[snowwindwaves]

I write software that controls hydro electric power plants including spillways and sluice gates and complying with environmental license etc. nobody has ever asked to look at the control system programs which take me the better part of a year to complete, starting from a library of about 50 different completed power plant control systems, so I am generally not doing much creative work just adapting and re-use of existing components and design patterns.

There are 10,000 virtual wires in the PLC that nobody cares about excepT for me and my coworkers in the same role, but the 30-40 physical relays and 1000 physical conductors in the power plant represented on schematics are reviewed by the customer and stamped by a Professional Engineer, because everyone understands they are expensive to change later.

Customers don't want to pay the additional cost to have their software stamped. They don't want to be told I can't fix that mechanical or civil design flaw in software because I don't want to open myself up to be liable for trying to help the customer get or keep their plant running despite some problems wiTh equipment supplied by others. People have this idea that software is easy to change. We can fix that later! Why decide now? It is a battle to arrive at the plant wiTh a complete, tested, documented control system, commission it and then shut the door and walk away. I have to be a really insistent about getting the information require to really complete my deliverables and then be very particular when other people's designs don't match what they delivered or work as intended. It is counter to my nature of wanting to solve problems instead of creating them or passing the buck, but that is what is required.

[bumby]

Do you feel like this is changing? In a different comment I noted how controls engineering is a more recent PE discipline and my (maybe optimistic) hope is that this is part of a larger trend to add rigor to the field.

Sometimes I feel like this is cave drawings compared to other more mature fields. But maybe that's what boilermakers felt like 150 years ago.

As an aside, how does one get into a field like yours?

[snowwindwaves]

controls engineering still mostly deals with the physics of the process and not how the software is implemented.

It is probably different on larger projects or when working for public utilities. All of the ones I have worked on are less than 50MW and are owned by corporations.

I think a lot of the automation field is learned on the job. you can take a PLC programming course but all you learn is the specifics of how to program that platform. It doesn't tell you what to program. That depends on the process you are controlling. I got in to hydro by working for a utility that owned a power plant as a student and then when looking for work after university sought out any opportunities for someone who liked programming and power plants. There are lots, but the catch is having the experience to get the job. I got in the door of a power plant by helping to program their datalogging and alerting system and then learned how to program the machines from a consultant who graciously provided me the on the job training and an owner who was willing to let me make mistakes.