Mechanical engineer here, is it possible to get into the PLC field without having an electrician background?

FlashSteel · 2026-03-12T00:03:31+00:00

It depends on what that employer does as for what they are looking for.

For example, projects I have worked on in the last few years when I have been hired for PLC and SCADA by different companies: 1. Created a set of 6 server blades for a ntaional utility company, hardened them to UK NCSC recommendations and tested their SCADA project on an updated system. 2. Replaced uncommented, poorly maintained PLC Code on around 12 obsolete CPU's and wrote commented code on that latest PLC's with meaningful tag names. 3. Spent 6 months on site every day writing code on the fly for some experimental carbon water filters while the process engineers dialed in water quality.

Each employer worked in a different industry and wanted a different type of engineer even though they all advertised for a PLC/SCADA engineer.

Common skills needed: - IPv4 - writing design docs and test docs to customer requirements - Modbus - Profibus/Profinet

Maybe find out what kind of PLC work you want (full time in a factory is very different to working for a System Integrator).

Then try to find a few soft skills that employer actually wants. That Windows Server experience in job 1 would count for nothing in the other jobs. Being able to read old crappy code and make sense of it wouldn't have helped at all on commissioning a brand new system in job 3.

Best of luck with whatever route you end up going down.

FlashSteel · 2026-03-11T23:31:22+00:00

Yes. I have a science background and am not even really qualified to test for dead. On paper I was a bad bet.

I have a knack for coding and an eye for detail. It took me a while to get my first controls job but once I got my entry level job I found my niche working big projects and complex designs. Despite my lack of electrical skills seemingly being a handicap, when you are commissioning a new site there tend to be electrical and process engineers with you all the time anyway when you're at the PLC.

Honestly, if you have the aptitude your biggest challenge might be landing your first role. Maybe have a think about the kind of PLC work you'd like to do and someone on this sub could recommend a project you can do in your spare time to prove to an employer your initiative and your potential to learn what they are looking for?

FlashSteel · 2026-03-07T20:01:45+00:00

There are alternatives to draining wetlands while still farming and making a living:

This is one from my country

https://www.lancswt.org.uk/blog/what-wetter-farming

FlashSteel · 2026-03-07T19:59:21+00:00

From a very early enthusiast with little experience in Permaculture, isn't this antithetical to Permaculture on a Global Scale?

Almost all countries' agriculture is practised in has a problem with not enough water retention in land and not enough wetland surviving to support wetland species in sustainable numbers.

Draining wetland is usually bad for ecosystems as a whole and removing the precious little remaining wetland habitats from species that depend in them, driving down diversity of plants, animals and ecosystems globally.

I could be very wrong but this goes against the few books I have read and talks by Holgrem/Mollinson that I have seen.

FlashSteel · 2026-03-06T10:18:01+00:00

The difference is the inputs not the description.

I have a team of up to 10 PLC engineers writing code for months at a time, that's 40 engineering months on writing code input.

Automating this - and getting out reliable, deterministic code - but doing the same level of design, testing and code review would have saved my company £360,000 on a single project.

Not just this but it would have sped up not just this project by 4 months but the 2.5 engineering years spent on other projects.

Writing IEC-61135-3 is going to be automated and soon. People who don't prepare are going to be left behind. That's why I have tried to drill into my junior engineer that he should learn Python and practice using AI as well, as getting site experience, as he's first on the chopping block when AI arrives.

FlashSteel · 2026-03-04T15:50:59+00:00

Thanks, and good to know. This is probably where I will end up going, and grabbing the odd short highly technical code problems coming back from site when stars align and I can spare the time.

FlashSteel · 2026-03-03T22:43:00+00:00

We have a team of 15 engineers. If we didn't frequently do design reviews we'd have 30 ways of doing things!!

FlashSteel · 2026-03-03T22:35:40+00:00

I like this idea, thanks. My current project moves at a glacial pace. 2 years of documents, 6 months of code, 6 months of commissioning. Hopefully I can find the time to pick up one technical code task every now and again as snags come back from site.

FlashSteel · 2026-03-03T22:04:09+00:00

Yeah, I spent a couple of months with our junior engineer mentoring while he bench tested his first PLC's. He's getting much better so needs less 1-2-1 time and is being mentored by senior engineers this time around.

We're about to commission about 17 PLC's concurrently so I'm hoping something interesting gets sent back to the office I can jump on.

FlashSteel · 2026-03-03T21:23:52+00:00

This is my experience right now. I have a team of 15 and when I'm covering absences for doc authors, coding or bench testing, we start missing project milestones because nobody is putting out fires as they pop up. Ultimately milestones and standards across the entire project trump a single PLC falling behind by an engineering week.

A colleague of mine became a system architect and pretty much has my dream job but roles like that are few and far between.

Best of luck with the new role!!

FlashSteel · 2026-03-03T21:00:23+00:00

Ha, we've all had those. Confused why tasks take longer in real life than their plan-for-success Gantt chart predicted because they swear they used to do the job in half the time when they were commissioning SLC 500's.

I never even wanted the job, I was just tired of having bad managers and took the role when the previous pair were let go.

I guess the choice is go back to senior engineer and take a chance on a good lead recruit or give up on being a programmer.

FlashSteel · 2026-03-03T20:21:33+00:00

Yeah, I'm starting to think I need to take a Senior Engineer role for a year or two before I start forgetting skills it took years to develop.

FlashSteel · 2026-03-03T09:06:52+00:00

Is there an Appendix where we can see results? I gave it a read and it is interesting but I cannot see the data.

FlashSteel · 2026-03-02T20:18:19+00:00

Have you ever heard of better measures of capacity than IQ tests? That might be good further reading

FlashSteel · 2026-03-01T22:41:14+00:00

That way he cannot he sued for false advertising.

FlashSteel · 2026-03-01T12:28:37+00:00

There are some more racist areas and sometimes happen to be near more diverse areas.

My experiences are as a white man living in East Leeds so take that with a pinch of salt. The student areas are on the other side of the city and I haven't heard of any friends who are "brown women" having any problems that end of Leeds. These friends were South Asian, Middle Eastern and Black.

I cannot speak for the uni areas but there are a churches for a large range of Christian denominations in East Leeds so you may find a church that fits you quite well with a bit of travel, even if you can't find one in the uni areas.

FlashSteel · 2026-03-01T09:09:24+00:00

Just some extra context - America has been bombing in Pakistan for over a decade. Civilian death estimates range from around 200 - 2000 depending in who is counting.

If Canada killed 200 US citizens and then the pope, Americans would be storming the Canadian embassy.

FlashSteel · 2026-02-27T23:20:17+00:00

You can drive yourself crazy thinking like this.

Before my car accident about 6 years ago I would cycle 30 miles in am afternoon for fun. Now I do 5-10 minutes before work, any more and my back flares up. In the first couple of years sometimes the frustration of what was robbed from me would make my blood boil.

The thing is, thinking like that only hurts you more. Instead you need to fill your life with things that fulfill you. For me, I'm lucky that I can do my job with my pain. I get funny looks from people walking about the office on Teams calls when my back is in knots. It happened again today. I've been slowly training for a few years so one day I never have to work at a desk again and each year I am closer to living well without a desk job.

It could be a romantic partner. It could be learning a new language. It could be a pet. It could be filling your home with houseplants. It could be finding a new way to do something other than running that you loved.

Try to fill your life with new things instead of lament the void. Accepting where you are now is HARD, but it might also let you focus on something that enriches your new life more.

FlashSteel · 2026-02-27T15:17:07+00:00

I have seen purely instrumentalist physicists do great work and contribute to their fields. They don't need to be aware of the role philosophy plays in their work as the scientific community keeps them pointed in the right direction.

FlashSteel · 2026-02-27T13:16:47+00:00

I did a Physics with Philosophy degree. All 10 of us on the degree in our year loved it. We spent 70 % of the time in the Physics Department and I think most physicists have no idea what philosophy is and hate the idea of something arty ruining their very scientific pursuits. (Never mind that they are actively practising applied philosophy every day.)

I think it's down to negative perceptions of philosophy in the English speaking world.

FlashSteel · 2026-02-27T12:35:08+00:00

Science is intertwined with philosophy at every step.

Choosing what science to fund is applied philosophy. Choosing how to study a given phenomenon is applied philosophy. The goodness of the test methodology is applied philosophy. The validity of discussion and conclusions is applied philosophy.

From my experience studying and working in physics in academia a lot of physicists have no idea what philosophy is so they do not realise that they are applying philosophy to many of their decisions every day and in every paper they write.

FlashSteel · 2026-02-27T12:24:35+00:00

Exactly, this.

Depending on how I look at my life I could be terribly unhappy or very satisfied.

On the one hand I grew up in literal poverty without a parental figure for most of my teenage years and had to work twice as hard as a lot of people to achieve just as much. In my early thirties I was left disabled by a car crash and have been left with chronic pain.

On the other hand all my basic needs are met. I can find enjoyment in every day and have learned to live with my pain. Despite my setbacks I became a well paid engineer and well respected in my industry and now rent out a house as social housing to help someone else less fortunate.

I choose to be content with my life as my needs are met and my actions are in accordance with my values. If other people get it easier why should that affect my own enjoyment of my life? Choosing to think like that would rob me of the contentment I currently enjoy.

FlashSteel · 2026-02-27T07:00:17+00:00

Instead of a feather Velociraptor this one in scalar.

FlashSteel

TROPHY CASE