dmroeder
Lifetime Supporting Member
I went to a two year tech school (instrumentation) and I certainly felt unprepared my first day of work. It was a new plant and I was tossed right in the middle of a start-up (great experience). To make it even more interesting, there were 2 other controls guys directly out of the same school that made up the department and no other electrical/technical types in the plant (besides some contractors).
Luckily the school that I went to stressed that they could only teach us a sliver of what is out there in the controls world, so what we needed to be proficient at was finding the answers. Reading manuals, contacting manufacturers, whatever it takes to understand and make it work.
Fortunately for me, I knew and understood how inexperienced I was, so I didn't have an ego to get in the way.
Looking back on it, they plant was trying to get away with cheap technical labor (all labor for that matter). They hired kids right out of school at a low-ball wage. Dumb on their part I'm sure but I wouldn't have done it any other way. I learned a lot of things that I never would have otherwise.
Luckily the school that I went to stressed that they could only teach us a sliver of what is out there in the controls world, so what we needed to be proficient at was finding the answers. Reading manuals, contacting manufacturers, whatever it takes to understand and make it work.
Fortunately for me, I knew and understood how inexperienced I was, so I didn't have an ego to get in the way.
Looking back on it, they plant was trying to get away with cheap technical labor (all labor for that matter). They hired kids right out of school at a low-ball wage. Dumb on their part I'm sure but I wouldn't have done it any other way. I learned a lot of things that I never would have otherwise.