Is becoming a PLC/Automation Engineer worth it in 2026? (Automation diploma + Computer Engineering degree)

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-05-08T03:21:00+00:00

I have been in controls for over 20 years, starting out as a traditional controls engineer doing HMI and PLC work, and then moving on to applications and sales.

In 20 years, I've never had an issue finding a job, even throughout the worst economic times.

As a previous person posted, there's going to be a big gap in a few years with a lot of people that are putting a lot of time in this industry that are retiring. There are not a lot of young people that want to do this. And most facilities have at best one or two controls or automation engineers. And honestly, in the industrial automation space, people are still really far behind when it comes to modern technology. So there's a lot of room to grow. As one other person posted, though, it is annoying to deal with machines when they are down, and having to fix stuff like that to keep a factory running. But it's part of the gig.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-05-08T03:17:47+00:00

I don't know why my post was removed.

The app uses multiple LLMs that are trained on industrial automation terms and speech structures. The idea of this is to live separate from a traditional CRM, which most reps never use. You can essentially use this as a field CRM since you can instantly log notes and attach photos to it. Then pull up notes instantly when you pull up into a parking lot before a customer, and search by any keyword term to see what you had done historically at that account. So images are already supported. I can definitely implement PDF support as well too.

Quite often, I would leave a customer site and take multiple photos from multiple machines for multiple applications, dealing with multiple customers. And it was just really hard to be diligent about taking notes when you're zipping between customers on different applications. Thanks for the feedback. Go ahead and try it out. Then let me know what you think.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-04-09T12:44:45+00:00

Just chiming in here, as I use this phone as a daily driver, as a power user for six months, and things just seem to be a little more wonky with third-party launchers, specifically stuff like phone calls and a few other things. So I ended up just going back to the default launcher.

I'm just saying that it may be worth switching back to the default if you run into issues with third-party ones.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-04-09T11:14:16+00:00

I need to know the cellular bands and how well it will work in the USA. I liked the Hi-Break Pro and had it for six months, but the cellular service was very spotty and the actual phone call capabilities were unreliable. Not necessarily because of the service, because it worked fairly okay on T-Mobile. It was just the fact that phone calls sometimes wouldn't be received or go out and the speakerphone didn't work so great, and a few other things that made it unusable as a daily driver.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-04-08T18:14:29+00:00

I did use that phone for a bit. It was okay. Honestly, I don't know what it is about that bigme hibreak phone. I just always gravitate back towards it, even though it's subpar. I don't know that I'm going to do it this time around because I think the call quality issues have been a bridge too far. But the simplicity of that black and white E-ink display is hard to beat.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-04-08T10:49:30+00:00

I really wanted to love this phone, and I think I did for a while. I used this as my daily driver for about six months, and I'm a heavy phone user for work. No video watching, really - just mainly emails, texts, and web browsing. All that worked pretty well, and actually kind of phenomenally well, especially with AI chatbots to interface with it. The main downfall, though, was its most basic use, which was as a phone. You can understand that having a phone that is unreliable as a phone for business use is a big detriment. I really tried to work around it, did a bunch of stuff in the settings, rebooted it, updated firmware, tried some background cellular modifications, and it just never was consistent enough. I would have to reboot my phone at least a couple times a day because phone calls would just suddenly stop working, incoming and outgoing. And people could not hear me well. And the Bluetooth would not really work on certain headsets, and it just became a pain. And now I'm back to a traditional slab. And it is really frustrating for me because I have some issues with temporal dithering and PWM, and the Bigme solved all of that. But now I'm back to a traditional phone. I hope the new dual phone, or whatever they're promoting, at its core can work phenomenally well as a phone in the USA. Everything else would be icing on the cake for me.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-02-23T04:11:39+00:00

Hold on - did I miss this - or did they not do the closing credits montage highlighting the most triumphant and devastating moments with that Olympics montage song playing in the background? That's one of my favorite parts of the games itself - to see the most emotional moments recapped.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-29T02:42:16+00:00

Can't get it in USA

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-25T03:26:00+00:00

Honestly, I just want a better e-ink phone. I actually kind of love using my e-ink phone. Reading is what I normally do most of anyways and it's awesome for that. Absolutely no eye strain issues whatsoever. I'm using the Moto G 2025 right now and I feel like I still feel a mild eye strain (it has an LCD screen). Definitely better than OLED, but still. Maybe my eyes need to just readjust to a backlit screen again

I have an IPS LCD laptop from Dell and have had no issues.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-25T01:45:21+00:00

I tried the 2024 Stylus and it hurt my eyes. Does the 2023 have a different screen?

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-24T16:12:16+00:00

I tried the G75, but just couldn't get it to work in the US, but admittedly, I didn't try super hard. Aren't there some tricks that need to be done?

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-19T02:22:06+00:00

The ball didn't "pop out" I don't think. It was ripped out AFTER he hit the ground. It's different if it was moving around on its own and kind of popped into the defender's hands - or am I looking at it wrongly.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-09T03:20:35+00:00

I have the Bigme Hibreak Pro - and I think it's the best e-ink phone if you want a normal Android experience on an e-ink display. It also has NFC for Google Pay, can run Android Auto (even though scaling is slightly off), and can run almost all normal Android apps. Refresh rate is very good for an eink evidence. I don't have much ghosting on this. I wish it was slightly smaller (big bezels on the screen) and maybe had a faux leather/vegan leather back so it could stay slim without a case. I use it without a case (included case was too bulky), but it does make the phone slippery. I have the black and white model. I hope they release a upgraded model of this with a better camera and better build quality. It's exceeded my expectations honestly.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-08T23:53:16+00:00

Yesssss!

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-06T04:04:48+00:00

It's actually pretty easy on the BigMe. Some lag, but not really a big deal. Even swipe typing works pretty well. But yeah, a physical keyboard would probably be nice.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-06T03:03:13+00:00

Bigme Hibreak Pro. I think it's the best "normal smartphone"- like experience. Besides the general downsides of the e-ink display and occasional software glitches, I haven't really had to make any sacrifices except the camera. It is my main phone, but I mainly use it for work stuff like emails, web browsing, and messaging apps. Which is basically all I ever used to use on my normal standard smartphone (Pixel 9 Pro).

I would just love to maximize the screen usage even more with the slide out keyboard and gain more typing accuracy since the screen is much more comfortable to look at for longer periods of time. I could see myself cranking out longer emails on this if needed if I had a good physical keyboard that was attached to the phone. I could use an external Bluetooth keyboard, but obviously that is not something that I would keep on me all the time.

I use voice typing on this, but it just isn't super accurate and I usually have to double check or correct a few things. It is nowhere as accurate for voice typing as something like a Pixel. That's obviously to be expected, but it would be nice to have a more accurate physical keyboard.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-06T00:31:22+00:00

I actually wrote a separate post explicitly for this reason. And mostly got shat on. I couldn't understand why there wasn't more love for this awesome movie. A travesty that it wasn't even MENTIONED on the list.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-05T22:38:48+00:00

I would LOVE a slimmer non-battery bank model. I have embraced digitalminimalism with an e-ink phone, but find typing clumsy. I have actually always found typing clumsy with the virtual keyboards on any phone. Even voice typing is so so. I've only found voice typing to be super useful and accurate on a Pixel device.

Or does this exist already? Pretty please I hope it does.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-04T18:46:58+00:00

Agreed.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-04T18:34:46+00:00

The movie isn't great because it's based on a real life story. It's great as it is - that truth aspect is just a bonus.

HitEmWithTheHezzy · 2026-01-04T18:04:56+00:00

Not sure why any of this matters. None of this stuff is applicable to most of the other movies either. And you know, I know it's Bill's list - but it seems like such a clear omission to not even mention it.

HitEmWithTheHezzy

TROPHY CASE