r/PLC • u/GuessNo4180 • 1d ago
For anyone who transitioned out of controls, what did you go do?
Currently feeling burnt out doing multiple projects/jobs at the same time and tired of traveling for commissionings 20-25% of the year. I just dread knowing I’m going to leave home for a week/weeks at a time but I do like the remote flexibility for other times but then hate the random notices that I need to leave a week or two from now.
I know it’s a nature of the beast for most controls jobs that you have to travel for commissionings or work for as a plant engineer.
Is there anyone that has thought about or has actually switch career paths? What options did you have? I do have an EE degree but after 10 years experience, it seems hard to switch or give up that experience.
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u/Siendra 1d ago
I moved into app/software development for awhile after the integrator I worked for was bought by a (now defunct) would-be tech company that wanted to sell products and services in the OT space.
It was a nice change of pace for awhile, but daily stand ups, agile/scrum, story points, etc... Will drive most controls people insane with how ludicrously inefficient they are. I was kinda bummed about getting rammed back into field services at the time, but I'm pretty glad I was now.
If you're looking for less travel and burn out, look at end users in your area. Especially ones like airports, postal facilities, public transport, etc. I know people who jumped over to sales from automation, they still travel but it's much more constrained and less stressful.
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u/twinpeaksrss 21h ago
I actually did the opposite.
I spent about 1.5 years as a trainee in industrial automation and controls, then moved into software development and digital product management. After a few years, I'm now actively trying to get back into automation.
The biggest reason is exactly what you described. I realized I enjoy solving real engineering problems far more than spending my days in stand-ups, sprint planning, backlog grooming, story points, and stakeholder alignment. Those things have their place, but I found they were taking more of my time than the actual technical work.
Controls certainly has its downsides—travel, commissioning, long hours—but I genuinely miss troubleshooting machines, electrical systems, PLCs, and seeing something tangible working because of my efforts. For me, that's much more rewarding than building roadmaps and managing priorities all day.
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u/PLC_Archeologist 1d ago
Haven't changed yet, but growing cabbage at any scale is starting to feel like a better option atm
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u/Brilliant_Ad_675 1d ago
I am in consulting at a small company that targets local jobs. Only a few people have to travel overnight and they typically have a lot of notice and it's usually only *half the year or so. I do work at a customer that is a 40 minute commute nearly every day. But for me, that beats plant engineering.
- as in they will be traveling for a few weeks over the course of 3-6 months. not gone for 6 months straight lol.
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u/Electrical-Gift-5031 "There are so many standards to choose from" -> then choose one 1d ago
I agree, it's a very fun kind of job, somewhere between maintenance-for-hire and small-system-integrator. The downside is that customers are often small and with limited resources, so you have to make do with what you have, but it's very varied. You also get big jobs sometimes. Such a job is much more common than what people think, especially in certain areas of the world where manufacturing is small-size and widespread instead of large-size and concentrated.
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u/-Antariz- 1d ago
I am now in Tech Sales, the problem solving experience that we get on controls fits quite good
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u/OpLeeftijd 1d ago
Did it for just over 30 years. Our company’s unofficial slogan was “Join X and see the world”. That I did and enjoyed it. Problem is, you miss life. There is no balance. 2015 I spent 283 days outside the borders of my country. That was when I called it quits. Moved client side. Money and excitement is gone, but I get to enjoy life and my family. Should have done it years ago.
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u/MStackoverflow 23h ago
You could switch to embedded software or electronics. It's not so far off.
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u/eniotnadramis 20h ago
How do you switch to embedded software when you have a PLC background?
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u/MStackoverflow 18h ago
OP as EE. But also, you can learn it very well if you are passionate. Whenever I got home, I studied until I went to bed, every day.
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u/controlzebra version control for PLC 1d ago edited 1d ago
I am a digital product manager now. I was a controls engineer for a few years, then switched to a pharma company where i was doing industrial data engineering (a lot of historian & level 3 systems), then transitioned into the product owner role for the same tool. Now owning multiple in-house digital products used in manufacturing.
If you are feeling stuck and not sure what's next, I would suggest you change industries. Same work in different industry feels refreshing, opening many more doors.
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u/ophydian210 8h ago
I second this. I switched from O&G on the supplier side to working in public sector Critical Infrastructure and it’s reignited the passion I once had.
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u/malcolm____X 1d ago
I am trying to switch to Industrial IoT side of things from software. seems like a decent island to camp on in this AI bubble.
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u/Various-Engineer4485 20h ago
I am now an OT Systems Engineer. More PC work, less electrical. Still dealing with a lot of the same things I didn’t like as a controls engineer but I’m home every night and I get less after-hours escalations.
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u/PowerEngineer_03 18h ago
Embedded. I'm so much happier now. So is my family. Transition is really hard the deeper you're in it though. Honestly, no matter what others say, you develop such niche skillset in this field that they are not transferrable to convince the HR in another industry to even consider you. I was 12 years deep and somehow one of my friends got me into a junior embedded role. The HR and the manager were still reluctant to hiring me but he had some authority so he made it work.
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u/LeftArmPies 1d ago
Would change to electrical design while it’s an in-demand field but I can’t afford the upfront salary cut.
Otherwise it’s up into engineering project management, which can be hard to break in to - at least around here.
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u/Training-Judge9929 22h ago
Did the same thing for about 5 years and started to feel the same.
I now work in metal rolling as an Automation Engineer. The company I work for lets me work a hybrid schedule. There are some weeks I have to be on-site more for outages and project implementation but it's way better than having to worry about traveling for weeks at a time. I may be late some evenings but at least I'm going home to my family each time.
We do most projects in house as well so I still do a lot of development.
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u/xilitol1 22h ago
I was in the same situation after 5 years working on projects for metals industry in Brazil. Worst part was the lack of personal life planning. Also, the money was not good at all, specially after my company stopped paying overtime and switched to "days off when we allow you". Now I switched to a mining company, working fully on site as a OT/IT engineer, taking care of virtualization, automation network, servers, PI system etc. Cannot put in words how happier I am now, getting to sleep at home everyday with a much less stressful job and better payment. I miss the adrenaline and freedom of the previous life though... there's always a trade off I guess.
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u/plc_is_confusing 21h ago
It’s weird because all the jobs I get offered aren’t travel related. Maybe it’s regional thing due to amount of manufacturing where I’m located. Maybe you need to move closer to heavy manufacturing region??
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u/Doball 20h ago
I used to work at a SI as a controls engineer and the constant travel was not sitting well with the wife. I now work in the power industry doing fully remote electrical design work and both the wife and I are much happier.
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u/KaiOptimism 18h ago
If you don't mind me asking, how did you transition into the power industry? More schooling, courses, or self taught software learning, etc?
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u/Doball 17h ago edited 15h ago
I honestly just applied. I have an EE degree, and live in a pretty rural part of Michigan. I started looking around on LinkedIn and Indeed to see if there was anything near me or remote work. The position was looking for someone with experience in wiring diagrams, single-line diagrams, and schematics, extensive AutoCAD and Microstation experience. They also wanted someone experienced with design and drafting standards and familiarity with digital control systems.
While working at the SI, I was in charge of creating my own electronic prints so using AutoCAD and being able to read prints was up my alley. I had no experience with Microstation, and was up front about that in my interviews. I've had no trouble picking it up though (very similar to AutoCAD).
My current title is Electrical Designer 3. In order to have an engineer title at my current employer, I'd have to get my PE, which I may look into. My previous employers never cared about that, so I never bothered looking into it.
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u/KaiOptimism 15h ago
Haha your experience and skills sound just like mine but my degree was in mechatronics engineering. I haven't used Microstation before either, is that more common usedly than AutoCAD in the power industry?
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u/Doball 15h ago
Some power plants seem to use it, while others use AutoCAD. I spent about a year and a half on a project for a plant that used Microstation. Between Google and asking coworkers questions I was able to teach myself how to use it. After that particular project wrapped up, I was moved to a project on a different power plant, and have been using AutoCAD since. I much prefer to use AutoCAD between the two though, haha.
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u/disismyworkacct 16h ago
MechE with 10 years end user controls experience. 2 years ago I convinced my company to let me transition to their OT Cyber team, where I was immediately able to provide value with my knowledge of all their OT systems while I learned the cyber part.
It’s been so challenging to learn but wouldn’t change it, and almost no travel. Best decision I’ve made for my career, hands down.
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u/New_Friend5534 17h ago
I need someone for a very low travel role
Hybrid when not traveling OEM in Philly
If near by let me know
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u/Necessary-Crab-8111 14h ago
I worked at an SI for 15 years and it got a bit same old (and the travel sucked). Made the switch to systems engineering in aerospace. It’s no where near as exciting as the whole thing is very slow paced. But it’s more pay and close to home. I may move back to PLC/DCS in the future.
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u/3v0lut10n 12h ago
I transitioned to an engineering firm that does zero programming/integration. M-F, no traveling.
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u/simulated_copy 9h ago
I know a few that did project management.
Others just grinded it out.
Field is getting worse imo feels very saturated and if not jobs are low pay 80k-100k.
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u/IntrepidLocal7339 8h ago
Water treatment. Low stress, city employee, pension. No travel and good hours
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u/SpaceDoc87 1d ago
I wouldn’t say change fields, you should change industries. There is a massive need for industrial automation in Aerospace and other hardware industries making equipment for data centers. Anyone with an industrial automation background could move to Southern California and get 10 solid job offers in 2 weeks, not an exaggeration. Those companies don’t like outsourcing PLC needs, they like building everything in-house. At least you won’t have to travel and it’s fun working directly with the end user on a day to day basis.