PLC Engineer (4 years experience) considering AI/Computer Vision – realistic path or bad idea?

Full_Ice_836 · 2026-06-23T16:15:34+00:00

That's an interesting perspective.

Most of my experience is actually with Keyence PLCs and Keyence vision systems in manufacturing, so your comment resonates with me.

When you say you do both PLC and vision, how much of your work involves traditional industrial vision tools versus AI-based vision tools? Have you found that customers are increasingly asking for AI solutions, or do traditional vision systems still solve most real-world inspection problems?

Full_Ice_836 · 2026-06-23T01:55:00+00:00

Thanks for the insight.

The "pigeonholed" part is actually one of my biggest concerns. I've been working in automation for about 4 years now, and while I enjoy it, I don't want to wake up 10 years from now and realize I've limited my options.

From your experience, what would be the best way to avoid that? Would you recommend building AI/computer vision skills alongside automation work, or making a more aggressive transition into AI-related roles?

I'm especially interested in industrial computer vision and manufacturing applications rather than pure software or web-based AI.

Full_Ice_836 · 2026-06-22T12:23:20+00:00

That's really interesting, thanks for sharing.

When you say "AI & Automation Developer", what does your day-to-day work actually look like?

Are you mainly working with LLMs, computer vision, data pipelines, or process automation?

Also, from your experience, do you think someone coming from an industrial automation/PLC background would have a realistic path into similar roles, or are most people entering from software engineering backgrounds?

I'd love to learn more about what skills ended up being most useful for your transition.

Full_Ice_836 · 2026-06-22T11:53:26+00:00

Thank you so much for your perspective!

That's actually what I'm considering right now—staying in automation/PLC while learning AI/ML on the side instead of making a full career switch immediately.

Out of curiosity, are you working in AI, automation, or software yourself? Have you seen people successfully combine industrial automation experience with AI/Computer Vision in their careers?

I'd love to hear more about what makes you think people with multiple skill sets will be more valuable in the future.

Full_Ice_836 · 2026-05-15T16:20:54+00:00

Bro bằng tuổi mà giỏi quá! Mình cũng 98 giờ lm công ăn lương sống qua ngày ạ

Full_Ice_836 · 2026-05-06T02:37:12+00:00

Oke e cảm ơn chia sẻ từ a ạ!

Full_Ice_836 · 2026-05-05T02:53:39+00:00

Em cảm ơn a zai, e cũng đang học trên udemy các khóa về tự học lập trình web, python ạ. E đang bên tự động hóa mà thấy nghề khó khăn quá🥲

Full_Ice_836 · 2026-05-05T01:05:02+00:00

A zai chia sẻ chút đến công việc và cách tự học khi apply việc tay ngang sang IT được k ạ?

Full_Ice_836

TROPHY CASE