M
Hello everyone:
I really need some career advice. I am an EE with 15 years experience in industrial automation and controls. I have been struggling with a career decision for some time now. I have been working at a good company for 4 years with great benefits and good/ok compensation.
The issue is, I am not using a great portion of my experience that I believe defines an industrial controls engineer, such as PLC programming, HMI development, Servo and motion. I really enjoyed PLC programming, closed Loop control and Drives. The Kind of work I do now is more hardware focused and with lots of interconnect, cabling, Bill of materials, kits, a tone of manufacturing support and things of that nature. The software is PC based (.net, etc) now, so I have no involvement in it. I tried getting involved with the software but I don't think I have a path. The work is extremely boring with a few interesting things at times and so it becomes very difficult to stay motivated and focused at times. In general the technical ladder is not very strong and I don't see a career path in the long term. I am not currently interested in management either.
I have a family and kids and so the benefits and the security are important to me and that is why I have stayed so far.
So, my question is; do I stay or go find something that I enjoy that may not have the benefits. I am also concerned that in long term I will lose skills that I believe makes me marketable and define me as a controls engineer. The longer I stay the harder it will get to break away and obviously there is no guaranteed employment either.
What is the best solution in the long term?
Has anyone ever been in this situation?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Michael
I really need some career advice. I am an EE with 15 years experience in industrial automation and controls. I have been struggling with a career decision for some time now. I have been working at a good company for 4 years with great benefits and good/ok compensation.
The issue is, I am not using a great portion of my experience that I believe defines an industrial controls engineer, such as PLC programming, HMI development, Servo and motion. I really enjoyed PLC programming, closed Loop control and Drives. The Kind of work I do now is more hardware focused and with lots of interconnect, cabling, Bill of materials, kits, a tone of manufacturing support and things of that nature. The software is PC based (.net, etc) now, so I have no involvement in it. I tried getting involved with the software but I don't think I have a path. The work is extremely boring with a few interesting things at times and so it becomes very difficult to stay motivated and focused at times. In general the technical ladder is not very strong and I don't see a career path in the long term. I am not currently interested in management either.
I have a family and kids and so the benefits and the security are important to me and that is why I have stayed so far.
So, my question is; do I stay or go find something that I enjoy that may not have the benefits. I am also concerned that in long term I will lose skills that I believe makes me marketable and define me as a controls engineer. The longer I stay the harder it will get to break away and obviously there is no guaranteed employment either.
What is the best solution in the long term?
Has anyone ever been in this situation?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Michael