Career

Hi,
52years old and I want a career change.
Been a maintenance manager for a number of years but not enjoying the man management side of things.
Looking at trying to be a controls engineer. I do have experience in fault finding on rslogix 5000 although never written a program from scratch. Worked on Modicon 984, Omron, Gx developer.
What do I need to do and what pitfalls do I need to avoid
Any feedback would be appreciated.

Andy

Go for it!!!

I'm 65 years old, have been an electronic engineer/computer(windows) programmer for 40 years (Basic-VB6-VB.Net-Embedded C). About a year ago I started working part time for a company helping them with some internet/component repair. Am now programming the micro800/CCW for most of their smaller projects and I love it. They have a great "Mentor" here and I hope to graduate up to RSLogix-5000. (I have done some with the rslogix500)

Have a good life.

I would say the biggest thing for you will be a pay drop, at least initially. Contact people you know who do integration and/or controls and see if there is any openings

cheers

Are you wanting to work for a company in a manufacturing environment supporting operations or are you wanting to work for a systems integrator who contracts to those companies? Skill set technically much the same but the rest of the job is entirely different and both have pros and cons.

I am 68 and have been an electrical maintenance manager and maintenance manager for a long time.
I understand the man maintenance part is difficult.
With the shifting work ethic and all I find that I am now looking forward to retiring soon.
I had planned to work to 70 to max out my SS benefits, but I wonder now if it is worth the trouble.
The PLC's and HMI s will follow instructions and it is getting to be where this is tha only place it happens!
The younger guys feel that they should have all of the perks of someone with experience, but they do everything to keep from having to earn it.
My wife says it's all the millennials and their concept of the world.
The guys all say that they want training like they can doze off in a classroon and pick everything needed up.
So I just try to get by and if something goes bonkers then guess who has to fix it in the middle of the night, holidays, and weekends.
I applaud your decision to change fields, but it will be difficult.
When I was 52 I thought I was pretty old, but now.............
I never thought I would be as aggravated with nonresponsive and disrespectful maintenance people.
All I can say is WOW and the manager not tolerates this, but seems to encourage the disrespect.
It is a new age and I don't think I am ready for it.

Andy,

I was a Controls Engineer/Electrical Engineer/Maintenance Manager in my main job in manufacturing....nearly 20 years and different roles over that time..

Redundancy was my opportunity to change, became a Principal Systems Engineer with a Consultant working mainly in the UK and Irish Water Industry. Did that for 5 years, travelling to see and work with NI Water, Dwr Cymru, Southern Water, Thames Water, Northumbrian Water, as well as Scottish Water.
Much writing of reports, spreadsheets, technical reviews/design, site surveys, as well as a wee bit of project commissioning.
Very much a technical role without too much man-management. These consultants always need people with varied industrial experience.
But then long-term was going to be regular travel to where the work was.

So, looked at what I enjoyed best, and that was site work, design, install, commissioning and support, so found a role as a Controls Engineer in manufacturing again. Different industry from the first role, but a PLC is a PLC etc. Lots to learn, but we get there.
In my experience:
Manufacturing, you have support, other people know the systems.
System Integrator, you may get thrown into more new things, maybe depends on the size of the team...

That said, I would go for it - I know that companies are not supposed to be ageist, you are younger than me, should be plenty of work your way.

Update your CV, emphasise your strengths, and apply for jobs. I always looked at interviews as experience, learn what questions they ask, get good answers ready. Some I flunked cos I didn't think enough beforehand, others I didn't really want, so threw in some wobblers, but all good experience down the line.

Watch age discrimination

When I was 55 I was looking to get back into the field after running my own business. I applied for many jobs but did not even get an interview, even though I was well qualified. What I found out was when I put 35 years of experance down THAT showed my age and I assume I was passed over. I then put down only my last 20 years experance, and then I had my choice of jobs. I never went for an interview in 40+ years and did not get a job offer. But getting that interview at 55 was hard till I played the game.

Good luck
Cowboy

I am fairly new to the field. I went to college for an BS engineering technology degree where I learned half electrical and half programming. I knew out of college that I wanted to be A PLC man because I cruised through the labs and had a real knack for it. My peers took 9 or 10 hours in small theoretical machine builds using toggle switches and indicator lights while I took 4 to 6 hours.

I learned by being thrown in. Here is a press. This cant open while the press is down or the machine destroys itself. Here are your inputs and outputs. Make it work.

Given the above you can look out on the floor at any machine and with an emulator recreate some ground up logic experience. logix 500 and an emulator is free from ab.com google- logix micro starter lite.

I am working on year 5 now and just curving around the age of 29. My 5 years in various PLC contract work has been pretty brutal. The cons of the jobs will be

lack of time to get projects done

Making sure your programing what your customer is asking for (foresee what they will want and wont. They always want more for the fixed quote with extra added on.)

Learn to make mistakes gracefully (roughing in new logic has a few bugs don't look nervous)

Hotel beds

Late nights including holidays because that's when machines stop for continuous process

and

People do not understand what it takes to program and integrate items. A running joke at my job now is "sure that will take 5 minutes".... programing is slow if your good. It is a bread crumb trail of Googling when your new.

Aside from that remember that appearance matters a hell of a lot if you want people to trust you when you working on their million dollar projects.

Sorry for the lack of spell check. I have a line down.

just the cowboy said:

When I was 55 I was looking to get back into the field after running my own business. I applied for many jobs but did not even get an interview, even though I was well qualified. What I found out was when I put 35 years of experance down THAT showed my age and I assume I was passed over. I then put down only my last 20 years experance, and then I had my choice of jobs. I never went for an interview in 40+ years and did not get a job offer. But getting that interview at 55 was hard till I played the game.

Good luck
Cowboy

Click to expand...

Exactly, Been there, done that.

years ago there was an even worse aversion to hiring older people.
Now while they still want 35 years of experience they want no older than 45 years old.
One thing I noticed was they wanted to know when you graduated since they couldn't ask how old you were or birth year.
Now the problem is they have forced out the grey heads and are left with know nothing kids who didn't pay attention to to their elders.

The grey heads are retiring and taking their knowledge with them.

" Hi welcome to Walmart"

That's were i was headed. I have been in Maintenance in one form or another for close to thirty years. My youngest daughter heads to college end of this school year. Schools paid for, nest is empty, I was going low budget, Hi adventure. My wife comes to me two years ago....................."I'm pregnant". My first thought was "how the hell did that happen". Damn things grow back. Should have come with a warranty.

There went my Walmart job.

I'll be grinding on this keyboard for another 18 years.

Any wonder why I drink.

If you have basic PLC skills and maintenance experience and your wife doesn't mined you being gone a weeks at a time you can always look for a field service job. That's what I did. Pays really good. I have been doing it for that last 4 years and will go another 5 years then I will retire with the house and cars paid off.

Andy,
Yes, that is a big problem.
I am retired but look for short term temp jobs. I was interviewing for a job a few years ago. The young lady HR told me that in the 5 year span that passed since I last worked in that field I would have forgotten everything. I have several patents in that area.
Good luck

Hi Guy's,
Thanks for your replies.
There's a big skills gap here in the Uk over the last 15 years and I think one of the areas is in the Controls area.
I'll hopefully get some interviews and decide then.
It could be a case of jumping out of the pan and into the fire.

Thanks John for your advice.

Andy

Will Gas I think that young lady is wrong. Boolean logic is Boolean logic it does not change. The software changes a little bit, but that is easy to overcome.