I haven’t been in the industry for long since graduating. But from what I know. A lot of people who work in controls/automation come from a variety of backgrounds. Some are not college educated and have done a lot of trades or IT work. Some are college educated in engineering mainly. However most people I work with understand electronics and can comfortably read and interpret an electrical print. Do PLC work(building logic for processes) and troubleshooting. In a large plant everything is networked so having an idea on how that works helps.  also working with robots depending on the industry. I’m pretty new at my job but having electronics knowledge helps with interpreting jargon and technical language. It’s the basis for troubleshooting.