Advice for Someone Interested in Instrumentation

I'd lean towards the technical when you begin seeking an employer. More exposure to a more quickly evolving environment. And always be the first guy in line when someone says "how'd you like to go to this class?" Good Luck!

Pay particular attention when they discuss noise and the techniques used to abate it.

There's a boatload of noise in the real world.

Read the manual. As this forum illustrates, the world is full of people who won't do due diligence and read the manual first.

Without knowing what your interests are, aside from "instrumentation" it's difficult.

What are you interested in? What do you know about?

The internet is full of information. There are probably instrumentation forums, or educational forums that may help.

Do you know much about SCADA, PLC, DCS, control logic, etc? If not, find out.

Had you rather work in a lab or factory or outdoors maybe studying volcanoes or glaciers? Is chemical processing your bag or manufacturing?

Perhaps you would prefer to design new instrumentation and control software.

I worked at a company that made semi-custom wet process equipment. Our controls guy was always busy. He made lots of money and he looked like he enjoyed his work because every new machine was a challenge. No two were alike and they all had different instrumentation and control requirements.

The sky's the limit. Good luck.

Hi,

Instrumentation is a very interesting field,if you enroll in a tech school try to learn as much as possible( basics, fundamentals).Instrumentation is one of those fields where you will learn the basics of other fields like piping,hydraulics,metallurgic,electricity etc.

An instrument technician needs to have troubleshooting skills,willing to learn new things,READING and understanding manuals(even technicians with years of experience do it) etc.I will recommend to listen to the experienced technicians and learn all you can from them.

Thank you

Thanks for the replies.

I'm actually 29 yrs old and I'm currently in the flooring business installing ceramic tile floors, but I have been reflecting on my life lately and realized I don't want to do this kind of work when I'm 50. I'm interested in a challenge and I want to learn new things so I went to an Open House at NAIT here, our local tech school, and checked out several interesting fields like Electrical technology, Power engineering (plant operator), waste and treatment, etc but Instrumentation really sparked my curiosity because I barely knew anything about it. After some research and lot's of questions asked, I started realizing this field incorporates a lot of different subjects like electrical, computer software, electronics, mechanical, chemistry, etc and so I figured how could I get bored in this field? It seems like almost everyone working in this field loves their job and doesn't mind answering my questions. There seems to be so many different settings you can work in from refineries and food processing plants to engineering and sales offices.

So anyways, I applied at my local tech school for their January intake and I'm crossing my fingers hoping to get in because I'm on the wait list right now.

Jeremy

Don't worry dear.... you have choosen a very nice field in this automation world.

just go ahead with self comfidence....

your future will be a bright....

Hi there,

Some sage advice already given in the above posts.

I would add curiosity to the above. Be curious about everything especially how it works. You will find that you learn in leaps and bounds with this.

You should also register with a forum like this as there is much good advice given here.

Good luck with your entry and keep us up to date with how it goes.

Regards,

Craig

Thanks Craigza,

I got accepted into the program for the January intake, so I'm about a month and a half away from starting my new career path. Looking forward to it, but also a little freaked out cause I have been out of school for 8 years now....so I'm hoping I can adjust back into the routine of classes and homework. Giving up my current job in construction so I can do better for myself, so it's it a bit of change for me since I'm giving up the normal income that goes along with it. But sacrifice is sometimes the only way to get ahead in life. Hoping to do well in this program.

Thanks,

Jeremy

Hi Jeremy,

I teach instrumentation in Washington state (USA), and here is some advice I give to my students:

* The most important thing you can do in school is learn how to learn independently, because your future career depends on it. Polish your technical reading skills. Don't limit yourself to the assigned books. Explore tangents that capture your interest.

* Don't fall into the trap so many students do of memorizing equations and passing exams by rote. Test yourself by seeing whether or not you can explain new concepts in your own words, as though you were teaching another student. If you cannot, then you don't understand it good enough yet.

* Keep your eyes on what really matters. You are taking a couple of years out of your life to prepare for a life-long career. Treat this as the investment it really is. Expectations from previous schooling is irrelevant, as is other students' opinions and sometimes even the teachers'. What matters is what you will be expected to be able to do on the job, and that is a very long and daunting list of skills!

* Learn to listen. On the job, you will often be the in-between person, with engineers, operators, mechanics, electricians, managers, and other personnel providing you the clues you'll need to solve complex control problems. Your future co-workers will be a wealth of knowledge to you, if you take the time to listen to them.

* Be humble. No one knows it all. Even after 30 years in the field you'll still be learning new things. Share your knowledge, borrow others' knowledge, and make the career a better one for all involved.