Any advice for a green horn?

[Spartan]

Hello everyone,
I'm new here, and I'll try not to sound too ignorant but here it goes:

I'm a second year student in a Industrial Robotics Associates program...

My instructor is reccomending I transfer into either Industrial or Mechanical Engineering BA program at a local University (expensive)...

However I am wondering how beneficial it would be to save money and instead take machining, controls and electrical certificate programs (much cheaper at the technical school)?

I am very anxious to start working being that I have a family to support, and I am a veteran using limited G.I. Bill benefits that expire in two years.

I want to focus on Robotics, but I have never worked on a factory floor and I don't know what employers are looking for as far certifications or experience?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[TygerDawg]

You need a few walks in the woods to help you discern what you want out of a career.

• There are plenty, and will be plenty, of "robot programmer" jobs that only require the basic skills you would get from a 2-year program of study.  Generally these will be jobs on the shop floor (noisy dirty dangerous gritty, occasionally very interesting & fun), relatively low paid (IMHO, for the skill set and responsibility of capital equipment $$$ damage potential). Itenerant road-warrior programmers can make a lot of money.  But will you really want to be crawling around machines when you're 55 years old?
• A BS in EE or ME will require more time, more money.  But open up more opportunities and alternative career paths.
• A BS in Industrial Engineering is the wrong path for robotics technology (again, IMHO).  The course of study doesn't really include the nuts & bolts topics of robotics technology.

A "robot programmer" or "automation technician" is not the same as a "robot engineer", even though chowderhead MBA Manager-types think they are one and the same.  Completing the 2-year program may be part of the path to (and provide funding for) ultimately getting the 4-year engineering degree.  I suggest you spend a lot of time digging around the various job websites to get a feel for what the market is requiring "robot guys" to do, and how much they get paid to do it.

[Spartan]

Itenerant road-warrior programmers can make a lot of money. 

Yeah I am very suprised at the starting salaries for programmers with 5-7 years experience, especially since most companies don't require 4 year degrees...

I am just confused when I read job experience/education requirements and I see these these coupled together:

(a)  Extensive experience with FANUC/Motoman Robots
(b)  C++ Visual Basic
(C) Tooling and Mill


many employers here in Michigan are targeting these specific skills

Its leaving me a little confused as to what exactly my job title is lol


Thanks for the help!

[SkyeFire]

My personal suspicion is that the "high end" of robot programming is going to move progressively away from "hands-on" programming, which is essentially a blue-collar skill, and towards computers and simulation-based programming.  There will also be increasing emphasis on using robots like CNC tools.

A good grounding in computer programming will be good, even though industrial robots don't (yet) use any of the "regular" computer programming languages.  Concentrate less on a particular language than on good standard practices and general software-writing skills.

Get some good maths background, particularly in linear algebra, and vector-space mathematics (check out the Robot Math sub-forum here on the site).  Being able to do the math easily is less important than understanding how it works, and why.

An EE degree is great, but might be a bit overkill.  You definitely want to understand wiring, troubleshooting, and servo control theory, just to name a few.  Taking at least the first year or two of electronics will help you out a lot when you're trying to debug a robot interface down the line.

And some degree of experience with CNC machines won't hurt, especially if (as I suspect) we see a greater push towards using robots as CNC replacements for low-precision applications.

Some basic AutoCAD, especially with a CAD/CAM slant, will be good.  And if you find a course on using robotic Simulation software, like Delmia or RobCad or Process Simulate, grab it -- it could be the doorway to an upward career track later on.