Programmers

George Brown College claims that full-time PLC programmers make between $65 and $110 per hour.

http://www.plctechnician.com/careers.html

Can someone tell me if this is true or not please, and if so is it based on 40 hours per week?

Not around here. Those numbers reflect what automation firms charge for services, the actual amount paid to the programmer is some percentage of that.

You can make that...

IF you have the years of experience and reputation and
IF you are a one-man shop and can wangle contracts on your own.

My company is charging me out for $60 on our current contract. Other companies in the area are charging callout rates of up to $125. Even with that, the tech is either making a fraction of that rate, or is on salary.

I have 20+ years experience, and the reputation. I don't have contracts lined up at the door to keep me in meat and taters for years to come, thus I am working for someone who can keep a trickle of work coming my way, and I don't have to worry about insurance, taxes, and business expenses, mostly. That's the situation I suspect most of us are in.

The highest paying PLC jobs right now are contracting overseas, if you can get one of those, and if it's your thing. A PLC programmer who gets paid $65 an hour won't be home every night, either. Probably not many nights.

Oh, and the $65-125 they brag about is definitely not in the ballpark for just out of PLC school!

That is a "Consultant" rate, ie what an outside contractor would quote for your (you the programmer) services.

If hired by an engineering firm for a salaried position, depending on qualifications, low would be 50K, high would be 85K.....

ascot01 said:

George Brown College claims that full-time PLC programmers make between $65 and $110 per hour.

http://www.plctechnician.com/careers.html

Can someone tell me if this is true or not please, and if so is it based on 40 hours per week?

Click to expand...

The individual , NO, but the company billing out the time YES

If George Brown college is leading prospective students to believe that plc programmers typically earn that much, then they are being very misleading. Like the other people said here, a firm might charge such rates from $65 to $110 an hour, but the programmer may well be getting well less than half of that money in his pocket.

ascot01 said:

George Brown College claims that full-time PLC programmers make between $65 and $110 per hour.

http://www.plctechnician.com/careers.html

Can someone tell me if this is true or not please, and if so is it based on 40 hours per week?

Click to expand...

You misread the article, it doesn't say that programmers make between $65 and $110 per hour, it says "Hourly rates go from ..." which means that's what a business charges a customer for a PLC programmer, it's not what the programmer makes.

A better question would be, what kind of hourly rate would you like to make, and would becoming a PLC programmer help you achieve that goal?

The salary range SNK listed above is a good range for a degreed engineer who does PLCs. I don't know what entry level is for programmers, but I suspect it's in the $20/hour ballpark.

Wow that certainly clears up a big misconception..thanks guys.
I've been a licensed journeyman electrician/electronic tech for 16 years and these PLC classes I've had are by far the most challenging technological concepts I've ever had to tackle.

I have a real appreciation for you PLC experts and the brain power it takes to be fluent in the world of PLCs and just cant understand why that level of skill pays so little. Seems to me that eventually the demand will far outweigh the supply for your abilities.

I was thinking if I could become proficient in this obscure world of 1s and 0s I could jump way up in pay.
I want to continue learning PLCs, I find it fascinating and challenging, but I better not quit my day job !

I wouldn't mind working for free for 1 week/year as an intern to get PLC experience in addition to courses but I haven't seen any offerings along those lines.

Thanks again all for the real-world scenarios.

ascot01 said:

George Brown College claims that full-time PLC programmers make between $65 and $110 per hour...

Click to expand...

I charge double that....

I wonder why I have never got a job?

That is a charge out rate. Divide by 2.5 to 3 to get actual hourly pay.

tomalbright said:

The salary range SNK listed above is a good range for a degreed engineer who does PLCs. I don't know what entry level is for programmers, but I suspect it's in the $20/hour ballpark.

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As a degreed Engineer (B.Eng.), I'd say that no, you don't get $65-$110 an hour. When you graduate, you're apparently looking at about $50k / year. (I've just stumbled onto that range now after about 3.5 years) To get anywhere near what GB is suggesting, you'd have to be directly responsible for millions of dollars, supervise a staff of hundreds or more, and work some pretty long hours.

I always tell kids to take a trade instead if they're getting into Engineering for the money. You'll make more as an electrician than you will as an engineer. Plus, overtime is paid out at 2x instead of 0x.

I'd agree that entry level is probably around $20/hr, but I would expect to see at least double that for more than 15 years experience. Also bear in mind that it can also be relative to the area and industries that you work in.
For example I can charge almost double my usual rate if I'm working with robots in the ceramic industry simply because there are very few people with robots and ceramic experience, but if I tried that in the Automotive industry I'd never get any work!!!

Just my 2c worth.

SNK's salary range works out to about $24-$40/hr. That's the range I see in industry for hourly wages. That's for experienced programmers.

(oh, I didn't do the conversion from Canadian, more like $12-$20/hr)

Origianlly posted by tomalbright:

(oh, I didn't do the conversion from Canadian, more like $12-$20/hr)

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Unfortunately, we can't say that anymore. Last I checked they are pretty close to 1:1.

The good news is I won't get ripped off anymore when I get stuck using US dollars in Canada. The bad news is that what used to be just generally expensive (by US standards) is now really expensive.

Keith