Technicians and tradesmen tend to be knowledgeable, think for themselves, and expect to be given a lot of authority on programming etc. Suppliers are expected to defer to the end users superior application knowledge.
And these are my experiences as a Kiwi working in Australia. But not all companies allow this I have found. It is now one of the questions I ask at interviews to prospective employers... "I have proven myself to previous employers that I work at a higher technical level than regular sparkies, will I have full access to your automation systems and networks for fault finding and continuous improvement projects?"
I have recieved a no before on 1 occasion as the engineer held the keys to the guard house. No fun for me so no acceptance of job offer for you! Most of them say it will be authorised modifcations only. No problem with that at all. Scored a lot of SCADA mods out of being supervised in the engineering office, plus I have to think about each mod and write a small FD for proposed works. Mini-me engineer! Makes the other Sparkies a little suprised at what I can do now!