[georgeoliver]

If someone with a non-related degree and profession was interested in a career change to mechatronics/industrial automation and controls, what would people recommend? An engineering degree? Would a one or two year certificate course be enough training to find a good position? Any particular schools that are worth looking at?

[mgh95]

I received a degree in electrical and computer eng. In general, CS can get you in the door for industrial automation, particularly with the ability to write simple HTTP servers and a familiarity with networking for embedded products.

As far as "good enough training to find a good position" if you want an "engineer" job title, get a masters degree from an Accreditation Board of Engineering Technologies (ABET) program. You should be able to do this in two years part time study at a local state engineering school. All state engineering schools are approximately equal in this regard.

[5ADBEEF]

I warn you that much of controls is very very boring. PLCs w/ ladder logic in most places. Embedded devs have better devex than controls engineers…

[standeven]

Controls programming always feels 20 years out of date. 10 years ago I was excited to move projects from ladder to structured text. This year I’m excited to finally use git to manage a PLC code base.

[swamp_donkey]

What platform allows use of git?

My process lends itself to function block programming so generating useful diffs requires quite a lot of effort.

[virgil_]

Beckhoff's TwinCAT platform lends itself to git pretty well, there are XML stuff on most files, but it's mostly readable as long as you use STL (Structured Text) which is their recommended language.

Siemens's TIA Portal you can export the source code to make it readable in git as long as you code in SCL (structured control language, which is really structured text), but it's not automatic and a lot of times the binary blob that is the source code and the exported readable code get out of sync cuz of lack of discipline by the programmer.

Rockwell's Studio 5000 can be readable if you use STL (structured text), may be this has changed though, I haven't used it in a long time.

Programming experiences in the industrial controls world is highly dependent on the brand/platform, the IEC 61131-3 describes the standards for industrial controls programming languages, but each brand implements them in a different way so there really is no standard. Writing structured text in one platform does not guarantee the same code will work in a different platform.

[standeven]

Codesys 3.5 with a license. Git functionality is built right in, it’s fantastic.

[virgil_]

If you work at start ups that are in the a manufacturing, processing, or general heavy industry, think SpaceX, Relativity, Rivian, etc. they use structured text (STL) which is like Pascal and usually use Beckhoff's TwinCAT platform which is a modern platform relative to Siemens and Rockwell platforms, but due to their start up nature they usually have a mix of platforms.

I've been working in this field for quite awhile and the systems can be complex and challenging. The software you write controls equipment that can cause massive damage and even death. This leads to very conservative programming languages and frameworks.

[swamp_donkey]

The physical dynamics of the processes are the interesting parts for me. Ladder is good for representing Boolean logic but the paradigm has been stretched too far beyond its area of strength.

[virgil_]

An engineering degree in electrical, mechanical, robotics, mechatronics, etc. will help get you in the door for the title "Controls Engineer", since you need to know the both hardware and software usually. Having good experience and a portfolio can replace the degree. There are plenty of courses online and in-person that get you into this field pretty quickly, it's relatively easy to learn, but difficult to master due to the diverse applications, platforms, and industries. There are a lot of industrial automation integrators that will take anyone, train them up, and contract them out in exchange for low wages, long work hours, but you get the skills and can then gtfo.

There are also industrial robot programmers who come straight out of high school, get some quick training and go to automotive integrators who contract them out to large automotive companies. This usually requires less engineering knowledge because the industrial robot platforms are relatively easy to learn and what you're doing most of the time is teaching the robot where to go to meet cycle times which is tedious, you use a "pendant" not a laptop usually, but that's changing with all the offline programming software, but reality never matches the simulation.

There reason most people don't like this field is you have to be in the "field", sometimes that's a loud ass, highly dangerous, manufacturing floor, outside in the searing heat or frigid cold, working with people that are.....uh...not the brightest, and work under constant pressure since "controls" is usually the last to get all the specs and the time you get to finish got shortened due to late deliverables from mechanical and electrical. It's not a job you can really do remotely. You can program remotely, but at some point your going to test you code on the machine and you're responsible for not breaking anything or killing anyone.

[devwastaken]

* no tech work in the U.S. is "easy to get into" at this time. Manufacturing especially is tiers higher than the knowledge taught for any specific degree. Have to go to the right schools that are integrated in that market, or know people.

[bob1029]

If you already have any engineering or computer background, you could probably waltz into the lobby of the nearest semiconductor manufacturer and ask for your badge and desk right now.

Finding people who are willing to do proper root cause analysis and not make wild assumptions about everything is pretty much the only important concern for onboarding in most manufacturing*system roles.

You will learn on the job. Go in with an open mind and try to remain humble. Pay will suck at first, but these domains are pretty much limitless in your career potential. I knew of some working in the photolithography area that were virtually classified as a nation state asset. Make yourself that important. You won't get that from college or a certification program. You get that by working with real tools in a real factory and learning about all the strange emergent properties of these systems as they come together.

[ansmithz42]

I worked at BEI Electronics and one key position there was the Industrial Automation role who defined how things got built. Another one to look at is Process Control.

[s5300]

Mechanical Engineering BSME definitely wouldn’t hurt. Probably the most versatile of engineering paths.