Hasan S. Cemkan
Corporate
- Thread Author
- #1
<p>One of the biggest problems in the industry is the decreasing number of experts at the peak of their automation careers. Reports show that the average age of an automation engineer is over 40. It's ironic to create a profession that requires experience, expertise, and good pay, and then be surprised when no one comes to fill these positions.</p>
<hr>
<h3>🔍 What Are the Expectations in Job Postings?</h3>
<p>When you look at most automation job postings, you encounter similar expectations:</p>
<ul>
<li>University degree</li>
<li>Several years of experience</li>
<li>Familiarity with real systems</li>
<li>Proficiency in software, hardware, electrical, and mechanical systems</li>
</ul>
<p>However, many university students are not even aware of the existence of a career in industrial automation. Most people stumble into this field by chance through a class project or a random internship.</p>
<p>This situation shows that these requirements are quite unreasonable for those who want to reach the first rung of the career ladder if they don't discover and prepare for this field early enough.</p>
<hr>
<h3>💰 The Cost of Training New Graduates: $20,000+</h3>
<p>Although no one openly talks about it, hiring a new graduate comes with significant costs. Considering equipment, software licenses, salaries, and the opportunity cost of senior engineers' time spent on training, companies can spend between $20,000 and $25,000 for a three-month intern.</p>
<p>This is the minimum basic training cost before a candidate becomes productive. It typically takes 12 to 18 months for a new graduate engineer to reach the break-even point, although some may complete this period earlier.</p>
<p>Many companies avoid systematic training because making a wrong choice leads to a waste of time and money.</p>
<hr>
<h3>📈 High Turnover Rate: A Sign of Success?</h3>
<p>There are many smart and motivated people who can do this job. Finding them is difficult, training them is even harder. Even after keeping them with us for three months, we face a turnover rate of approximately 70%. While this number looks bad (and it is), after implementing this system for nine years, it turned out that a high turnover rate is actually an indicator that the system works.</p>
<p>Those who remain become incredibly successful individuals. Those who leave usually don't completely disconnect from the industry; instead, they transition to other automation-related roles:</p>
<ul>
<li>Owner-side roles that oversee the implementation and operation of automation systems in facilities, ensure alignment with business goals, and facilitate communication among stakeholders.</li>
<li>IT/OT and data system engineers.</li>
<li>Project management.</li>
</ul>
<p>The two best examples in our company started as interns:</p>
<ul>
<li>Our most senior engineer and first employee, a true expert whom our clients specifically request by name for ISA-88 Batch and PlantPAx architecture design.</li>
<li>Another project engineer who has been with us for three years, with dual expertise in electrical design and GMP data integrity, and clients call to request his help.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>🎯 Stop Looking for the "Finished Product"</h3>
<p>The industry is trying to hire the "finished" version of an automation engineer. Job descriptions support this: three to five years of experience with full-stack knowledge on a specific vendor platform.</p>
<p>However, there aren't as many such individuals as we claim.</p>
<p>That's why we look for: proof of doing (projects, portfolios), curiosity, ability to solve problems, and most importantly, perseverance.</p>
<hr>
<h3>📚 Reducing Training Costs: SOPs and Mentorship</h3>
<p>The biggest cost of training is the opportunity cost of the senior engineer's time spent on training. This can be reduced by creating a small set of SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) that cover the basics of hiring new graduates.</p>
<p>Years ago, we started building a talent pool. This began voluntarily and evolved into a self-reinforcing partnership with local high schools, universities, and student clubs.</p>
<p>This is definitely a time commitment, but if you're good at your job, your basic daily knowledge is enough to teach students at an early age, organize workshops, and expose them to the industry. Guide students towards transferable skills for any industry, so they don't start from scratch when they get a job.</p>
<p>To create these SOPs, we recorded an hour of training from our senior engineer on fundamental topics such as networking and security, electrical basics, PLC programming (ladder and structured text), and system architecture (SCADA, IO, PLCs, HMIs).</p>
<p>Interns then transcribed, expanded, and recreated these trainings with useful visuals. This is a self-reinforcing system that can be reused by any engineer for the next session.</p>
<hr>
<h3>💡 "Capstone Project" for Interns</h3>
<p>We give our interns a simple project they already understand and ask them to execute it like a GMP (good manufacturing practices) project. Here, they document everything from URS (user requirements specification) to FRS (functional requirements specification) to SDS (system design specification), and manage PLC and SCADA code implementation, commissioning, and acceptance testing.</p>
<p>In this process, we teach the real process of creating a set of deliverables regardless of the project scope. These activities include creating a timeline, estimating durations, and comparing and reporting estimates against reality.</p>
<p>With this approach, in about two weeks, the intern gains training and a solid context for future projects, touching upon documentation, coding, testing, and project management.</p>
<hr>
<h3>🤝 Apprenticeship Over Time</h3>
<p>After this step, we pair interns with a project engineer. This reduces training costs by limiting the trainer's task-switching burden.</p>
<p>It also instills soft skills such as how to approach difficult problems, how to learn new processes, and when to ask for help under the inherent constraints, timelines, and outcomes of automating machines.</p>
<p>In summary, to overcome the talent crisis in the automation sector, it is critical to abandon the search for a "finished product" and instead discover young people with high potential, curiosity, and perseverance at an early age, systematically train them, and support them with mentorship programs. This way, both the future of the industry is secured and valuable career opportunities are offered to young talents.</p>
