Career Advice

Hi Everyone,

I am looking for some career advice. I work as a plant electrician at a municipal water plant. I also do some very basic programming and troubleshooting on AB PLCs and SCADA systems. I am starting to learn more about PLC programming and really enjoy it. I am taking classes on the side. I am pretty young and have at least 30 more years left in my career. To be very frank, I make in the high $50,000 dollar range with about $6,000 a year in overtime, plus very good benefits. But I am pretty much topped out.

From a purely financial standpoint would it be worth going back to school and making a career jump? I actually enjoy working on PLC problems more then pulling wire and running conduit. But I want to be fully informed before I start investing a lot of time in courses.

Most job postings do not list wages and I really have no clue what a entry level automation engineer/ plc programmer makes.

Thanks for you time.

I'm interested in the same. I started out as a plant electrician during my first year of Mechatronics.

Now I almost exclusively do machine control, instrumentation, PLC and communications work (lots of ethernet/IP these days and plants are starting to want everything networked).

I work at a small plant and make in the same range as you.

Being able to build AND program is a pretty great skill. Throw extensive computer knowledge and networking skills and HMI programming in the mix and you make yourself a pretty damn good candidate.

From what I have seen though, typically yearly earnings range in 70-100K depending on what you are doing, who you are working for, what your credentials are, etc. There are a ton of varying factors.

Saturn_Europa1 said:

Most job postings do not list wages and I really have no clue what a entry level automation engineer/ plc programmer makes.

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Depending on the degree, I would say $50-60k starting. Some people get into this with a 2 year degree and might get less than $50k, for a 4 year engineering degree I'd expect $50-$60k depending on the type engineering degree and if they have internship/coop experience as well. My experience tells me that 2 year degree, and 4 year degree people aren't much different in the first 1-2 years. Year 3 you can usually tell that the 2 year people "peak", meaning they are content to be playing with PLCs and getting their hands dirty in the field. Happy to take orders. Nothing wrong with that, there is a need and place for it. 4 year degrees tend to have a continued vision of their career evolution. Start to move into Project Management tasks, maybe advanced or specialized programming, maybe people management, some type of leadership role.

*** Just my experience with the people I have worked with over the years, I understand exceptions exist ***

It really depends on what your vision is beyond programming. Plenty of people make the jump from your position into programming w/o higher education. Really depends on the situation and what doors are available to you. Of course, if you are naturally gifted and extremely driven that certainly helps your prospects.

I think a 4 year degree, with drive and a vision to evolve your career you could easily increase your income. Senior Controls Engineers can easily hit $100k+ and have bonus options. Or if you are willing to travel all over the place doing field work constantly, you can land an hourly position and take it to the bank. Sacrifice a few years, work the body hard and earn $130k+ for a few years then settle down. Know that this approach isn't for everyone, and will burn you out but high income, little expenses because you are traveling all the time you can put together a nice savings account and find a more settled position later on and be in a very stable financial situation.

If you want to get paid more, you have to put in the work, be flexible, and be willing to relocate more than 50 miles. If you don't want to move away from where you are, you may have to appreciate what you have.

Paul,

What type of companies higher PLC programmers at an hourly rate? Most of the field guys I run into are all salary. I wouldn't mind travelling a bit.

Thanks

zach_zachary1@yahoo said:

Paul,

What type of companies higher PLC programmers at an hourly rate? Most of the field guys I run into are all salary. I wouldn't mind travelling a bit.

Thanks

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Generally speaking, you aren't going to find a field engineer that is strictly doing programming. There are controls engineers who design/develop and commission a project, those guys are primarily office employees with 25%-30% travel out int he field. I'm not referring to those types.

Something with the title of 'Field Service Engineer/Tech', 'Commissioning Engineer/Tech' where travel is 90% of the time that is where you are likely to find an hourly wage. You would be be doing all sorts of work, programming would probably be minimal to the overall task at hand. However generally speaking it's a substantial advantage down the road as you'll learn how to relate field experiences into anything you may design/program in the future. You think of things outside the typical programmer's box and that is a huge asset.

It would be with companies who produce OEM equipment on some level that need people to get the thing up and running at a customer site, then move onto the next, and the next, and the next, and the next... Most likely be working 60-80 hrs 6-7 days a week, maybe international. Burn you out quick hence hourly + overtime is the perk. Can't give you direct references at all, but this type of work is out there, but certainly isn't for everyone.

I've also seen some companies that basically contract out their engineers to other companies to do short/medium/long term projects. One place I worked at I spent close to 6 months at a customer site (across the country), working 20-25 days straight. There I had a pretty decent travel pay system. I was salary, but was paid for 10 hours a days through the entire week. If my salary equivalent was $10/hour, each week I made $70. ($40 salary + 30 hours overtime at $10/hour).

To me, leaving the workforce to get more education only makes sense if you go for a bachelor science degree (mechatronics, electrical, mechanical). That would be a path towards controls engineer. Field service as Paully said, can be a good jump to get started.

I've seen a lot of different sites and would generalize like this:
- controls engineer needs a BoS degree & experience.
- field service tech/engineer needs 2 or 4 year degree. experience helps, but you learn most on the job.
- electrician/maintenance. electrical ticket is primary, controls work is secondary (because they can't afford a full time controls person).

Work at an OEM or Systems Integrator (Controls Engineer). Most are small in employee count and every person matters. Ie. you need a degree and better be top notch in many controls areas. Some, or very few, sites/plants have a dedicated team of controls engineers. Think Proctor&Gamble, Ford, Kraft, etc.
Those jobs usually are creating & commissioning new lines/machines from ground up.


Field service tech/engineer might be a good place. All the major vendors have that job in all locations (Siemens, ABB, Schneider, Rockwell, etc). Some of the OEMs have that job as well. Yes, there's lots of travel but the experience reward is really high. You will see a lot of different sites, industries, locations, and old dusty equipment. Gives a lot of breadth in controls and you'd learn a lot while on the job. Education requirements are usually more flexible, as you are fixing controls instead of inventing them. But, the ramp up is intense are you are on the front lines (customer) at the start.

Controls engineer is great, but you better love it.
Service tech could be an easier way to test if you love it that much.