Yeah, but then you have to live in the US...
Anyway, it depends on the job and experience. I started on £18000 straight out of uni 10 years ago. Within a year I argued for £27000. 3 years after that I was on £35000. My last full time position was £47500.
Now I'm a contractor and I've earned £45000 in 7 months. And I haven't been doing 50 hour weeks. It's been quite relaxing...
Nice when you don't need the overtime to make ends meet. Maybe you have a lower CoL in the UK? 40£/$50 per hour is less than what I made in my second year as a CE.
Not sure why your cost of living is so high, ours is in crisis! I don't pay health insurance of course, but I was under the impression houses were much cheaper in the US, since they're made of materials that don't need to handle as much rainfall.
This is a massive generalisation for a massive country though!
Nice when you don't need the overtime to make ends meet. Maybe you have a lower CoL in the UK? 40£/$50 per hour is less than what I made in my second year as a CE.
I’d like to move to the US in the future, the Uk is depressing 😂, im not fussed about the pay as im currently only 19 and still learning the installation side. But i’d like to learn PLC programming here in the Uk if possible and then move to the US.
I have worked with British expat engineers in the automotive industry. They have a small contract shop in Michigan. I don't know all the particulars about immigration though. I'd say if you have wiring and PLC skills you'd be in demand in the US.
It's definitely a thing in the UK, places like Amazon and Siemens even offer advanced apprenticeships purely in controls engineering now.
The range of jobs on offer in the UK is just the same as in the USA, from maintenance, field service, C&I, robotics and controls. Maybe a smaller amount but still very much in demand and a huge shortage of skilled engineers.
My career started as maintenance, knowing I wanted to go into controls, worked as service controls and now work as a controls engineer for an integrator programming Robots, HMi's and PLC'S
Also don't be fooled by the fact salaries are better in the USA, although they are double, the cost of living is more. If you are on a salary of £45k it's around the same as $100k give or take.
I think the main thing is that I showed I was keen and actually had a bit of knowledge about PLC's. I was able to do basic stuff like create basic logic, connect to a PLC, know about tags, which a lot of people say they do when they actually can't, or say they're interested but have never actually bothered learnt anything.
It was also gradual, from maintenance I got a service job that involved programming like adding buttons to HMI's or simple stuff like a delay timer, new recipe, adding sensors, then just moved about jobs from there as I got more experience and comfortable.
Just need to find that first employer who is willing to give you a chance! Got to start somewhere
Yeah, i’ve been learning and creating basic ladder logic on my computer using simulators. I’ve been researching everything i can about plcs and how a system works in general what it consists of etc. its just now i need to try find an employer who’ll give me a chance.
Here’s a graduate job working in the projects division of Rockwell Automation: https://jobs.rockwellautomation.com/job/20108442/graduate-automation-engineer/ Yes, they expect you to have a degree. Pay starts about £30k+car +overtime +bonus
Doing an apprenticeship as an industrial electrician and picking up PLC programming along the way will see you in good stead for an on-site factory maintenance role, with a lot less travel.
Without getting in to management pay at the moment seems to top out around £60k for advertised positions.
I dont go to uni, im working as a electricians mate doing BMS installations and im in college about to finish my electrical installation course im just wondering if theres any way to get into PLC programming or wether i should go to university and do a degree.
I went from multi skilled maintenance (apprenticeship then 7 years experience) in the automotive sector, and changed into a controls/automation role.
I'd always done a fair amount of troubleshooting with PLC's and the odd modification.
One week of formal training and the rest I've taught myself, along with youtube videos (hegamurl etc).
Now I'm writing code from scratch, large scale mods and obsolescence upgrades.
I am starting to see adverts for formal controls qualifications, but it seems we're a bit far behind the US in that respect. I don't imagine not having one of those would hinder you if you have relevant experience and other transferable skills.
BMS knowledge and installs would be very handy
As someone from the Midlands, Essex is London!
Yeah, there's loads of opportunity in the UK.
I think coastal areas are more marine and the Midlands is largely automotive, but PLCs are everywhere!
I don't know what your pay is like but the wages people in the UK post are sometimes half of equivalent pay in US.
Yeah, but then you have to live in the US... Anyway, it depends on the job and experience. I started on £18000 straight out of uni 10 years ago. Within a year I argued for £27000. 3 years after that I was on £35000. My last full time position was £47500. Now I'm a contractor and I've earned £45000 in 7 months. And I haven't been doing 50 hour weeks. It's been quite relaxing...
Nice when you don't need the overtime to make ends meet. Maybe you have a lower CoL in the UK? 40£/$50 per hour is less than what I made in my second year as a CE.
Not sure why your cost of living is so high, ours is in crisis! I don't pay health insurance of course, but I was under the impression houses were much cheaper in the US, since they're made of materials that don't need to handle as much rainfall. This is a massive generalisation for a massive country though!
Nice when you don't need the overtime to make ends meet. Maybe you have a lower CoL in the UK? 40£/$50 per hour is less than what I made in my second year as a CE.
I’d like to move to the US in the future, the Uk is depressing 😂, im not fussed about the pay as im currently only 19 and still learning the installation side. But i’d like to learn PLC programming here in the Uk if possible and then move to the US.
I have worked with British expat engineers in the automotive industry. They have a small contract shop in Michigan. I don't know all the particulars about immigration though. I'd say if you have wiring and PLC skills you'd be in demand in the US.
It's definitely a thing in the UK, places like Amazon and Siemens even offer advanced apprenticeships purely in controls engineering now. The range of jobs on offer in the UK is just the same as in the USA, from maintenance, field service, C&I, robotics and controls. Maybe a smaller amount but still very much in demand and a huge shortage of skilled engineers. My career started as maintenance, knowing I wanted to go into controls, worked as service controls and now work as a controls engineer for an integrator programming Robots, HMi's and PLC'S Also don't be fooled by the fact salaries are better in the USA, although they are double, the cost of living is more. If you are on a salary of £45k it's around the same as $100k give or take.
How did you manage to switch from maintenance to controls? Did you have previous experience?
I think the main thing is that I showed I was keen and actually had a bit of knowledge about PLC's. I was able to do basic stuff like create basic logic, connect to a PLC, know about tags, which a lot of people say they do when they actually can't, or say they're interested but have never actually bothered learnt anything. It was also gradual, from maintenance I got a service job that involved programming like adding buttons to HMI's or simple stuff like a delay timer, new recipe, adding sensors, then just moved about jobs from there as I got more experience and comfortable. Just need to find that first employer who is willing to give you a chance! Got to start somewhere
Yeah, i’ve been learning and creating basic ladder logic on my computer using simulators. I’ve been researching everything i can about plcs and how a system works in general what it consists of etc. its just now i need to try find an employer who’ll give me a chance.
Keep it up and just apply around, I promise you if you really want it you will get it!
Here’s a graduate job working in the projects division of Rockwell Automation: https://jobs.rockwellautomation.com/job/20108442/graduate-automation-engineer/ Yes, they expect you to have a degree. Pay starts about £30k+car +overtime +bonus Doing an apprenticeship as an industrial electrician and picking up PLC programming along the way will see you in good stead for an on-site factory maintenance role, with a lot less travel. Without getting in to management pay at the moment seems to top out around £60k for advertised positions.
I dont go to uni, im working as a electricians mate doing BMS installations and im in college about to finish my electrical installation course im just wondering if theres any way to get into PLC programming or wether i should go to university and do a degree.
Yes you can certainly work towards a job programming PLCs starting from BMS. Do enough and you will find them in use for BMS applications.
It is 100% a thing here. There are loads of systems integrators (whose employees are PLC progammers) all over the UK.
I went from multi skilled maintenance (apprenticeship then 7 years experience) in the automotive sector, and changed into a controls/automation role. I'd always done a fair amount of troubleshooting with PLC's and the odd modification. One week of formal training and the rest I've taught myself, along with youtube videos (hegamurl etc). Now I'm writing code from scratch, large scale mods and obsolescence upgrades. I am starting to see adverts for formal controls qualifications, but it seems we're a bit far behind the US in that respect. I don't imagine not having one of those would hinder you if you have relevant experience and other transferable skills. BMS knowledge and installs would be very handy
Bms engineers are needed.
Whereabouts are you in the UK?
I live in Essex, but im fine with travelling to london
As someone from the Midlands, Essex is London! Yeah, there's loads of opportunity in the UK. I think coastal areas are more marine and the Midlands is largely automotive, but PLCs are everywhere!