This was great, thank you. While some of this doesn’t apply to me, can definitely confirm a lot of the things said here. I went back to school at 30 and graduate with an electrical engineering degree at 36. It took me around 8 months to find a job and when I did, I was very fortunate to end up working for a great company that I really love so far. It is a controls/automation engineer position and although I’m not demanded to work really long hours unless absolutely necessary, I do often have a long list of tasks. They also have very tight timeframes. I will also state that training an individual for this position is very tough. My boss is great and answers all my questions, but I’m often given a new task where I feel extremely overwhelmed. I’ve been there for almost a year and I feel like I’m still a long way from being fully trained. That said, I genuinely enjoy working there and I feel like I got really lucky landing the job.
As a BMS controls programmer with multiple projects I agree with what he said about timelines. If you don’t complete your projects in a certain timeline and keep it inside profit you won’t make it in this field. You have to be driven, and get ahead before you get buried with little mistakes that needed to be caught at the beginning. A rule of thumb I like to have is to work on the project chronologically from start to finish instead of jumping around
what causes some one not to complete there projects on time and also i wanted to know what are the usual hours of a work week for a plc programmer i know that's different from a plc engineer but i wanted to know because im going into the plc programming and i need to know if this will have a good work life balance and if the project id be getting will they be manageable for me to do
@@JakeTheSnake509 so it sees like the key is don't slack off and finish one project at a time . if you dont mind me asking ? what is you job title and are you a plc programmer or engineer ?
I have been working as a control systems engineer for 35 + years, 25 of which as a license holder. I have designed just about every type of industrial control system there is and integrates most of them. Honestly I wanted to disagree but I cannot. While there are negative aspects to all engineering disciplines, I still think controls system engineering is the most interesting. When I started my career I designed and built Pneumatic controls, analog electrical controls and JCI minicomputer based controllers. Today the controls are orders of magnitude more sophisticated and network engineering skills are a must. If I had it to do all over again, I’d still be a controls engineer, I love it, I love the technology, the fact that technology is constantly changing and the challenges of staying on top of the changes are time consuming. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I want to come into this field but I don't know what should I learn please list out all skills that is needed for automation engineer? Already I am an electrical engineering gradaute
I've been 6 years in this field and I still can't see anything wrong with it, everything you said is pretty much true, with the exception of my day: work, eat, study, drink and sleep. Slightly different, not the line of work for anyone that wants to be a family man or is one, but a life consuming work that most of the time pays well ("""MOST""" of the time).
💯 agreed 20+ years experience and always on call 😎 I’ve found if you have a family you like to spend time with don’t work for a large System Integrator, OEM or Large Corporation.
It's a demanding job but the company you work for has everything to do with it as well. Big companies are terrible places to work in general, it's better to find a small/medium size company of 30-150 people.
Very true statement indeed. Im an Electrical Installation Engineer for a German company working for 1year now and I have travelled to more countries in one year where one would do this in a span of 5-10years. The programmers on our sites do indeed have alot of work to do, but our company is always conscious of time off for yourself and family so there is always support for you with other programmers at your aid. For this I am very fortunate to work with such a company because I know its not the same outside Germany.
I agree in everything you mention. I've worked for most of the main automation giants and can tell you become a well paid soldier. It's great to travel around the world and get experience, but it's is not the place to have a healthy work-life balance, or of you want to be close to your kids when they grow up.
Great video. I've been in process control for over 10 years now and I always tell new people that this job is only suitable for a select few. You need incredible resistance to pressure. One thing I feel you should highlight is commissioning. This is almost always what breaks people and causes them to leave the industry. People entering this field need to know that it usually only takes one or two automation engineers to make massive production facilities run. I have shown up to $30 million dollar projects by myself as the only person to make the system run. Crazy pressure. Also almost all industrial facilities are 24/7 operations, but forget about having 3 shifts of automation, you will sometimes work 90 hours a week and see all 3 shifts of operators. A few times on some disaster projects I have put in over 105 hours in a week (and on salary, so didn't even make OT). There are upsides to the job. It's very rewarding to program in the office and see the project come alive on site. Being a good PLC programmer will get you special treatment compared to the rest of the project crew (see reason above, you are the only person that can make the system work). If you can stomach the downsides you will never be out of work. Demand is insanely high and you will have a decent upper-middle class income for life.
Thank you for your advice. I haven't been able to find anyone talk as candidly about it as I have in this comment section. I'm a college student majoring in EE looking to get into this line of work. No other field has excited me more than this, but you guys are making it seem like it's not worth it. If you were in my shoes would you follow the route of becoming a control engineer?
@@lettucemastermind3799 If you like problem solving and being relied on by other people, go for it. For context, my comment is mostly pertaining to experienced engineers. When you enter the field you generally have a mentor to coach you for the first year or more. As you gain experience and start taking on more responsibilities you will have time to decide if this job is right for you. If you don't like it, you can use your skills to make lateral move to a 9-5 maintenance job, etc. You can also make the job much better yourself with very simple things, like always taking lunch, even if the customer is shutdown and being honest that working past 10 hours in the day isn't effective and you could make costly mistakes. From all the people I know, I think I actually like my job more than most. The lows are low, but the wins are huge and I don't see 100% office workers feeling the rewards that I do.
@Kevin n still he says he used to be in site for 4 months but you are still eager to join in Rockwell.. what's the reason? Whom we are living for? To the company or to the family? I know every field have less time to spend with family but here it have no time
Spot on video. As someone who have done all the things mentioned in this video for 10+ years, I have to say, it gets a lot easier when you transition to the other side, i.e. client side, where you define the system requirements.
@@EugenKondratiev only when you transition to becoming the client, you can realise how much (or how little) you know. Generally, the end users need to manage and integrate multiple systems whereas working for a single OEM, you only get to see/design few systems. This can be overwhelming, trust me. Development is subjective, I know engineers who work for OEMs and only know how to program PLCs or do hardware control panel design. On the other hand, I have met engineers who transitioned to becoming "clients" and had to up their game by delving into newer fields like cybersecurity, info management, standards assessments etc.
That's a real issue right now. I'm a Controls Engineering Consultant at a 235 MW Combined Cycle Power Generating Station and we could complete several of out critical items in 2021 and some of the materials ordered last summer still haven't arrived and the prices and lead times seem to get pushed up and out on a weekly basis. Try finding Pre-Insulated Heat Trace Tubing for 2500 PSIG/1100 F Transmitters on HP and Reheat Steam lines as one of many examples I could cite.
Great Video, im a PLC spacialist, Senior Programmer(14 Years, Rockwell and Siemens, also as telecom consultant), sometimes it feels like i live for it... i love it dont get me wrong, but its exausting sometimes! i have a family, its difficult!
I am a controls engineer (system integrator). The job is not easy, and honestly, I would not have it any other way. It takes hard work to make the world a better place to live, and automation has a huge piece to play to make that happen. To anyone interested in the profession, it's the most difficult "fun" you'll ever have.
It's fairly telling that I already knew what was going to be said in this video before watching it. My biggest issue is the amount of knowledge that we're supposed to possess without getting properly compensated for it. I see so many job listings where they want PLC, SCADA, Python/C++, IT/OT and Robotics in a single job but the compensation really doesn't match. Even the travel positions are lackluster unless if you're able to rack up OT.
Almost always feel like the job descriptions are copied from one company to the other. In reality they might just be needing proficiency in a few areas.
Starting an internship as PLC programmer this summer. It seems like a tough field but I'm willing to try it. Where I live there a shortage of PLC programmers and they are having a hard time hiring.
can confirm all of this, working automation 10+ years. I've burned out twice, but there is such a humungous demand, and shortage of knowledgeable technicians, I've been pulled back in this year. Started January, and I've been home about 3 weekends so far.
Here is some insights that I have found in Australia. - The control system market is demanding like everywhere else. - There is a large misunderstanding of what this skill set is by companies. - There is a general expectation that you will fix what ever it may be before it even broke down. - Companies are looking to lock you in to an average salary and then expect all their problems to go away. It's not perfect but the more I look into this the more I realise this is a labour of love. You only get so far in this industry unless you love the challenges it affords you. I definitely agree the burn out is a major problem but I also think there are issues around valuation of abilities.
The same is true in the USA. I am absolutely astounded that the industry doesn't command a higher wage. I have seen multi-million dollar projects come to a dead stop because the single automation guy responsible for the process didn't deliver. I honestly can't think of another industry where a guy making $70k a year has such an impact.
It's unusual to find someone that makes a career of this. It takes a unique individual with a flexible home life (or single) to make it work. I was not educated as a controls engineer, but fell into it at a small firm working only at home (except for the occasional travel in my old role as a field test engineer), so it's been sustainable. That being said, being the only controls engineer at a firm of any size can be stressful and require long/odd hours.
Totally agree, I agree with a lot of aspects of this video with slightly depending on company and country and difently depending on the person. you need to try to equilibrium with your life main aspects and hold the stick from the middle.
As a hiring manager I always stress that our job involves travel, up to 40 percent, but we are conscious of family and try to give the engineers time home. 10 days with 4 days home in most cases, but as anyone knows the project dictates the schedule.
Absolutely. We shouldn't let component failure, budget shortfalls or supply chain delays get in the way of arbitrary deadlines. Whenever I set myself a task, I estimate how long it will take to complete and then set a deadline which is half the time I estimated. This way, I can boast of "hitting targets" and "meeting key performance indicators". If something isn't finished, I simply leave it, "as anyone knows the project dictates the schedule".
@@digitalradiohacker I'm confused by your comment. Are you being sincere or are you coming at me about my comment. Because I made no mention of comparing the project performance or issues to the schedule. I simply referred to how we as a company are conscious of extensive travel required for this work but "project dictates the schedule". Meaning that if a project is small in nature and requires say a 2 week trip then obviously thats how we would schedule it.
I happen to just come across this vid and your channel as someone that also works in Field Service Engineering and IACS-Industrial Automations Controls Systems. The harsh reality is your 100% correct and their isn’t anything I can actually disagree with. Expectations of what your suppose to and can do is extremely high. Training for new technologies in automation which is ultra rapidly changing and evolving is very low from the companies you work for and they somehow expect you to know it all and that’s just not possible for so many reasons. You will end up having to solve every bit of your technology problems on your own without much help from anyone else you work with. And lots of long hours on-site trying to get or make something work as well lots of time on phone with like Rockwell Automations or Siemens Tech Support. You will have lots of travel, which means lots of time from family. Many the places you visit you won’t even get to see much because your so damn busy working at sites under lots of pressure to fix or get some logic programming to work. It’s an interesting job, but it’s also tough and sometimes your not compensated for all the overtime you work on projects. I’m on salary in this field and it’s not uncommon to have to put in overtime of up to and extra 40 hrs in that same week on projects when out of the 40hr week office and to not be compensated for it being on salary. Nevertheless yes, many engineers get burned out, quit or leave.
This guy is full of it. 1991 to 1995, I worked for an asphalt company automating 180 asphalt plants in the southeastern US states that had people climbing up 150 foot ladders in 40F degree weather, sometimes raining as well and pulling levers at these plants to create mixes of asphalt. I programmed Telemecanique plc's connected to OPTO-22 relays to control everything. Sure, it was long hours but it was very rewarding and I did have to travel out to every one of the 180 asphalt plants to do the retro fit done over a weekend. I used what I learned on this job to automate my own home. And although I have updated the computer equipment from PLC's, the entire alarm system at my house is still running today with mostly the same software using the original OPTO-22 relays. I then moved on to Conagra-poultry(which was sold to Pilgrams Pride) from 1996 to 2000 automating chicken plant processing equipment using IBM plant floor equipment. I retro-fitted a majority of the equipment on the plant floor with IBM equipment which made tracking every part of the chicken as it made its way through the processing equipment possible, a government requirement. Again it was long hours some days but was well worth it. There was also a lot of days just sitting around monitoring everything and getting paid to goof off. I then moved on to MDT Software from 2000 to Dec 2001 when the entire software industry came to a halt because of Sept 2001. But in that time I also retro-fitted Purina Pet food processing plants. So, 10 years of steady employment getting paid above average wages too, was worth it. I would go back and do it again instead of moving into the web development jobs that was all that was left after most automation moved to China.
Hi Worked for 24 years now as an system integrator in process automation. One thing that will be better is that you will be good at the process, electrical, instrumentation etc. This will mean that its fairly simple to jump from system to system. The base is still the same. So long as its proven products and not some buggy non functional new junk, Then even I will get frustrated. Also one important thing is to have an understanding wife 🤪
I’ve never worried about replacement. As long you have the knack and keep current and have passion you can be an ass. In the end all that matters is the system goes up and down back and forth and around in circles. Talks nice to all the other machines going back and forth and up and down and around in circles and stops when it’s supposed to. As long as it makes the widgets as expected and can tell the ERP system what it’s done that is all that matters. Being liked is a plus. Yea it’s stressful at times and a lot of answers arrive at 3 am, but the reality is very few can people can do this kind of work
Do you think that completing the tasks that the company assigns is something that depends only on the engineers capacity, or depends more on the consistency and not giving up?
you scared me because i was learning industrial automation past 1 year . i am just try to change my job to automation. i just married so i totally confuse😟😟
with this job, having family is really difficult, company would pay you quite a lot but you have to travel all over the world for work... I don't know how to figure it out
Good video, I don't disagree. But I would add that, once you've forged yourself in this hellfire you will be (maybe depending on your country) in the position to turn yourself into a freelancer. Start your own business, work on your own terms. You can turn down a certain project if you don't want to do it. Or you can bid it so high that the client would not accept (or maybe they accept anyway, and afterwards you can afford to take a few months off). Turning down jobs isn't great for business but if you have plenty of business then, well, it's up to you. And that's the beauty of it. Being self employed can be even more stressful than the life you described, but you are in control of it. If you let it get that stressful, you can dial it down yourself before you burn out.
@@lettucemastermind3799 You have to be a salesman, call strangers, visit them, convince them they need your help. Not usually a natural fit for the personality types who are good at this kind of Engineering work, but it is critical. I'm no good at it at all. I managed to build my customer base over the years by word of mouth recommendations mostly. It's a slow, arduous process if you don't have the "gift of gab." I had to build my business in my spare time, working "for the man" by day, and for myself by night.
This is Software Engineering in general. Software Engineering is one of the strangest job in which you're expected to be a everything engineer. You specialise in all fields of it. Industrial Automation takes it to a whole new level with Electronics and Mechanical.
If you're experienced you get drug into Process Engineering, Project Planning, Supply Chain Issues and other tasks besides your work and the Electronics and Mechanical you speak of. Management expects you to solve logistical issues and not just the technical issues they're compensating you for.
Brother thank you for sharing valuable knowledge. As you said there is alot of work kindly you can explain how scada, dcs engineer day looks like. It will be really helpful. Thank you 🙂
Assalamualaikum sir this is MD Akram from india .I am instrumentation engineer but I am learning plc scada and DCS .can I start my career in Dubai as a fresher programer
A.s brother Brother am from Pakistan. Am a student of electrical engineering and automation . , brother am confused and depressed about this I don't know how to survive as a engineer, brother if you read my comment plz ans
I will tell you what the main challenge is: It's getting the job done when they say "you have one week, because that's all we billed the customer for."
I think most venors think that not being trivial, or automatable - in terms of project development - is a good thing. In the software world you could pick any language and toolchain and let some script setup a project for you. Now imagine like siemens, where this is impossible.... Or that none of the vendors i know has a way to transforn one language into another, so that you could look at a piece of programming in st, ld or fbd. Imagine, if version control would be encuragdd by the engineering software.... there would be a clear history of when things have changed, who changed it and what exactly has changed... Imagine if engineering software would be performant... I got a fairly powerfull computer that possess an nvme drive, a fast processor and 32GB ram. Most engineering softwares that i tried over time took minutes for things that i.e. Word or even the super shitty eclipse ide does in seconds... All these things are not strictly related to the carrer of course, but I would say these things are part of some problems. I think the if there were options to generate, test, lint projects, more engineers could be confident and would be less stressed. And if good, independent diagnostic tooling could be developed by companies, some travels would not be neccessary..... If the field woul be percieved more like computer science, things would be different - maybe better, maybe not. But there would be things that could aid every engineer
I would recommend for upcoming engineers to get into building automation with a relatively small company. Usually there is little office red tape to keep you from doing many things effectively in smaller companies and they usually will value your skills if you come in with experience. As a building automation engineer, working with a smaller company has allowed me to have a very much enjoyable work-life balance with my wife. It still requires you to be on top of your projects since there are always projects occurring. You will also be primarily doing submittal work and DDC programming. In my workplace, being a small company there is a very cool “can-do” attitude amongst my fellow employees that helps us solve issues together and not point the finger when something goes wrong, which is seriously undervalued sometimes by young engineers who don’t know how important that is. I think it makes a big difference. Travel can be a thing too but usually only if you’re in a senior position and it is usually for a specific customer. The field of building automation also changes too but much more slowly than the field of industrial controls so you have time to become an expert in a particular product. For instance, I would recommend getting familiarized with Niagara front end software and Distech control product lines since they seem to be the future.
can anyone please tell commissioning engineering in the automation field this job role is good? or means it has any growth in the future in this role. or I go for another job profile can anyone suggest me in plc, SCADA, HMI I'm fresher now
This was great, thank you. While some of this doesn’t apply to me, can definitely confirm a lot of the things said here. I went back to school at 30 and graduate with an electrical engineering degree at 36. It took me around 8 months to find a job and when I did, I was very fortunate to end up working for a great company that I really love so far. It is a controls/automation engineer position and although I’m not demanded to work really long hours unless absolutely necessary, I do often have a long list of tasks. They also have very tight timeframes. I will also state that training an individual for this position is very tough. My boss is great and answers all my questions, but I’m often given a new task where I feel extremely overwhelmed. I’ve been there for almost a year and I feel like I’m still a long way from being fully trained. That said, I genuinely enjoy working there and I feel like I got really lucky landing the job.
Good video.. lots of people are teaching PLC but nobody telling the dark reality.
As a BMS controls programmer with multiple projects I agree with what he said about timelines. If you don’t complete your projects in a certain timeline and keep it inside profit you won’t make it in this field. You have to be driven, and get ahead before you get buried with little mistakes that needed to be caught at the beginning. A rule of thumb I like to have is to work on the project chronologically from start to finish instead of jumping around
what causes some one not to complete there projects on time and also i wanted to know what are the usual hours of a work week for a plc programmer i know that's different from a plc engineer but i wanted to know because im going into the plc programming and i need to know if this will have a good work life balance and if the project id be getting will they be manageable for me to do
lol, one project from start to finish.
@@JakeTheSnake509 thanks for the reply men i really need it
so are you sayings there's no project from start to finish ?
@@Mysterious.phanto there are, you never get just one project. I'm constantly bouncing from project to project.
@@JakeTheSnake509 so it sees like the key is don't slack off and finish one project at a time .
if you dont mind me asking ? what is you job title and are you a plc programmer or engineer ?
I have been working as a control systems engineer for 35 + years, 25 of which as a license holder. I have designed just about every type of industrial control system there is and integrates most of them. Honestly I wanted to disagree but I cannot. While there are negative aspects to all engineering disciplines, I still think controls system engineering is the most interesting. When I started my career I designed and built Pneumatic controls, analog electrical controls and JCI minicomputer based controllers. Today the controls are orders of magnitude more sophisticated and network engineering skills are a must. If I had it to do all over again, I’d still be a controls engineer, I love it, I love the technology, the fact that technology is constantly changing and the challenges of staying on top of the changes are time consuming. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I want to come into this field but I don't know what should I learn please list out all skills that is needed for automation engineer?
Already I am an electrical engineering gradaute
I've been 6 years in this field and I still can't see anything wrong with it, everything you said is pretty much true, with the exception of my day: work, eat, study, drink and sleep. Slightly different, not the line of work for anyone that wants to be a family man or is one, but a life consuming work that most of the time pays well ("""MOST""" of the time).
💯 agreed
20+ years experience and always on call 😎
I’ve found if you have a family you like to spend time with don’t work for a large System Integrator, OEM or Large Corporation.
It's a demanding job but the company you work for has everything to do with it as well. Big companies are terrible places to work in general, it's better to find a small/medium size company of 30-150 people.
Very true statement indeed. Im an Electrical Installation Engineer for a German company working for 1year now and I have travelled to more countries in one year where one would do this in a span of 5-10years. The programmers on our sites do indeed have alot of work to do, but our company is always conscious of time off for yourself and family so there is always support for you with other programmers at your aid. For this I am very fortunate to work with such a company because I know its not the same outside Germany.
Hi bro, can you help to get a job as an automation engineer
I, myself faced each and every issue what you have described...
However, who likes to take challenges always welcome..
For all of this you just explained I left my this role many years ago. Specially the travelling part with nearly no private life of my own.
I agree in everything you mention. I've worked for most of the main automation giants and can tell you become a well paid soldier. It's great to travel around the world and get experience, but it's is not the place to have a healthy work-life balance, or of you want to be close to your kids when they grow up.
Great video. I've been in process control for over 10 years now and I always tell new people that this job is only suitable for a select few. You need incredible resistance to pressure. One thing I feel you should highlight is commissioning. This is almost always what breaks people and causes them to leave the industry. People entering this field need to know that it usually only takes one or two automation engineers to make massive production facilities run. I have shown up to $30 million dollar projects by myself as the only person to make the system run. Crazy pressure. Also almost all industrial facilities are 24/7 operations, but forget about having 3 shifts of automation, you will sometimes work 90 hours a week and see all 3 shifts of operators. A few times on some disaster projects I have put in over 105 hours in a week (and on salary, so didn't even make OT).
There are upsides to the job. It's very rewarding to program in the office and see the project come alive on site. Being a good PLC programmer will get you special treatment compared to the rest of the project crew (see reason above, you are the only person that can make the system work). If you can stomach the downsides you will never be out of work. Demand is insanely high and you will have a decent upper-middle class income for life.
Thank you for your advice. I haven't been able to find anyone talk as candidly about it as I have in this comment section. I'm a college student majoring in EE looking to get into this line of work. No other field has excited me more than this, but you guys are making it seem like it's not worth it. If you were in my shoes would you follow the route of becoming a control engineer?
@@lettucemastermind3799 If you like problem solving and being relied on by other people, go for it. For context, my comment is mostly pertaining to experienced engineers. When you enter the field you generally have a mentor to coach you for the first year or more. As you gain experience and start taking on more responsibilities you will have time to decide if this job is right for you. If you don't like it, you can use your skills to make lateral move to a 9-5 maintenance job, etc.
You can also make the job much better yourself with very simple things, like always taking lunch, even if the customer is shutdown and being honest that working past 10 hours in the day isn't effective and you could make costly mistakes.
From all the people I know, I think I actually like my job more than most. The lows are low, but the wins are huge and I don't see 100% office workers feeling the rewards that I do.
Another negative thing:
Hair loss rate about 5% per year.
Really true, today while we compare with IT people there is no match with earnings and work life balance.
I can relate, i was working in rockwell automation. I remember to be on a single site for 4 months. I was so depressed.
@Kevin n I was bachelors Of engineering in electrical, now I am pursuing masters in robotics after working for 3 years in automation industry
@Kevin n still he says he used to be in site for 4 months but you are still eager to join in Rockwell.. what's the reason? Whom we are living for? To the company or to the family? I know every field have less time to spend with family but here it have no time
Spot on video. As someone who have done all the things mentioned in this video for 10+ years, I have to say, it gets a lot easier when you transition to the other side, i.e. client side, where you define the system requirements.
true story. but you`re halt your development as an engineer when appears on the client side :).
@@EugenKondratiev only when you transition to becoming the client, you can realise how much (or how little) you know. Generally, the end users need to manage and integrate multiple systems whereas working for a single OEM, you only get to see/design few systems. This can be overwhelming, trust me. Development is subjective, I know engineers who work for OEMs and only know how to program PLCs or do hardware control panel design. On the other hand, I have met engineers who transitioned to becoming "clients" and had to up their game by delving into newer fields like cybersecurity, info management, standards assessments etc.
@@Domi6556 Agreed. Have been working on client side for 6 month and realize how little I know about this industries..
Can we talk about the absolute ridiculous long order times for automations parts and the drastic increase in price?
That's a real issue right now. I'm a Controls Engineering Consultant at a 235 MW Combined Cycle Power Generating Station and we could complete several of out critical items in 2021 and some of the materials ordered last summer still haven't arrived and the prices and lead times seem to get pushed up and out on a weekly basis. Try finding Pre-Insulated Heat Trace Tubing for 2500 PSIG/1100 F Transmitters on HP and Reheat Steam lines as one of many examples I could cite.
Great Video, im a PLC spacialist, Senior Programmer(14 Years, Rockwell and Siemens, also as telecom consultant), sometimes it feels like i live for it... i love it dont get me wrong, but its exausting sometimes! i have a family, its difficult!
I am a controls engineer (system integrator). The job is not easy, and honestly, I would not have it any other way. It takes hard work to make the world a better place to live, and automation has a huge piece to play to make that happen.
To anyone interested in the profession, it's the most difficult "fun" you'll ever have.
It's fairly telling that I already knew what was going to be said in this video before watching it. My biggest issue is the amount of knowledge that we're supposed to possess without getting properly compensated for it.
I see so many job listings where they want PLC, SCADA, Python/C++, IT/OT and Robotics in a single job but the compensation really doesn't match. Even the travel positions are lackluster unless if you're able to rack up OT.
And those positions rarely get filled.
Almost always feel like the job descriptions are copied from one company to the other. In reality they might just be needing proficiency in a few areas.
Starting an internship as PLC programmer this summer. It seems like a tough field but I'm willing to try it. Where I live there a shortage of PLC programmers and they are having a hard time hiring.
My employer sets the expectations of never working on your off time to keep the work/life balance.
can confirm all of this, working automation 10+ years. I've burned out twice, but there is such a humungous demand, and shortage of knowledgeable technicians, I've been pulled back in this year. Started January, and I've been home about 3 weekends so far.
Here is some insights that I have found in Australia.
- The control system market is demanding like everywhere else.
- There is a large misunderstanding of what this skill set is by companies.
- There is a general expectation that you will fix what ever it may be before it even broke down.
- Companies are looking to lock you in to an average salary and then expect all their problems to go away.
It's not perfect but the more I look into this the more I realise this is a labour of love. You only get so far in this industry unless you love the challenges it affords you.
I definitely agree the burn out is a major problem but I also think there are issues around valuation of abilities.
True ..well said
The same is true in the USA. I am absolutely astounded that the industry doesn't command a higher wage. I have seen multi-million dollar projects come to a dead stop because the single automation guy responsible for the process didn't deliver. I honestly can't think of another industry where a guy making $70k a year has such an impact.
It's unusual to find someone that makes a career of this. It takes a unique individual with a flexible home life (or single) to make it work. I was not educated as a controls engineer, but fell into it at a small firm working only at home (except for the occasional travel in my old role as a field test engineer), so it's been sustainable. That being said, being the only controls engineer at a firm of any size can be stressful and require long/odd hours.
Totally agree, I agree with a lot of aspects of this video with slightly depending on company and country and difently depending on the person.
you need to try to equilibrium with your life main aspects and hold the stick from the middle.
Every single word explained by you is 100℅ truth.
As a hiring manager I always stress that our job involves travel, up to 40 percent, but we are conscious of family and try to give the engineers time home. 10 days with 4 days home in most cases, but as anyone knows the project dictates the schedule.
Absolutely. We shouldn't let component failure, budget shortfalls or supply chain delays get in the way of arbitrary deadlines.
Whenever I set myself a task, I estimate how long it will take to complete and then set a deadline which is half the time I estimated. This way, I can boast of "hitting targets" and "meeting key performance indicators". If something isn't finished, I simply leave it, "as anyone knows the project dictates the schedule".
@@digitalradiohacker I'm confused by your comment. Are you being sincere or are you coming at me about my comment. Because I made no mention of comparing the project performance or issues to the schedule. I simply referred to how we as a company are conscious of extensive travel required for this work but "project dictates the schedule". Meaning that if a project is small in nature and requires say a 2 week trip then obviously thats how we would schedule it.
I happen to just come across this vid and your channel as someone that also works in Field Service Engineering and IACS-Industrial Automations Controls Systems. The harsh reality is your 100% correct and their isn’t anything I can actually disagree with. Expectations of what your suppose to and can do is extremely high. Training for new technologies in automation which is ultra rapidly changing and evolving is very low from the companies you work for and they somehow expect you to know it all and that’s just not possible for so many reasons. You will end up having to solve every bit of your technology problems on your own without much help from anyone else you work with. And lots of long hours on-site trying to get or make something work as well lots of time on phone with like Rockwell Automations or Siemens Tech Support. You will have lots of travel, which means lots of time from family. Many the places you visit you won’t even get to see much because your so damn busy working at sites under lots of pressure to fix or get some logic programming to work. It’s an interesting job, but it’s also tough and sometimes your not compensated for all the overtime you work on projects. I’m on salary in this field and it’s not uncommon to have to put in overtime of up to and extra 40 hrs in that same week on projects when out of the 40hr week office and to not be compensated for it being on salary. Nevertheless yes, many engineers get burned out, quit or leave.
isn't that blatant wage theft?
Worked in integrator for 7 years burned out no moved to some remote village power plant as maintenance engineer to have some family time.
I'm glad that you open up the issue.
This guy is full of it. 1991 to 1995, I worked for an asphalt company automating 180 asphalt plants in the southeastern US states that had people climbing up 150 foot ladders in 40F degree weather, sometimes raining as well and pulling levers at these plants to create mixes of asphalt. I programmed Telemecanique plc's connected to OPTO-22 relays to control everything. Sure, it was long hours but it was very rewarding and I did have to travel out to every one of the 180 asphalt plants to do the retro fit done over a weekend. I used what I learned on this job to automate my own home. And although I have updated the computer equipment from PLC's, the entire alarm system at my house is still running today with mostly the same software using the original OPTO-22 relays.
I then moved on to Conagra-poultry(which was sold to Pilgrams Pride) from 1996 to 2000 automating chicken plant processing equipment using IBM plant floor equipment. I retro-fitted a majority of the equipment on the plant floor with IBM equipment which made tracking every part of the chicken as it made its way through the processing equipment possible, a government requirement. Again it was long hours some days but was well worth it. There was also a lot of days just sitting around monitoring everything and getting paid to goof off. I then moved on to MDT Software from 2000 to Dec 2001 when the entire software industry came to a halt because of Sept 2001. But in that time I also retro-fitted Purina Pet food processing plants. So, 10 years of steady employment getting paid above average wages too, was worth it. I would go back and do it again instead of moving into the web development jobs that was all that was left after most automation moved to China.
Hi
Worked for 24 years now as an system integrator in process automation. One thing that will be better is that you will be good at the process, electrical, instrumentation etc. This will mean that its fairly simple to jump from system to system. The base is still the same. So long as its proven products and not some buggy non functional new junk, Then even I will get frustrated. Also one important thing is to have an understanding wife 🤪
True
Same thing for working as a MARINE ELECTRONICS ENGINEER doing repairs on RADAR and MF/HF radios
Absolutely everything you said is true. This field is not for people who have family.
I’ve never worried about replacement. As long you have the knack and keep current and have passion you can be an ass. In the end all that matters is the system goes up and down back and forth and around in circles. Talks nice to all the other machines going back and forth and up and down and around in circles and stops when it’s supposed to. As long as it makes the widgets as expected and can tell the ERP system what it’s done that is all that matters. Being liked is a plus. Yea it’s stressful at times and a lot of answers arrive at 3 am, but the reality is very few can people can do this kind of work
Do you think that completing the tasks that the company assigns is something that depends only on the engineers capacity, or depends more on the consistency and not giving up?
A bit of both
100/100 Facing the same challenges you said in the vdo
So what's is your advice for someone new in this domaine should we go to plant production jobs ?
you scared me because i was learning industrial automation past 1 year . i am just try to change my job to automation. i just married so i totally confuse😟😟
I support through remote comissioning
Sir may I get your mail id sir .
I have some questions regarding this filed ,I think sir can help me .
Yet me as an industrial electrician, do the same thing as a engineer and get paid at a fraction of the pay grade.
@@digitaldaemon74 i call your bs for not understanding my point, engineers in general are overrated. You actually think I don’t have those skills?
@@digitaldaemon74 good we are on the same page, work and personal lifestyle are 2 very different variables.
@@digitaldaemon74 😁
Probably just because we pay more money for the engineer label
with this job, having family is really difficult, company would pay you quite a lot but you have to travel all over the world for work... I don't know how to figure it out
Good idea about setting mind set
Good video, I don't disagree. But I would add that, once you've forged yourself in this hellfire you will be (maybe depending on your country) in the position to turn yourself into a freelancer. Start your own business, work on your own terms. You can turn down a certain project if you don't want to do it. Or you can bid it so high that the client would not accept (or maybe they accept anyway, and afterwards you can afford to take a few months off). Turning down jobs isn't great for business but if you have plenty of business then, well, it's up to you. And that's the beauty of it. Being self employed can be even more stressful than the life you described, but you are in control of it. If you let it get that stressful, you can dial it down yourself before you burn out.
Sorry if this is a naive question, but how are freelancers supposed to be contacted by clients for projects, or vice versa?
@@lettucemastermind3799 You have to be a salesman, call strangers, visit them, convince them they need your help. Not usually a natural fit for the personality types who are good at this kind of Engineering work, but it is critical. I'm no good at it at all. I managed to build my customer base over the years by word of mouth recommendations mostly. It's a slow, arduous process if you don't have the "gift of gab." I had to build my business in my spare time, working "for the man" by day, and for myself by night.
@@charlesstaton8104 Wow, I can see how it's a role only a select few can be fit for, that sounds very tough.
Excellent Nouman
This is Software Engineering in general. Software Engineering is one of the strangest job in which you're expected to be a everything engineer. You specialise in all fields of it. Industrial Automation takes it to a whole new level with Electronics and Mechanical.
If you're experienced you get drug into Process Engineering, Project Planning, Supply Chain Issues and other tasks besides your work and the Electronics and Mechanical you speak of. Management expects you to solve logistical issues and not just the technical issues they're compensating you for.
Thanks for sharing your opoins on automation engneer job.
Brother thank you for sharing valuable knowledge. As you said there is alot of work kindly you can explain how scada, dcs engineer day looks like. It will be really helpful. Thank you 🙂
You just said what I'm going through right now
Kindly provide the best Scada automation company details in UAE & Abu Dhabi
Never in my life will i do more than 40 hours in a week. Life is way more important and you dont live that long.
Assalamualaikum sir this is MD Akram from india .I am instrumentation engineer but I am learning plc scada and DCS .can I start my career in Dubai as a fresher programer
A.s brother
Brother am from Pakistan. Am a student of electrical engineering and automation . , brother am confused and depressed about this I don't know how to survive as a engineer, brother if you read my comment plz ans
Welcome back sir
What is a KNX ?
there are plenty of small companies that don't push this much work on you.
I will tell you what the main challenge is: It's getting the job done when they say "you have one week, because that's all we billed the customer for."
True
I agree with this harsh reality.
Give this man one million dollars.
I think most venors think that not being trivial, or automatable - in terms of project development - is a good thing. In the software world you could pick any language and toolchain and let some script setup a project for you. Now imagine like siemens, where this is impossible....
Or that none of the vendors i know has a way to transforn one language into another, so that you could look at a piece of programming in st, ld or fbd.
Imagine, if version control would be encuragdd by the engineering software.... there would be a clear history of when things have changed, who changed it and what exactly has changed...
Imagine if engineering software would be performant... I got a fairly powerfull computer that possess an nvme drive, a fast processor and 32GB ram. Most engineering softwares that i tried over time took minutes for things that i.e. Word or even the super shitty eclipse ide does in seconds...
All these things are not strictly related to the carrer of course, but I would say these things are part of some problems. I think the if there were options to generate, test, lint projects, more engineers could be confident and would be less stressed. And if good, independent diagnostic tooling could be developed by companies, some travels would not be neccessary.....
If the field woul be percieved more like computer science, things would be different - maybe better, maybe not. But there would be things that could aid every engineer
So true
Great boss
so that's why they're always hiring
No equipment left anyway.
Accurate
I would recommend for upcoming engineers to get into building automation with a relatively small company. Usually there is little office red tape to keep you from doing many things effectively in smaller companies and they usually will value your skills if you come in with experience. As a building automation engineer, working with a smaller company has allowed me to have a very much enjoyable work-life balance with my wife. It still requires you to be on top of your projects since there are always projects occurring. You will also be primarily doing submittal work and DDC programming. In my workplace, being a small company there is a very cool “can-do” attitude amongst my fellow employees that helps us solve issues together and not point the finger when something goes wrong, which is seriously undervalued sometimes by young engineers who don’t know how important that is. I think it makes a big difference. Travel can be a thing too but usually only if you’re in a senior position and it is usually for a specific customer. The field of building automation also changes too but much more slowly than the field of industrial controls so you have time to become an expert in a particular product. For instance, I would recommend getting familiarized with Niagara front end software and Distech control product lines since they seem to be the future.
This is definitely a fact
These are the beauties of automation engineering ❤️
Its look like hell
can anyone please tell commissioning engineering in the automation field this job role is good? or means it has any growth in the future in this role. or I go for another job profile can anyone suggest me in plc, SCADA, HMI I'm fresher now
go for it man. the job totally worth it if you like the challenge