I have recently been layed off, since my company had a newer, nicer facility in another country, and have been toying with the idea of trying a small business.
I worked as an Electronics Tech for the past 11 years. I attended college and obtained an Associates Degree in Electronics Engineering prior to this. I have quite a bit of experience with automation projects, since most of our upgrades and improvements were done 'in house'. I have used mainly GE and Siemens PLC's(S5 and S7), some small Siemens OP programming, and I think almost every drive known to man has dropped by our plant at some time or another. I've also got alot of electrical and mechanical knowledge, which can only help I'm sure.
I have a laptop with alot of Programming software and the programming cables as well, so there's a major expense out of the way.
My question is mainly this, what level of experience did most of you self-employed gentlemen have when you started out? What are some pitfalls I can avoid or recommendations you have? What was the deciding factor that made you leave your job to start your own company? OK so that was alot of questions, sorry. One of my concerns is my lack of experience with CAD. I drew most of my schematics by hand, we had a documentation guy that did all the AutoCad work.
I would start out looking for small projects first, adding PLC's or maybe checking with local electrical contractors to see if they are looking for someone to subcontract some controls work to.
Any input or brainstorming would be greatly appreciated guys. Thanks!
I worked as an Electronics Tech for the past 11 years. I attended college and obtained an Associates Degree in Electronics Engineering prior to this. I have quite a bit of experience with automation projects, since most of our upgrades and improvements were done 'in house'. I have used mainly GE and Siemens PLC's(S5 and S7), some small Siemens OP programming, and I think almost every drive known to man has dropped by our plant at some time or another. I've also got alot of electrical and mechanical knowledge, which can only help I'm sure.
I have a laptop with alot of Programming software and the programming cables as well, so there's a major expense out of the way.
My question is mainly this, what level of experience did most of you self-employed gentlemen have when you started out? What are some pitfalls I can avoid or recommendations you have? What was the deciding factor that made you leave your job to start your own company? OK so that was alot of questions, sorry. One of my concerns is my lack of experience with CAD. I drew most of my schematics by hand, we had a documentation guy that did all the AutoCad work.
I would start out looking for small projects first, adding PLC's or maybe checking with local electrical contractors to see if they are looking for someone to subcontract some controls work to.
Any input or brainstorming would be greatly appreciated guys. Thanks!