Getting in to manufacturing
January 13, 2015 2:06 PM Subscribe
I work as a software engineer, mostly full-stack javascript (nodejs/angular) and a bit of C#. I briefly worked in aerospace. I've long enjoyed watching videos of assembly line, pick-place machines, etc. How could I move into writing software in the manufacturing industry?
One complication: I don't have a college degree, only some math/cs credits at a community college. I currently hold a position generally held by degree holders (and am paid roughly what they are). As an enterprise/web developer going back to school would retard my career progression, but I'd be happy to do it if it would leave me better situated to work in manufacturing.
One complication: I don't have a college degree, only some math/cs credits at a community college. I currently hold a position generally held by degree holders (and am paid roughly what they are). As an enterprise/web developer going back to school would retard my career progression, but I'd be happy to do it if it would leave me better situated to work in manufacturing.
I would love to talk to you. How do you like the idea of living in England for a bit?
posted by parmanparman at 3:56 PM on January 13, 2015
posted by parmanparman at 3:56 PM on January 13, 2015
I work in manufacturing IT and dabble in software development at work. I really like it. There's lots of interesting systems, processes, and equipment to work with, and manufacturing people, at least in my experience, are the best people. No-BS, up-front, get-it-done type culture.
There's a ton of software work in manufacturing, depending on what you're looking for. You don't have much background in embedded systems, but at least at my company that represents a tiny fraction of our software and sees very little change day to day. On the other hand, there's a ton of support code around management, reporting, job tracking, operations, integrating with machines, etc. that you could walk right into with your JS and C# background. You're probably going to run into a lot of legacy code in all kinds of old-school languages (Foxpro, VB6, etc.) but that will vary by company and I wouldn't bother learning that kind of stuff to prep - they probably won't be expecting you to walk in with that knowledge.
A couple of caveats, though. Larger companies may have their development centralized, so you'd be working on software far from the production floor. If you'd rather be down in production, consider that when choosing a job. Also, manufacturing is very cost-driven and software is a cost center. You may find job security to be worse than in fields that are more profitable. Offshoring and outsourcing will be a direct threat to you. There's not a lot of money for big rewrites, so legacy code lasts and lasts.
If you want to prepare, I'd recommend reading up on Lean manufacturing and Theory of Constraints, which are still very hot in many companies - maybe start with The Goal and Velocity, which are reasonably easy reads and will give you a good grounding. You may also want to see if you have a manufacturers' group in your area and reach out to them to see if you can find some contacts in local manufacturers for advice and networking.
Feel free to memail me in confidence if you have questions or want to chat. I don't have any jobs to offer you but I'll gladly help you out if I can.
posted by pocams at 6:12 PM on January 13, 2015
There's a ton of software work in manufacturing, depending on what you're looking for. You don't have much background in embedded systems, but at least at my company that represents a tiny fraction of our software and sees very little change day to day. On the other hand, there's a ton of support code around management, reporting, job tracking, operations, integrating with machines, etc. that you could walk right into with your JS and C# background. You're probably going to run into a lot of legacy code in all kinds of old-school languages (Foxpro, VB6, etc.) but that will vary by company and I wouldn't bother learning that kind of stuff to prep - they probably won't be expecting you to walk in with that knowledge.
A couple of caveats, though. Larger companies may have their development centralized, so you'd be working on software far from the production floor. If you'd rather be down in production, consider that when choosing a job. Also, manufacturing is very cost-driven and software is a cost center. You may find job security to be worse than in fields that are more profitable. Offshoring and outsourcing will be a direct threat to you. There's not a lot of money for big rewrites, so legacy code lasts and lasts.
If you want to prepare, I'd recommend reading up on Lean manufacturing and Theory of Constraints, which are still very hot in many companies - maybe start with The Goal and Velocity, which are reasonably easy reads and will give you a good grounding. You may also want to see if you have a manufacturers' group in your area and reach out to them to see if you can find some contacts in local manufacturers for advice and networking.
Feel free to memail me in confidence if you have questions or want to chat. I don't have any jobs to offer you but I'll gladly help you out if I can.
posted by pocams at 6:12 PM on January 13, 2015
You may want to look for the term "industrial automation." It's not limited to manufacturing, but any software that powers manufacturing, from telling a servo where to move, to telling an IO component which lamp to light, to telling a palletizer how fast to move product -- all this falls under industrial automation.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 7:47 PM on January 13, 2015
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 7:47 PM on January 13, 2015
Larger companies may have their development centralized, so you'd be working on software far from the production floor.
I agree that watching some machinery work - like bulk mail envelope inserters with multiple inserts - is fascinating. When I worked in the bulk mail printing industry, my office was one door away from the production floor, and we actually had to run some of the personalization equipment ourselves for sample runs. Now that I write software for a different manufacturing industry, I'm miles away from the nearest production floor. And even for the IT people who work at our corporate headquarters with a production plant next door, they hardly ever visit the production floor.
Manufacturing Engineering is a thing you can get your bachelors degree in. I think robotics could be a thing to look into, too, as you might be writing the code that controls the machine directly. But that is schooling that you don't really want to go for.
posted by jillithd at 6:44 AM on January 14, 2015
I agree that watching some machinery work - like bulk mail envelope inserters with multiple inserts - is fascinating. When I worked in the bulk mail printing industry, my office was one door away from the production floor, and we actually had to run some of the personalization equipment ourselves for sample runs. Now that I write software for a different manufacturing industry, I'm miles away from the nearest production floor. And even for the IT people who work at our corporate headquarters with a production plant next door, they hardly ever visit the production floor.
Manufacturing Engineering is a thing you can get your bachelors degree in. I think robotics could be a thing to look into, too, as you might be writing the code that controls the machine directly. But that is schooling that you don't really want to go for.
posted by jillithd at 6:44 AM on January 14, 2015
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posted by inkyz at 2:12 PM on January 13, 2015