hello. i am currently a student with George Brown College in Toronto studying plc programming at a technician level. the course is offered entirely through distance ed. and is cd-rom based.
I am also taking the George Brown course.
I doubt that it alone will get me a job.
It does get me calls from dumb head hunters!
It is the lack of hands on experience coupled with some other experience. Typically PLC + licensed electrician.
We arein the age of multiple disciplines ... you cant get the interview unless you have at least 3 areas of expertise!!
So your ticket plus PLC work PLUS drive work will get you in the door then YOU have to prove yourself!!
It seems to be a mysterious process. I was kinda propelled into automation becuse of extensive hardware and software experience in general computing and interfacing and test equipment design. Here most available jobs seems centered around maintenance. While there are a lot of design side folks out looking for work, there are a lot of maintenance openings that fervently hope for PLC knowledge as well as the ability to troubleshoot. I'd say a year or two of fixing the wonders visited upon the factory floor would open a lot of doors. And they would provide a lot of crucial experience in how _not_ to design machines. IMHO that should be a requirement for automating things.
Agree. When you find, or want to find out if your college PLC training was/is lacking, see http://plc-training.org for the 10 learning PLC phases.
> I am also taking the George Brown course. I doubt that it alone will
> get me a job. It does get me calls from dumb head hunters!
> It is the lack of hands on experience coupled with some other
experience.
> Typicaly PLC + licenced electrician.
How thorough is the GB college PLC online program? Will that be enough to work as a PLC technician or a PLC programmer? Is there any better training institute?