Contrologix Certification

I got my controllogix certificates in the mail today. Anyone else on the forum doing this? http://www.rockwellautomation.com/services/training/certificate.page

I liked it but the really hard part was getting all the classes in a 12 month period which took lots of travel. I wish they would make that 24 months or at least 18 months.

I did the one for drives earlier in the year and I am going to get the TÜV Rheinland Certification next.

Too bad the rewards are discounted training courses and not discounted products...

I'm sure the classes are useful for a certain group of persons, I just don't think I find myself in that category.

@ PLC the kid was it worth it? of course you most likely will learn things you don't know but is it worth your time and effort for something that you could have learned on your own free time. Did you learn a whole lot of things that you don't know to the point where it put you at a much higher level than prior? if it is worth it then let me know so i can consider it

dbh6 said:

@ PLC the kid was it worth it? of course you most likely will learn things you don't know but is it worth your time and effort for something that you could have learned on your own free time. Did you learn a whole lot of things that you don't know to the point where it put you at a much higher level than prior? if it is worth it then let me know so i can consider it

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Good Questions. I just completed CCP151 (level 2 programming) and am considering level 3. To be honest I really didn't learn much coming from a SLC background. I might be interested in the certification if it is actually recognized in the industry as useful.

I have had coworkers come back from attending the level 1 and 2 courses and quite frankly they are still as useless as they were before they attended them.

@allscott exactly my point ill see what PLC the kid has to say about it

dbh6 said:

@allscott exactly my point ill see what PLC the kid has to say about it

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After close to 15 years in the industry this was the first course PLC course I have ever attended. I went because I am starting to work with ControlLogix finally and thought it would be a good way to learn some of the in and outs quickly. I will say the course did that. But when I look at some of the people I trained with it is painfully obvious that some people "get it" and some don't and never will. We all received the same certificate at the end.

I wish there was some certification programs that actually proved competency when completed. I am involved in hiring and seeing courses like these on a Resume doesn't impress me that much. Pretty much any Joe off the street could complete the level 1 and 2 programming courses and still really not have any business near a PLC that is actually controlling anything.

/rant off

So to PLC Kid, what did the "assesment" part of the certification process involve? Was it difficult?

Interesting I was not aware of this program.

Looking at it, for myself 1 2 and probably most of 3 would just be everything I already know. Toss in the Phase Manager elective and I'm probably ready to take most of the assessment test already (looking at the "programmer").

I would be more interested in taking all the electives!

What does this cost? You mention travel you had to go somewhere? Work pay for it? Looking at it, I think my boss would laugh and ask why he should pay me to review stuff I already know, for a certificate that has questionable value within our organization. Possibly it's a "credential" in showing our customers we are competent?

If I could take the elective courses on my own time at a minimal cost I would do it for my own benefit.

I went through the whole Controllogix and PLC5 tracks. I got a hat for starting and a shirt for finishing. Its not a "Certification" BTW, its just a certificate. Apparently there is a huge difference as Rockwell doesn't offer "Certification".

I found this out AFTER taking all the courses and receiving the misspelled certificate. I can say that I can see the difference because the classes were not very difficult and did not require much real world problem solving.

TheWaterboy said:

I went through the whole Controllogix and PLC5 tracks. I got a hat for starting and a shirt for finishing. Its not a "Certification" BTW, its just a certificate. Apparently there is a huge difference as Rockwell doesn't offer "Certification".

I found this out AFTER taking all the courses and receiving the misspelled certificate. I can say that I can see the difference because the classes were not very difficult and did not require much real world problem solving.

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From a career value perspective, it's probably better to invest in the certification programs from ISA:

http://www.isa.org/Content/Navigati...sional1/Certified_Automation_Professional.htm

http://www.isa.org/Content/Navigati...cian/Certified_Control_Systems_Technician.htm

Anyone here invest in either of these programs?

The test was not hard but you could not pass it if you did not know the content. I am self taught on Logix for the most part so I did fill in a few blanks.

My boss primarily wanted us to do this and I did it before I asked any of my men to do it. We have 15 sparkies working on it now.

We get 20K yearly per engineer for training and 10K for each member of the maintenance team.

We also get up to 10K per year for college tuition reimbursement but I use all that up.

The boss does not like leaving money on the table so we get lots of training here.

I think it will do a lot for the sparkies. Most of the content I had already learned from the school of hard knocks.

Test price is like $150.00 I think

I will do the ISA one also when things calm down a little. I am still full time college and 60 hrs working average so it's difficult to fit in these other things.

I am hopeful that one day all this will really pay off.

Nothing matches the education I have gained from this forum and it's members though.

TheWaterboy said:

I went through the whole Controllogix and PLC5 tracks. I got a hat for starting and a shirt for finishing. Its not a "Certification" BTW, its just a certificate. Apparently there is a huge difference as Rockwell doesn't offer "Certification".

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Rockwell DOES offer certification. That is not the same as your "certificate of completion". Typically you are required to take specific classes and an elective and then pass a test. Once you do that, you are Rockwell Certified on the ControlLogix as either a programmer or maintainer.

OG

PS.... treasure the hat and shirt, cause nowadays you are lucky to even get lunch each day

OG. I did all that, went through the "certificate track" 7+ classes for programmer as I recall (cant recall the maintenance track) and a test I needed to pay $150 for. I took the test and then had to tell the proctor what I scored (yea, really)
It wasn't considered a "certification" by Rockwells own admission. The shirt even says certificate program, not "Certified".
I was less than amused, it was around $12K for all those classes.

The Plc Kid said:

...
We get 20K yearly per engineer for training and 10K for each member of the maintenance team.

We also get up to 10K per year for college tuition reimbursement but I use all that up.

The boss does not like leaving money on the table so we get lots of training here.....

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WOW, that is very nice! I'm jealous!

I took 5 of the classes not realizing you had to do this over a 12 month period to get the "Certificate." I had missed it by 9 days. A call to the training manager and they hooked me up.

I had come into this field working with SLC500's and PLC 5's for a few years. After that went to work @ a Japanese plant and we were everything Mitsubishi. After about 8 years of that I took my current position knowing they were all control/compact logix. My contract included these classes so I could familiarize myself with RSLogix 5000, Control Logix, & Panelview plus/Factory Talk ME

anyone know of practice exams?