Control.com - Nerds in Control

I have taken a new position where only 25% of my time is in Controls and I alone will write all PLC programs for all new and current machines, add to, revise and create all logic and train those who use it. I have a degree (or two) but I have never really used the info I learned in college at this level for writing programs. Some of it, I am a bit lost with, but I learn real quick, especially once I get my hands on it and see it work. whereas book work makes no sense alone. Can anyone take me from a Maintenance Manager in college to further my EET degree to a great Controls Engineer in 90 days or less? What I am learning in school is not making much sense and I need to get it all to "jell."

90 Days ? - Hell no. 90 years ? - maybe :)

Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.

OK, so it sounds like you have two main jobs to focus on...

1. PLC programming.... This is no different from programming anything. There are thousands of people out there who can knock together a quick & dirty PLC program, but writing clean, efficient, simple code that works reliably is a skill that is common to programming ANY computer. If you understand the basic ideas behind structured programming, re-using code, documenting programs and solving problems in a clear, neat, logical way then you're already half way to being a PLC programmer.

2. Training folks.... You need good communication skills and PREPARATION. You need to understand the material you are teaching and be ready to present it all in a clear and concise way.

You cant learn it all in 90 days so don't expect to. Focus on what you need to know today. Don't underestimate the value of training courses for things like a new PLC or how to present to an audience or how to tune a PID loop, that seem expensive in the short term but will save you years of effort to learn otherwise.

Good luck mate.

+1 Rob

I was going to reply to this post yesterday and be a bit cheekier than you, now you have got the ball rolling, I can

Pretty well 90 days would need a magic wand and I haven't brought mine with me today.

I've been a Controls Engineer for 40 years now and I'm still learning...!!!

Yes, this one even got me smiling. Not only about the question, but because of the successful training as a maintenance manager with the mindset that people are interchangeable and a little training (in place of a life of education) is all that's needed to replace that expensive and sometimes cantankerous controls engineer. The sad part is that this view is widespread and persists until they actually try it. :^) Many, many of the questions we see here seem to be the result of this thinking with people in way over their heads. And some of them don't even know enough to realize that. Scary, but humorous from an outside perspective. And the vendors don't help when they push an "all day" seminar that "teaches you everything you need to know" to solve control problems.

Regards
cww

I would suggest at least having Instrument Engineers' Handbook, Process Control and Optimization by Bela G. Liptak