MATLAB Central Newsreader - I need you advise...

I need you advise...

seryuz — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:17:26 -0500

Hi All,

I am a senior level electrical engineering student. I like the field
of Control systems and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). But my
university doesnt have so many opportunities to practise those stuffs.
I am about to graduate and want to improve myself in this field.

I need your advises about my interest. I am trying to find a good
company to continue in this field. But I dont know what I have to do
and know about my study. It is huge and complicated. I am about to
graduate and I feel like `I dont know anything about this topic.`

Could you please tell me what I have to do now?
For example,
-What should I learn as a simulation program?
-What should I concentrate to get hired very easily in the future?
-Which publications should I follow? magazines?
-For master studies, which universities should I apply in the USA?
-shortly, what should I know? to achieve in my field of interest. I
feel so empty now.

Thanks,
Seryuz

Re: I need you advise...

Paul E. Bennett — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:53:33 -0500

seryuz wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I am a senior level electrical engineering student. I like the field
> of Control systems and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). But my
> university doesnt have so many opportunities to practise those stuffs.
> I am about to graduate and want to improve myself in this field.
>
> I need your advises about my interest. I am trying to find a good
> company to continue in this field. But I dont know what I have to do
> and know about my study. It is huge and complicated. I am about to
> graduate and I feel like `I dont know anything about this topic.`
>
> Could you please tell me what I have to do now?
> For example,
> -What should I learn as a simulation program?
> -What should I concentrate to get hired very easily in the future?
> -Which publications should I follow? magazines?
> -For master studies, which universities should I apply in the USA?
> -shortly, what should I know? to achieve in my field of interest. I
> feel so empty now.
>
> Thanks,
> Seryuz

Plenty of training available here.

<http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=PLC+Programming+Courses&btnG=Google+Search&meta=>

I'll leave others to suggest some companies that side of the pond.

--
********************************************************************
Paul E. Bennett...............<email://Paul_E.Bennett@topmail.co.uk>
Forth based HIDECS Consultancy
Mob: +44 (0)7811-639972
Tel: +44 (0)1235-811095
Going Forth Safely ..... EBA. www.electric-boat-association.org.uk..
********************************************************************

Re: I need you advise...

Tim Wescott — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:54:35 -0500

On Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:17:26 -0800, seryuz wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I am a senior level electrical engineering student. I like the field of
> Control systems and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). But my
> university doesnt have so many opportunities to practise those stuffs. I
> am about to graduate and want to improve myself in this field.
>
> I need your advises about my interest. I am trying to find a good
> company to continue in this field. But I dont know what I have to do and
> know about my study. It is huge and complicated. I am about to graduate
> and I feel like `I dont know anything about this topic.`
>
> Could you please tell me what I have to do now? For example,
> -What should I learn as a simulation program? -What should I concentrate
> to get hired very easily in the future? -Which publications should I
> follow? magazines? -For master studies, which universities should I
> apply in the USA? -shortly, what should I know? to achieve in my field
> of interest. I feel so empty now.
>
> Thanks,
> Seryuz

Before you think "what program should I learn?" you should think "how can
I learn to use a program effectively?" Having said that, I prefer Scilab
for price (although it helps to approach it as a Matlab power user).

No one thing will help you get hired easily. Having said that, I always
look for people who have done something _real_. So if you're going to
get an MS, I strongly suggest you find a department that's going to make
you do a practical project.

Dunno about publications.

Look for a university that has more than one specialist in control
systems -- if they just have one or two then they aren't serious about
it. University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana, is one of the big names,
but may not be the best for you unless you're a real hard charger. I'd
say a department that has some depth, and does real projects in what you
want.

And finally, you didn't ask (or say) what _sort_ of control systems you
want to get into. Do you want to do industrial process control (great
big dirty things)? Do you want to do aerospace or instrument control
(itty bitty clean things)? Something in between, like machines in
sawmills or paper mills? There's room for all of those things under the
"control" umbrella, but which one you want to do can have a big impact on
what you should know.

--
Tim Wescott
Control systems and communications consulting
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Need to learn how to apply control theory in your embedded system?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" by Tim Wescott
Elsevier/Newnes, http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

Re: I need you advise...

pnachtwey — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:16:01 -0500

On Dec 10, 11:17=A0am, seryuz <ser...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I am a senior level electrical engineering student. I like the field
> of Control systems and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). But my
> university doesnt have so many opportunities to practise those stuffs.
> I am about to graduate and want to improve myself in this field.
>
> I need your advises about my interest. I am trying to find a good
> company to continue in this field. But I dont know what I have to do
> and know about my study. It is huge and complicated. I am about to
> graduate and I feel like `I dont know anything about this topic.`
Most of us didn't really know anything about this topic when we
graduated so your feeling is normal.

>
> Could you please tell me what I have to do now?
Homework, lots of it. I graduated years ago and I am still doing home
work.
> For example,
> -What should I learn as a simulation program?
I would learn how to do system identification and simulation. Scilab
is all you need for that and it is free.

> -What should I concentrate to get hired very easily in the future?
I don't think getting hired will be easy in the near future. You will
need to be persistent and special.
I prefer people that have done their own projects. The project
provide experience and show the ability to solve problems. They help
make you 'special'

I don't have specific answers but in general I would concentrate on
learning 'forever knowledge' like math and physics as opposed to tools
such as PLC. Tools change. 'Forever knowledge' doesn't and will
never be a waste of time.

I also would learn how to program well. I would find one language and
learn it well. C++, java, C#, or C will do. I am not impressed with
people that list a dozen languages and can't program in any of them
well. What ever language you pick, remember it is just a tool to do
a job. It is just a passing fad. Hopefully the tools is a mainstream
language from which you can learn good programming techniques that can
be carried over to the next programming language ( fad ). It is these
techniques that I look for in a programmer, not the number of
languages.

Peter Nachtwey.

Re: I need you advise...

Tim Wescott — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 22:47:20 -0500

On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:16:01 -0800, pnachtwey wrote:

> On Dec 10, 11:17 am, seryuz <ser...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I am a senior level electrical engineering student. I like the field of
>> Control systems and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). But my
>> university doesnt have so many opportunities to practise those stuffs.
>> I am about to graduate and want to improve myself in this field.
>>
>> I need your advises about my interest. I am trying to find a good
>> company to continue in this field. But I dont know what I have to do
>> and know about my study. It is huge and complicated. I am about to
>> graduate and I feel like `I dont know anything about this topic.`
> Most of us didn't really know anything about this topic when we
> graduated so your feeling is normal.
>
(snip)

Oh, I felt I knew _lots_ about this _when_ I graduated. It was after I
tried getting things to work that I started feeling ignorant!

--
Tim Wescott
Control systems and communications consulting
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Need to learn how to apply control theory in your embedded system?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" by Tim Wescott
Elsevier/Newnes, http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

Re: I need you advise...

worldisflat — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:10:56 -0500

On Dec 10, 12:17=A0pm, seryuz <ser...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I am a senior level electrical engineering student. I like the field
> of Control systems and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). But my
> university doesnt have so many opportunities to practise those stuffs.
> I am about to graduate and want to improve myself in this field.
>
> I need your advises about my interest. I am trying to find a good
> company to continue in this field. But I dont know what I have to do
> and know about my study. It is huge and complicated. I am about to
> graduate and I feel like `I dont know anything about this topic.`
>
> Could you please tell me what I have to do now?
> For example,
> -What should I learn as a simulation program?
> -What should I concentrate to get hired very easily in the future?
> -Which publications should I follow? magazines?
> -For master studies, which universities should I apply in the USA?
> -shortly, what should I know? to achieve in my field of interest. I
> feel so empty now.
>
> Thanks,
> Seryuz

I would recommend you find a company that makes things you are
interested in working on. After I finished my Aerospace degrees I got
an offer from HP and went to work on tape drives. They were
interesting control problems. But, if I had to do it again, I would
be more careful to select the type of products I would be working on.
I think on-the-job training is a great thing, especially if you have a
EE degree already. I would even suggest getting a year or two in
industry before embarking on a master's degree. You may find that
helps you figure it out.

For learning more about controls, I suggest SimApp. www.simapp.com
Each month I add new application notes. We also have some resource
pages on the forum where we recommend control books, etc. You can
make your own recommendations as well.

Peter Way
peterw 'at' Ventimar.com

Re: I need you advise...

krw — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 03:22:32 -0500

In article <953ff6c2-f49e-46c5-bd3b-
470b6d5c095a@f40g2000pri.googlegroups.com>, poogleway@gmail.com=20
says...
> On Dec 10, 12:17=A0pm, seryuz <ser...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I am a senior level electrical engineering student. I like the field
> > of Control systems and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). But my
> > university doesnt have so many opportunities to practise those stuffs.
> > I am about to graduate and want to improve myself in this field.
> >
> > I need your advises about my interest. I am trying to find a good
> > company to continue in this field. But I dont know what I have to do
> > and know about my study. It is huge and complicated. I am about to
> > graduate and I feel like `I dont know anything about this topic.`
> >
> > Could you please tell me what I have to do now?
> > For example,
> > -What should I learn as a simulation program?
> > -What should I concentrate to get hired very easily in the future?
> > -Which publications should I follow? magazines?
> > -For master studies, which universities should I apply in the USA?
> > -shortly, what should I know? to achieve in my field of interest. I
> > feel so empty now.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Seryuz
>=20
> I would recommend you find a company that makes things you are
> interested in working on. After I finished my Aerospace degrees I got
> an offer from HP and went to work on tape drives. They were
> interesting control problems. But, if I had to do it again, I would
> be more careful to select the type of products I would be working on.
> I think on-the-job training is a great thing, especially if you have a
> EE degree already. I would even suggest getting a year or two in
> industry before embarking on a master's degree. You may find that
> helps you figure it out.

Not to mention that it's far easier on the wallet. You're working,=20
earning money, instead of paying, and many companies pay for the=20
degree.
=20
> For learning more about controls, I suggest SimApp. www.simapp.com
> Each month I add new application notes. We also have some resource
> pages on the forum where we recommend control books, etc. You can
> make your own recommendations as well.

--=20
Keith