I was 15 years in IT, web dev, scripting and automation.
Currently working residential HVAC (which i hate)
I want to break into the BAS/BMS industry.
How do i start? What should i do to break in? Should i buy a PLC device? Make my own setups? If so, what are some good devices and configurations?
Any help or guidance would be appreciated
Hello!
My name is Charles. I’m a moderator here. I’m also a certified Niagara Instructed and certified Niagara Developer. I work for a building automation vendor as their lead trainer and technical engineer. I’ve been in the controls industry for 31 years. Here’s my advice:
The fact you already have HVAC knowledge is great! The fact you also have computer skills is also fabulous! In the controls industry, we have to wear multiple hats at the same time. We have to wear the mechanical hat because we need to understand how our controls work and how the equipment we are controlling works. We need to understand the electrical side to make sure we don’t let the smoke out of our controllers, and yourself. The third side now that’s become extremely important is networking. We need to know how to connect our product to the web and such.
You don’t need to buy any controls yet from ebay and such. The reason being is that it may not be a product you work with. There are a variety of products that are great. However, the company is the most important part.
It may be hard to find your home in the controls industry. It’s not uncommon for a controls technician, programmer, etc, to have worked for 5-6 companies (or more). It’ll have to be a values kind of thing. Find a company whose values align with yours and that will usually make a good fit.
That’s a dropbox link to come Controls Books. One is the Gray Book as it’s known in the industry. The Controls Gospel if you will. Another is one my friend wrote and it’s fabulous. I will put more books in there and probably create a category for Controls Books that I’ve acquired over the years.
There are plenty of controls companies out there. Another point of contention might be salary. Some companies don’t pay well to start out, but I think with your knowledge and already working in residential, you should be able to make up the difference fairly quickly.
In addition, Once you find a company you like, see if they have some extra controllers that couldn’t be RMA’d and such. So maybe they have bad inputs or outputs, but they can still be programmed and such.
The reason why I’d hold off on buy them outright is you may start out with a company that does Niagara, and then you go work for an Automated Logic Dealer and then never touch Niagara again.
Welcome auto-dude. Think we might have bumped up against each other the other day on the r/buildingautomation subreddit?
I think your 15years in IT and Resi HVAC will definitely help you here (I’ll leave actual job advice to those already in the industry). Your experience with networks and general computer knowledge is definitely helpful, as even though a lot of controls run on their own network, sooner or later they have to play inside LANs and WANs,
I’m a newbie also, so…here’s my thoughts. PLCs are mostly industrial automation, not BAS, so I don’t think they’ll do much for you in this industry. I think there may be one or two dedicated DDC devices that run the ladder logic that PLC’s use. Mostly DDC uses one of a couple of block programming like Niagara4 or DistechGFX.
If you’re interested, I can probably help you set up Distech GFX, as I believe it is free (Someone set me up for free, anyway). We could certainly play together on that platform. Tons of videos out there (YouTube, podcasts, etc., I can probably point the way to some). One guy in here is a trainer for Lynxspring and really knows his stuff (@Charles_Johnson). @Giantsbane and @Rosenthaler are huge helps in understanding the intricacies of actually putting this stuff to work in the real world!
Like I say, I’m pretty new also, but looking for answers can only help both of us!
Cheers
I forgot about the Honeywell Grey book. Now I know what I’m going to read next. Thanks Charles!!
Thanks for your great post!
i agree! One of my concerns was spending alot of money on a setup that i wouldnt have used otherwise, being that each company could use different hardwares and configuraitons. This was a concern for me. I have heard other BAS techs (such as on podcasts) that spending money to setup your own lab is worth it. So i was a bit perplexed due to the fact that each company could have its own configuration in various ways.
For now, i am still trying to find my way on getting the knowledge i need. I’ve never been on an interview. Ive tried applying on indeed but never get any call backs. Not sure what the issue could be… so im totally at a lost here.
But thanks again for all your information… it was very helpful and thanks so much for sharing those books, I’ve downloaded them.
Im going to check out that honeywell greybook… hopefully it has information i need to get and pass an interview.
Going to send you a DM
Hey ControlFreak,
Yes! i believe you were the individual on reddit who pointed me to this website 
Thanks for clarifying! Didnt know PLC’s were not part of BAS. I did a bit of self studying and training using ladder logic (not much) from linkedin learning. I found them kind of helpful.
But yes, id love to check out Distech GFX! Would we be able to set somethign up and learn together?
Charles introduced himself to me and he is a great help!
Greatful for all your guys help!
Yeah, these guys have a depth of knowledgeable that’s kinda intimidating, but at the same time are so good about sharing and “dumbing it down” for me. I can’t think of a better resource, even for us newbies. I don’t know if you checked out the dropbox files @Charles_Johnson added, but it contains the Honeywell Grey Book (kind of an industry standard manual), and another text that I’m working through now, the F r u i t C o v e C o m m i s s i o n i n g S e r i es. It looks really good. I don’t know what area you are in (I’m in Colorado, central US). I should have most mornings available to work on stuff. Sounds like your way ahead of me in the IT field, so we could talk however you like, but we might be able to use the Discord server they’ve spun up? are you familiar with that?
hey thanks for that great info! im reading the honeywell grey book as I write this.
Im familiar with discord! whats the server and ill join!
awesome! ive joined!
Looks like on Discord you’re Machine_Learner? I think with your background in computers you will outgrow me very quickly, but if I can at least help you get started, let me know. Like I say I’m in Colorado (central USA if your abroad) and mornings 10:00 -1:00 Mountain Central Time is best for me. I’m under Lee/Igor now.
Yes thats me!
Thanks man! I want to start by reading that honeywell grey book. Hopefully it can give me alot of good insights.
Hopefullly i can help you and the community with some of my IT skills.
I’ll be honest, I have not done much but skimmed the Grey Book/Manual, but that other textbook labeled “Fruit Cove Commissioning Series” looked really good also. Seemed a bit more modern, may be more applicable to the side were looking at. imho.