Automation Engineers

The Association for Advancing Automation’s Get Started With Automation Web page, https://www.automate.org/a3-content/getting-started-with-automation, is an excellent place to begin learning about automation, including robotics, vision and imaging, and motion controls and motors. The association also offers an interesting blog (https://www.automate.org/blogs).

Talk with automation engineers about their careers. Ask your school counselor to arrange an information interview or even a job shadowing experience with an engineer.

Participating in student competitions will help you to build your skills and meet people with shared interests. SkillsUSA is a national membership organization for middle school, high school, and college students who are interested in pursuing careers in technical, trade, and skilled service occupations. It offers the following STEM-related competitions: Additive Manufacturing; Automated Manufacturing Technology; CNC Programmer; Electronics Technology; Engineering Technology/Design; Mechatronics; and Robotics and Automation Technology. Visit http://www.skillsusa.org to learn more. Skills Competences Canada (https://www.skillscompetencescanada.com) offers competitions (e.g., Industrial Control, Mechatronics, Mobile Robotics) for those who reside in Canada.

Read IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine and IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (https://www.ieee-ras.org/publications), InTech (https://www.isa.org/intech-home), Robotics & Automation magazine (https://www.roboticsandautomationmagazine.co.uk), and Robotics and Automation Engineering Journal (https://juniperpublishers.com/raej) to learn more about the field. Some of the terms in these publications might be over your head, but reading them will help you to better understand the industry and the types of projects that automation engineers work on. Visit https://quixy.com/blog/automation-glossary-master-the-a-to-z-of-automation for a glossary of automation-related terms.