LADX
Start free
← Resources
Practice·7 min read·

Getting into automation, and what actually gets you hired

The skills that appear in job adverts and the skills that get you through an interview are not quite the same list.

Short answer

The reliable route combines electrical fundamentals, one platform learned properly, and evidence you have made something work. Employers weigh demonstrable troubleshooting ability above breadth of platform knowledge, because platforms can be taught in weeks and diagnostic thinking cannot. A simulator plus a small hardware rig is enough to produce that evidence.

The five IEC 61131-3 languagesLDLadder Diagramgraphical, relay heritageFBDFunction Block Diagramgraphical, signal flowSFCSequential Function Chartsteps and transitionsSTStructured Texttextual, Pascal-likeILInstruction Listtextual, deprecatedOne standard, five notations. Most projects use two.

The trade has a shortage and still turns away candidates, which usually means the applicants and the requirement are missing each other.

What is actually required

  • Electrical fundamentals. Not theory. Reading a schematic, using a meter, understanding what 24 V DC does and does not do.
  • One platform, properly. Depth transfers; breadth does not.
  • Evidence. Something you built that works, that you can describe including what went wrong.

What gets you through the interview

Troubleshooting. Almost every technical interview in this trade eventually becomes 'the machine does this, what do you check first'.

The answer that impresses is not the correct fault. It is a method that eliminates possibilities in a sensible order, because that is what the job is.

Building the evidence

A simulator teaches logic. A small hardware rig, a controller, a few switches and lamps, teaches wiring and the reality of a fault. Together they are enough to have made something and to talk about it credibly.

The unglamorous advantage

Willingness to travel and to work when the plant is down. Much of this trade happens at inconvenient times, and people who accept that are consistently short in supply.

Common questions

Do I need a degree to become a PLC programmer?
No. A significant proportion of working controls engineers came through electrical apprenticeships or maintenance roles. A degree helps for design-heavy positions and for larger employers with formal requirements, but demonstrated capability carries more weight in this trade than in most.
Which PLC platform should I learn first?
Whichever dominates where you want to work: Allen-Bradley in North America, Siemens in Europe. Learning one properly transfers most of the way to any other, because the concepts are shared and only the vocabulary changes. Breadth without depth impresses nobody at interview.

Keep reading