Are there controls jobs that don't take 50+ hours every week?

[I_Automation]

You bet buss plugs are dangerous, if you ware referring to outlets installed on buss duct.
In a previous job, we had an employee that plugged in a 480V/100A bus plug and it was wired wrong... 1 of the hot leads was wired incorrectly to ground.
The buss duct was at about waist level, and he got all sorts of shrapnel damage when the 100A Appleton plug blew apart when he turned on the 100A switch on the buss plug unit.

I worked at a stamping plant and found out the hard way one of the 480V 600A buss ducts had aluminum bars inside, not copper.



Every contact point gets a buildup under it like an anthill, but aluminum powder- not dirt. After years one of the hills that built on a lower aluminum bar got tall enough to arc to another bar. Sparks shot clear across the ceiling to the other wall and burnt a hole in the blocks directly behind that point. Had our electrician company get copper ducts and replace the full length in a few hours, but the major problem was a trunk telephone cable was hit and half the shop phones were out a week.

 

[Esnow]

Ive been a controls engineer for 5 years now. Been with this company for 9. For the most part, to get my actual work done, i work 30 to 40 hours a week. But there are also times i put in :extra" time to educate myself for certain things.

 

[Engineerj22]

Controls engineer for 5 years now, averaged 45 hours a week working on PLCs, HMI, and CAD until the beginning of this year when I got contracted out to a chemical plant as on-site support for their DCS system. Now I work 40 hours.

 

[I_Automation]

Ive been a controls engineer for 5 years now. Been with this company for 9. For the most part, to get my actual work done, i work 30 to 40 hours a week. But there are also times i put in :extra" time to educate myself for certain things.

My issue is when working on a project, whether as an employee or on my own, is I wake at 3:00AM with an epiphany about how to do something and I have to get to a computer and do it then, often up until the alarm goes off. There is no going back to sleep and remembering it when I get to work the next morning.

 

[mort81]

My issue is when working on a project, whether as an employee or on my own, is I wake at 3:00AM with an epiphany about how to do something and I have to get to a computer and do it then, often up until the alarm goes off. There is no going back to sleep and remembering it when I get to work the next morning.

Best programming I have ever done, has been when I am in the shower of all places. The trick is to remember "the greatness" by the time I get back to a laptop...

 

[I_Automation]

Best programming I have ever done, has been when I am in the shower of all places. The trick is to remember "the greatness" by the time I get back to a laptop...

When I got "writers block" trying to do something I asked "Who want's Dairy Queen" and while I was enjoying an (Jumbo Size) banana split Blizzard with the kids not thinking about the project at all the solution would suddenly pop in my head.


EDIT: Why not order a waterproof laptop next time?

 

[sjohnson]

I've Personally Been Doing it for over 25 Years and Recently come to the conclusion the More you know the better you are the more your services are required.I though I could slow down as I was suppose to Be the engineer design projects and oversee the other employees but seems it is not the reality. Hiring entry level for top dollar and giving them E1A which is top pay scale but know nothing about automation never program a simple frequency inverter cant read a schematic and really limited no formal education and when I voice my concern I get the well that's all we can get so you need to teach.. I need to first teach something that they were suppose to know at time of hire and now babysit. I have to diag every bellyache put every step on paper turn screw to the left to loosen these are strippers and what use they have .. Cant wire a simple house circuit but You need to deal with it as its the best we can get as the answer I receive when I get frustrated and voice my concern about 50 times a week. Really unfortunate and if you have someone that has common sense and is teachable and willingness to learn count yourself very lucky..As I am dealt with after showing 5 times the 6th well nobody showed me how so i cant do it answer why they still cannot do the tasks needed. 10 years ago I would never believe I would be where I am today..good week i am lucky if i racked less then 55 hrs a week.Definitely a large gap from Retired and New skilled trades and the willingness to poses the common sense to be an apprentice and learn the trade. Few are still willing to put in a days work ..but want a weeks pay for it.. The rest just want the pay and sit on phone in the brake room while the senior qualified do the work. Not really venting just stating the truth in my neck of the woods.. Being plagued with health issues the last two years Getting Treatment at Mayo I wasn't two hours out of surgery when met with the phone call because the plant was at a standstill.I do know there are shortages in skilled trades but think it is ridiculous the last few years. Too many wanting to be a You tube star or just not wanting to work for the Dreams anymore.

 

[Maxburn]

I need to first teach something that they were suppose to know at time of hire and now babysit.

~

Too many wanting to be a You tube star or just not wanting to work for the Dreams anymore.

Everyone is struggling with this, it's endemic to US workers it seems but I don't have any idea how other nations are doing but they certainly seem to be beating us. A decade ago I got a call from my manager because I did not handle someone appropriately after finding out they didn't know what to do with email attachments. They knew they needed a file, I emailed them the file and... There's a whole antiwork movement going on that's sometimes fascinating to read, they don't want to put in the work to improve themselves, gain recognition and get that better job. They just want to skip straight to the senior pay scale and are bitter /complain when they cant.

 

[cardosocea]

Everyone is struggling with this, it's endemic to US workers it seems but I don't have any idea how other nations are doing but they certainly seem to be beating us. A decade ago I got a call from my manager because I did not handle someone appropriately after finding out they didn't know what to do with email attachments. They knew they needed a file, I emailed them the file and... There's a whole antiwork movement going on that's sometimes fascinating to read, they don't want to put in the work to improve themselves, gain recognition and get that better job. They just want to skip straight to the senior pay scale and are bitter /complain when they cant.

I hired a guy out of University with a control system's degree last year.

He didn't know electricity (little bit of DC, but no idea what AC was). No idea of what a valve position indicator was... no idea of the 4-20mA loop "standard" and couldn't program a latch (seal in circuit) or even understand one when I took the time to explain.

We decided to give him no work and assignments (that would take me about 15 to 30 minutes to complete) but required reading, browsing and essentially learning for yourself. He had a week for each.

Didn't accomplish any, even though I gave guidance of where to look and what some terms meant.

One day arrive at work with two emails, one from him quitting and one from HR about a complaint lodged against me by him that I didn't have a plan for his position and that I wasn't teaching him anything. When I spoke to him he literaly told me that when I gave him these assignments, I should be sitting down with him and teach him how to do each and every one of them... one of the assignments was literally wire a valve actuator and level switch together.

Luckily for me, the process kids (because they're younger than him with same level of qualifications but in process engineering) got wind of it and marched down to HR to say that it has to be ******** because I'm always open to give guidance for them to complete their assignments but am not a classroom teacher or neither they wanted me to be.