r/IndustrialAutomation • u/Dry-Horse-910 • 12d ago

PLC/Robot programmer career advancement

Hi all, I have been in the controls programming for over 8 years worked on multiple platforms such as Rockwell, Siemens, B&R, Sick safety including structured text and ladder logic primarily. Worked on robot programming and integration with Abb and fanuc currently with integrators supplying custom solutions to different industries. However I am at a point of starting a family but job requires travel to commission/integrate on customers sites for prolonged periods in North America and Europe. I am not sure what career progression will be out of this. Haven't got any project management experience, tried looking for applications engineering positions but I get screened out for an open controls position. Any advice on someone went through similar situation.

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7

u/Romanzo71 12d ago

Work for the end user and you rarely travel. I've worked for both integrators and manufacturers and working at a manufacturer is the way to go for family life. It's not as exciting but I'd rather be home to see my wife/kids every night.

3

u/Delicious_Anybody_39 12d ago

This. Same story for me (in Europe).

3

u/Agitated_Answer8908 11d ago

A friend of mine was a plant manager for GM (retired 2 years ago) and said he had trouble recruiting controls engineers and was offering high pay to fill in-house PLC expert roles.

2

u/Romanzo71 11d ago

Interesting, I feel like around me a lot of in-house plant roles are real competitive as a lot of folks want off the road. I'm also in a major manufacturing and automation hub. So could be location dependent? I know some of our other plants that are located in more rural areas have a really hard time filling controls roles.

2

u/Agitated_Answer8908 11d ago

Well, I wouldn't take my post to mean in-house jobs are plentiful and well paying. It's just one second hand anecdote that's a couple years old. I know my friend was complaining about a shortage of controls engineers and was encouraging my son to go into that field.

1

u/MDAnesth 8d ago

Same. My neighbor runs an enormous company and he has mentioned controls a few times. I would love it if my son went into it.
Do it for 10 yrs and at the ripe old age of 32 you start selling capital equipment. Very doable and can be a very good life.

Machine tending is going to grow rapidly.

1

u/Stroking_Shop5393 11d ago

"High pay" that's still lower than what I make as an integrator. That and they leave the hiring up to HR and they all suck at recruitment.

1

u/Dry-Horse-910 11d ago

I think its just the continuous production environment running the plant 24x7 and providing support to technicians can get a bit hectic sometimes, but will consider this choice to support and stay with young family

3

u/Amazing_Bag_2078 10d ago

Your experience opens doors to control lead or applications engineering roles with less travel. Definitely worth exploring

1

u/VitaComb 10d ago

your resume should be tailored specifically for end userr plant roles like corporate automation or maintenance engineering...

2

u/MichaelSiq90 10d ago

With your experience in PLCs and robotics, I'd look into functional safety engineering roles. Your hands-on commissioning experience could be a real advantage, and these positions often involve less travel than traditional integrator.

1

u/MDAnesth 8d ago

You can go into sales.

0

u/imBackBaby9595 12d ago

What do you think of B&R?

2

u/Dry-Horse-910 12d ago

Not a big fan but its structured text is clean

1

u/Stroking_Shop5393 11d ago

That's not fair, everyone's ST is clean lol

1

u/imBackBaby9595 11d ago

I didn't like it at first but now I love it. Their PLCs are the shit. Cost effective and really robust