent the wheel.
3. FME skills come with time, and the best way to learn is by doing. There’s no “one right solution”, so just dive in and try different approaches to see what works best.
4. Don’t use PythonCallers, SQL, or other coding when FME has the built-in functionality for the task. This avoids complicating a workspace with code unless it’s absolutely necessary.
5. Practice tidy, focused attribute management. Some users preferred to avoid the AttributeManager in favor of the AttributeRemover and other specialized attribute transformers. When using the AttributeManager, don’t overload it.
Read more in our Question of the Week: What advice would you give a new FME user just starting out?
These 5 tips just scratched the surface of all the excellent advice our users offered. Be sure to check out the thread for lots more, including specific technical advice, such as which transformers people prefer over others. We invite you to share your own advice as well!
