Helpful advice from experienced Pipers

I'm wondering if you guy's could help I'm here in the uk I start as a Trainee piping designer at the end of the summer and have been messing about with PDMS for fun in my spare time I think this site is great, also I've been studying the training part of this site. I'm currently 150 pages into the piping and equipment design pdf file inside PDMs it 418 pages long . Can you recomend anything else I can do as I'm keen to learn.

I do not have that many years behind me to have the tag "experienced". However, a few things that came to my mind.

You have been doing good things yourself like reading the "Training" section of this website. There will be a lot of information that you will come across in those pages. However, you do not get to use everything on your first day. As you will get on working on one of those jobs, you will get to use it. It will be better if you jot down notes in your own words. They help lot.

PDMS is good tool for plant design. There are some great folks and advice on:
www.pdmsworld.com (AVEVA owns it!)
No matter how many tricks you learn there will be some that you will learn during job. And yes there are many other 3D Plant Design softwares. It will be good to keep in mind that: 3D software is just a tool that helps you in designing.

So concentrate on the core skill: Piping Design. All the best!!!

Having a "good handle" on PDMS (especially in the U.K.) is good ... akin to knowing how to put air in car tires! It DOESN'T teach you how to drive the car, how to work on the engine, or train you to know where to go! Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have, but there's alot of "stuff" you need to know BEFORE you deal with PDMS.
You need to enroll in some drafting classes ...normally 1st year drafting is mechanical (machine) ...which is good actually, semi along the same line pictorially as piping. Now they may start you off with pencil drafting ...and you'll think what's this got to do with it!!? What you're really learning is how to put drawings together, how they interrelate to each other, how you deal with revisions, what you need to illustrate, and what you do not (that's a big one!). You'll need minimum 2 years of this ...3 years is better. Then you need to find a "Piping class" ...some where, they are not easy to find ...Jr college here offers and intro into piping (it helps, but you’re NO designer if you have it). Now your PDMS comes to play ...but AutoCAD, PDS, Cadworx, etc. works just as effectively. Now the easy part for you, getting an engineering firm to bring you on as a Jr. draftsman …at what ever pay they’ll give you. Once in the door you’ll need to find AND "buddy up" with the oldest/crabbiest piping designer there (you might get lucky and find a nice one …but don’t count on it!) … and learn everything he knows! You may not like it or him but he's the best chance you get to be a "good" piping designer. Lucky for you Sr. Piping Designers “like” to talk about their work, I’ve never found one that won’t share their experience …trick is to shut them up! And for you to be able to filter out the “good stuff” from the “BS”.
I’m sure this sounds like a daunting task, but in today’s world, this is a best chance you’ve got! IMHO …Good Luck my friend.