How does one find about these jobs? I think my dream job will be something obscure like this but I don’t know what to pick for university because I don’t know what obscure job it’ll be.
It depends what you want to do. System integration is sort of the broad name for people in my field. Its a software stack sort of like how networking layers work. Controls->scada->MES->janky messaging connector->SAP with other random stuff sprinkled in. The Wikipedia article has an OK introduction to it.
If your interested take a controls class that actually uses Rockwell or Siemens PLCs, not the theoretical stuff. There is also open source stuff that runs on arduino or other controllers.
Or see if you like programming. Python is used for inductive automations Ignition SCADA and visual basic/C# is AVEVAs wonder ware. Their are others out there, these are the ones I’ve used.
You can wind up in some pretty weird jobs just by putting in the right terms off your resume into job boards. When I was looking for jobs a few years ago, “bilingual supervisor” on indeed landed me a two year stint as the supervisor for the night shift in a pharmaceutical plant. I managed to get that despite not simply lacking a degree in a relevant field, but a college degree at all (working on it now), but simply because I was masochistic enough use SAP at work for 5 years and apply for another job that needed someone who could make sense of it, and I could speak Spanish.
If you have a degree, I’m sure there are more options that would open up for you, but you might only find them searching for things in pretty vague terms and seeing if anything pops up as being interesting. The downside is, you’ll probably see a lot of irrelevant stuff, but you also come across some wild stuff. After I got laid off from that job and had sent out applications from normal searching of job boards, I took a look at some less specific searches and came across some weird stuff, like a company that was hiring a production supervisor for their facility making probiotic dog yogurt.
How does one find about these jobs? I think my dream job will be something obscure like this but I don’t know what to pick for university because I don’t know what obscure job it’ll be.
It depends what you want to do. System integration is sort of the broad name for people in my field. Its a software stack sort of like how networking layers work. Controls->scada->MES->janky messaging connector->SAP with other random stuff sprinkled in. The Wikipedia article has an OK introduction to it.
If your interested take a controls class that actually uses Rockwell or Siemens PLCs, not the theoretical stuff. There is also open source stuff that runs on arduino or other controllers.
Or see if you like programming. Python is used for inductive automations Ignition SCADA and visual basic/C# is AVEVAs wonder ware. Their are others out there, these are the ones I’ve used.
You can wind up in some pretty weird jobs just by putting in the right terms off your resume into job boards. When I was looking for jobs a few years ago, “bilingual supervisor” on indeed landed me a two year stint as the supervisor for the night shift in a pharmaceutical plant. I managed to get that despite not simply lacking a degree in a relevant field, but a college degree at all (working on it now), but simply because I was masochistic enough use SAP at work for 5 years and apply for another job that needed someone who could make sense of it, and I could speak Spanish.
If you have a degree, I’m sure there are more options that would open up for you, but you might only find them searching for things in pretty vague terms and seeing if anything pops up as being interesting. The downside is, you’ll probably see a lot of irrelevant stuff, but you also come across some wild stuff. After I got laid off from that job and had sent out applications from normal searching of job boards, I took a look at some less specific searches and came across some weird stuff, like a company that was hiring a production supervisor for their facility making probiotic dog yogurt.