justme1954
Member
I am new at this. Is it worth my time to learn PLCs? Meaning jobs and money. I understand it will take time and effort to learn, but will it pay off in the long run? Thanks for any input.
No clue
- Thread starter justme1954
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aikona
Member
justme1954 said:
I presume your are working , looking for work or studying in a technical direction .Automation machines and/or processes will always involve some kind of PLC or PC .Every thing , these days, have some kind of 'controller ' or chip to make it intelligent.If you want to get the maximum out of your device , machine ,process or factory you need to know something about PLC's AND all the related stuff like networks , scada , field device parameters etc
Eric
For XXXXXXX substitute -
PLCs
Brain surgery
Law
Toilet cleaning
Prostitution
Politics (oops, sorry, already listed that one!)
Dress designing
Farming
etc
etc
That's what any job's about.
Take the one that interests you and provides satisfaction. Believe me it is worth more than money.
Ken
Ron Beaufort
Lifetime Supporting Member
Greetings justme1954 ...
and welcome to the forum ...
to give you a good answer, we need to know some more about you ...
first of all, what other job skills do you already have? ... the reason I ask: a PLC is only one part of a "system" ... yes, it's an important part - but it's still only one part ...
so let’s say (just for discussion) that you could somehow manage to learn EVERYthing about PLCs ... now how would you take that knowledge “to market” when it’s time to find a job? ...
first let’s suppose that you’re trying to land a job as a maintenance technician in an industrial plant ... during your first interview your prospective employer is quite impressed with how much you know about the PLCs he uses to control his plant ... but ... since you know (hypothetically here) absolutely ZERO about the pumps, motors, switches, sensors, etc., etc. which make up the rest of his automation system, you might have a hard time getting your foot in the door ...
now let’s suppose that you’re trying to land a job as a PLC programmer with a systems integrator shop ... during your first interview your prospective employer is quite impressed with how much you know about the PLCs that his company installs in the equipment that they sell ... but ... since you know (hypothetically here) absolutely ZERO about how the new machinery actually works, then (once again) you might have a hard time getting your foot in the door ...
and we could go on with other examples - but I’m sure that you’ve gotten the point ...
now ... PLEASE do NOT let anything that I’ve said here discourage you in any way ... you’ve posted a request for advice ... all I’m saying is that in order to give you “good” advice, we need to know more about where you’re coming from - and where you want to go ...
but just to give you a “shot in the dark” answer based on what you’ve posted so far: in my personal opinion PLCs is a GREAT career to get into ... I know that I’m very happy with what I do ...
I hope this helps ... but if not, give us some more information and I’ll give it another try ...
and welcome to the forum ...
to give you a good answer, we need to know some more about you ...
first of all, what other job skills do you already have? ... the reason I ask: a PLC is only one part of a "system" ... yes, it's an important part - but it's still only one part ...
so let’s say (just for discussion) that you could somehow manage to learn EVERYthing about PLCs ... now how would you take that knowledge “to market” when it’s time to find a job? ...
first let’s suppose that you’re trying to land a job as a maintenance technician in an industrial plant ... during your first interview your prospective employer is quite impressed with how much you know about the PLCs he uses to control his plant ... but ... since you know (hypothetically here) absolutely ZERO about the pumps, motors, switches, sensors, etc., etc. which make up the rest of his automation system, you might have a hard time getting your foot in the door ...
now let’s suppose that you’re trying to land a job as a PLC programmer with a systems integrator shop ... during your first interview your prospective employer is quite impressed with how much you know about the PLCs that his company installs in the equipment that they sell ... but ... since you know (hypothetically here) absolutely ZERO about how the new machinery actually works, then (once again) you might have a hard time getting your foot in the door ...
and we could go on with other examples - but I’m sure that you’ve gotten the point ...
now ... PLEASE do NOT let anything that I’ve said here discourage you in any way ... you’ve posted a request for advice ... all I’m saying is that in order to give you “good” advice, we need to know more about where you’re coming from - and where you want to go ...
but just to give you a “shot in the dark” answer based on what you’ve posted so far: in my personal opinion PLCs is a GREAT career to get into ... I know that I’m very happy with what I do ...
I hope this helps ... but if not, give us some more information and I’ll give it another try ...
More serious answer to the original poster:
1, my guess is that PLCs will be around for at least the next 100 years, so you will have a good level of job security.
2, The pay is well abouve average generally.
3, You must like the work to do well at it, because it can be hard. If, after learning about PLCs, you do not get a "Wow" out of it, I would suggest you find something else to do.
1, my guess is that PLCs will be around for at least the next 100 years, so you will have a good level of job security.
2, The pay is well abouve average generally.
3, You must like the work to do well at it, because it can be hard. If, after learning about PLCs, you do not get a "Wow" out of it, I would suggest you find something else to do.
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