Nealthedestroyer said:
Not to side track but it's been on my mind lately:
I have an audio video networking and some IT background, how difficult would it be to transition to an industrial controls and automation career?
Networking and IT background would definitely be a plus as a majority of industrial controls either come with Ethernet or offer it as an option. So a basic understanding of networks, ip addressing, routing, and dhcp vs static addressing and troubleshooting is almost required at this point.
I think programming is programming. If you understand how to take a large problem and break down into manageable smaller tasks and then create a solution. Then the rest is just learning the tools of the trade, so to me it doesn't matter if you are using python. C#, or ladder logic. I think ladder is a lot easier to learn than your typical typed programming language, but the process is the same.
I have been doing it 20 years, and most of it i just picked up by doing larger and larger projects over the years. I took one beginner PLC class and then started building applications.
I guess I should mention you also need to be able to understand complex processes and not only understand the process, but all the worse case scenarios off that process as well, such as what happens if I lose power while X is happening or what if someone shuts a manual valve during the process, etc, as well as all the safety implications through the many processes as well. Many times the customer doesn't think through every scenario that can happen, so part of my job is to make sure nothing breaks and no one gets killed. Most of this comes with experience and knowledge of industrial processes and knowing what questions to ask.
The bigger issue may be getting your foot in the door when you dont really have anything to offer an employer (No offense meant).
You might have to start as a panel assembler, final tester, or inside sales quotation type guy and get on-the-job training once you prove your worth.
If you have specific questions, let me know, if we get to far in the weeds, we can trade emails, but some questions may be pertinent to OP original questions as well.
