Ne wto PLC

[olamuse]

Hi,

I am an uneployed electrical engineer new to PLCs. I have put in about 40hrs into classes, simaulator, books and I think I am getting a hang of things. Now please a couple of questions:

1. considering the number of hours of learning PLC, it takes me an average of 2hrs to solve pratice simualtion exercise in Mitsubishi training software. Is this to much time?

2. Is it sufficient to take classes, self study and the rest to get a job? I see that companies want experience. Can classes equal experience? I am asking this questions because I dont want to pump in money and at the end realise that what I have done is not sufficient.

 

[tygerdawg]

My Mom instilled into me her Depression-era philosophy to have a backup skill that could always allow you to put food on your table. For her it was typing, for me it was PLC programming. I have always recommended the same to others since there is always a need to program PLCs somewhere. It has served me well in lean times.

Having classes in ladder logic is a start, but everyone wants "experience." I'd suggest continuing your independent study for a short time more. Obtain some cheapo PLC & HMI hardware, create a dummy project with sufficient complexity, and do all the hardware integration and programming. Document the entire affair with pictures, printouts, design drawings, etc., and use that as a portfolio to show off when you interview. PLC work is not rocket science, but not everyone can do it. But those things are pervasive in the industry landscape. It is easy to see who has experience doing it and who doesn't. You need to be able to show you have the foundational skills necessary to hit the ground running on a project.

At least, that is what would impress me if I was interviewing someone like yourself.

Knowing ladder logic or other programming is only a start. Experience will give you:
[ul]
[li]good programming style for subsequent ease-of-maintenance[/li]
[li]knowledge of how to deal with signal timing issues[/li]
[li]knowledge of various types of signal & hardware integration[/li]
[li]foundations of good HMI design and how those things work, and how to make them useful for operators on the shop floor[/li]
[li]good wiring practices[/li]
[li]specific hardware and software functionality knowledge[/li]
[/ul]

A good, active PLC discussion site is here:

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/

Best of luck to ya.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[automatic2]

institutional education can only offer so much. From that base, one must learn how to apply those simple basics into complex realtime situations. That comes from on the job experience. Get a job! But more importantly, get a job that exposes you to the work you are interested in. Once you have some basic work experience, you'll find a renewed interest in education. But now, you'll discover that education comes from many different sources.

Many people think that PLCs are just some simple ladder logic, which can be true, but the bulk of todays needs are system integration. Networking drives, OPC connectivity, HMI interfacing, etc.

 

[danw2]

>it takes me an average of 2hrs to solve pratice simualtion exercise in Mitsubishi training software. Is this to much time?

Probably not. It takes time to do any task. But you've done it, you did it on your own (not in class room situation with one worker and one or more sloth drones) and the next time you need to do similar tasks it will take less time because you're familiar with the syntax and the operations involved in making edits and changes.

Keep it up.

I'll endorse the tygerdawg's suggestion to check out the forum at PLCtalk.net - just reading and understanding others' problems and the solution suggested can be an education. It'll also show how much of the problem solving is integration (like automatic2 mentions), not just ladder logic programming.