PLC Fundamentals (Level I)

Full disclosure is I'm only 3 years out of school (US), so my experience is still very limited. It really depends on what kind of work your company does. So far with mine, I have done a lot of ladder logic programming and HMI programming, nothing that I would consider complex. Other shops may have you working with automation in regards to trending and gathering information from databases with SQL.

I'd recommend finding something on Udemy and watching PLC youtube videos. A quick search showed me this class which looks like a great start to PLC/HMI.

I would imagine perhaps you're talking about this course?

https://www.udemy.com/course/plc-programming-from-scratch/

In this case it looks like you learned how to use a MicroLogix controller using RSLogix 500. In order for us to point you in the right direction, we need to know what type of PLC your employer is using.

Are you able to find out?

https://www.udemy.com/course/plc-programming-from-scratch/

I bought it on sale for $14 and I don't think it's worth $100 unless you're really interested in PLC and want to start programming. It's a little dry but teaches a lot, quickly

PLC Programming from Scratch on Udemy is pretty great to get your feet wet with ladder logic/PLCs. Since most college students don’t have a lot of PLC experience, the certificates can really help you stand apart.

website

Here you go.

One of the favorites around here:

https://www.udemy.com/course/plc-programming-from-scratch/

Also, an important part of being a PLC technician is reading the manual, or RTFM. I suggest you check out the FAQ on the sidebar.

I done this course:

https://www.udemy.com/course/plc-programming-from-scratch/learn/lecture/726904#overview

Part 1, 2 and 3. Comes with all of the Allen Bradley/Rockwell software. I thought it was a great course and teaches everything. One thing to note is that the teaching is for Allen Bradley PLC's which are used predominantly in the USA but rarely in Europe. Siemens PLC's are more common in Europe and are a bit different but the ladder logic is essentially the same.

Need help to start learning Embedded Systems.

I want to study and build my career in Embedded systems. I have done some really cool projects with Arduino and Raspberry Pi, but I want to dig deeper and study the Embedded System in detail.

I researched a lot and made a list of topics that one can follow to master Embedded systems (not in order) and also linked some courses from Udemy. The list below has some unnecessary courses (for ES), and it is possible that it doesn't have important ones. That's why it needs to be modified by experts.

I will be thankful to the community if they help me to find out where should I start and what order I should follow to improve my ES skills. This will help all the students who want to start their career in Embedded Systems.

1. Embedded C. Course Link
2. PCB Design.
3. Operating System.
4. Computer Architecture and Organization.
5. ASICs and FPGA.
6. Verilog/VHDL programming.
7. Embedded Linux. Course Link
8. ARM Cortex M Microcontroller DMA Programming Demystified. Course Link
9. Microcontroller with Embedded Driver Development. Course Link
10. Embedded Systems Programming on ARM Cortex-M3/M4 Processor. Course Link
11. PLC Programming. Course Link
12. Embedded Systems Bare-Metal Programming (STM32). Course Link
13. Mastering RTOS: Hands-on FreeRTOS and STM32Fx with Debugging. Course Link

Man, you're in for a fun career change! Congratulations. I don't know how much freedom you'll have at the automation gig but it can be a really cool job. I've been doing controls now for 3 years and I love it. I get to program the PLCs and HMIs at my work and add new features for the production staff, fix their machines when they break, it can be really fulfilling if you have some leeway.

Don't be too intimidated by PLC work, take it in chunks. Contactors and relays are really simple, just take them piece by piece, it's all signal path! You either have voltage or you don't! Where ever the voltage stops? That's probably the problem.

I personally did Paul Lynns PLC 1 course on udemy for like $15CAD, even though it only deals with the older Studio 500 program was a great starter course to do in a few hours just to get used to ladder, if that's the primary language you'll be working in. I went straight from the program to Mitsubishi FX series CPUs and had no problem applying what I had learned between the two.

https://www.udemy.com/course/plc-programming-from-scratch/

Murphy's law, it's $25 now, I swear it's been on sale for YEARS at the $14-15 mark. Hah, always thought that was just a ploy to get people to buy it. Anyway, still worth $25 if you've got a Windows laptop you can practice on.

For instrumentation, you can first read this. For programming, you can either download this, play around with it and Google when you stumble or you can buy this and follow along the series.

Honestly, PLC programming in itself is not the hard part. IMO, it's figuring out how the process interacts with the laws of physics. Maybe it's just because I suck at physics, though. I studied directly in that field and the classes that helped the most all had to do with principles of physics, how heat works, forces and motion and fluid dynamics and all that. So out of everything I have linked you I'd tackle the first link first. It's massive but it's a small Bible of knowledge.

Well it depends what is the brands that dominates your region. for example in my country the most trusted and well known is SIEMENS after that comes Schneider electric. so the wise choice (for me) is to learn the concepts using TIA Portal (SIEMENS) and SoMachine (Shneider electric). the basic concepts are the same in all PLC brands (IEC 61131 standard) but there is many differences between different vendors. The most trusted brand in North America is Allen Bradley. So the recommended courses

Start with: https://www.udemy.com/course/from-wire-to-plc-a-to-z-compilation/

Then For SIEMENS Eco system: https://www.udemy.com/course/learn-siemens-s7-1200-plc-from-scratch-using-tia/

https://www.udemy.com/course/learn-siemens-s7-1200-plc-and-hmi-via-tia-portal-advanced/

Or Rockwell automation ecosystem https://www.udemy.com/course/plc-programming-from-scratch/

Don't pay too much wait until udemy discount is applied (You will pay only $10~$11)

You could also learn Automation direct products automationdirect.com They are an online automation product store but they provide free software for their products and video tutorial so you could learn a lot

another free and excellent resource is YouTube

use the channels mentioned in the Community pinned post

https://www.reddit.com/r/PLC/comments/ehu2u3/read_first_how_to_learn_plcs_and_get_into_the/

The next level is the SCADA and HMI. just get into PLC programming and contact me or write on r\PLC and you will get a lot of help