12 March 2009

Pinto's Point

Automation jobs just don't pay enough

By Jim Pinto

The automation skills shortage in America mirrors the continuing decline in interest in factory engineering jobs. Few consider automation engineering an exciting career; most just drift into it by happenstance.

Automation professionals require knowledge that is applied across multiple disciplines—electrical, electronic, mechanical, chemical, instrumentation, controls, computers, networking, and information processing. This mix is simply not available in any traditional programs today, and lumping them together into one educational curriculum does not seem practical.

In the final analysis, the problem is pay. There are those who insist that in American industry at large, there is not any shortage of engineering skills, just lack of rewards. Responding to a discussion on this subject, engineer Richard Lamb wrote:

“There are just better things to do these days than controls engineering. The automation business has shrunken from the heyday of the 80’s and 90’s. The engineers are still here. But they all have jobs now with better pay and working conditions. As manufacturing competitiveness has tightened, customers are tight with an automation buck.

“Working 9-5 beats the heck out of weeks doing startups. The controls guy doing the startup gets to take the heat, under intense pressure to get the thing up and running. Staff engineers work incredibly long hours, with people breathing down their necks, to troubleshoot and maintain old equipment and keep complex technology running. Not exactly a rewarding experience. All this for a pay scale that just meets the average for an engineer/programmer, and maybe even less.

“Most of the smart people that I know who were formerly in controls and system integration businesses are now writing software for financial services, healthcare, web applications, or doing validation services for the pharmaceutical industry. You get the same pay, and you get to sleep in your own bed at night.”

Therein lies the rub. The automation careers that are low-paid and generally not held in high regard here in the U.S. are greatly respected and even coveted in developing areas such as India, South America, and the Far East. Today’s global market offers easy availability of foreign engineers, with skills that match the need and willingness to fill the gaps. So a lot of automation project design work is going offshore, including capability to provide local commissioning and training for maintenance services. This offshore migration is the inevitable result of our inability to develop and attract local talent.

Recognition that automation professionals are at the core of a country’s success is the key to prosperity.

Related links:

• InTech e-News – Automation Skills Shortage:
  http://r.listpilot.net/c/isa/2o6tbfr/1h142
• Outdated compensation mechanisms:
  http://r.listpilot.net/c/isa/3m8apai/1qiuo
• New workplace paradigms:
  http://r.listpilot.net/c/isa/31bbhp8/1ksyw
• Automation knowledge reservoirs: People:
  http://r.listpilot.net/c/isa/2z9b9dg/1k909

Behind the byline

Jim Pinto is an industry analyst and founder of Action Instruments. You can e-mail him at jim@jimpinto.com or view his writings at www.JimPinto.com. Read the Table of Contents of his book, Pinto’s Points, at www.jimpinto.com/writings/points.html.