Computer Science Grad to SCADA Programmer

Published on April 29, 2025

I want to share a bit of my background — how I went from earning a degree in Computer Science to becoming a SCADA programmer in the world of industrial automation. My goal is also to shine a light on career paths for developers that go beyond the mainstream tech industry — paths that don’t involve building mobile apps or social platforms, but are just as impactful and full of opportunity.

I’m from a small town in West Texas, right in the heart of the oil patch. Born and raised here, I wasn’t exposed to Silicon Valley-style tech jobs growing up. In my senior year of high school, I signed up for a computer science class without really knowing what it was. We learned Java, and I still remember how exciting it was to print “Hello, World” to the screen for the first time — a moment that sparks many programming careers.

After high school, I attended a junior college and eventually completed my bachelor's degree in Computer Science at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Throughout my courses, professors often talked about the bright future for programmers and the countless jobs waiting in the field. And they were right — the demand has only grown. But there was one problem: in my part of Texas, there weren’t many openings for software developers.

I applied for several IT support roles, knowing I’d have to pick up a lot of new skills fast. After several months without landing a development job, I accepted a position with a local electrical contractor where my father-in-law worked as a PLC programmer. My previous job had been at a parts store — an hour-long drive each way — so I was ready for something new.

On my first day, they enrolled me in a PLC programming class. I learned the basics of ladder logic — which was quite a shift after working with high-level languages. Although I didn’t get to program any PLCs myself in that role, I learned a lot about automation and control systems. That knowledge helped me land a position with my next company, where I became one of only three automation techs at a 5,000+ employee organization.

It was the early days of automation at the company, and the person who hired me saw the potential for how SCADA could transform operations. As we grew, the need to monitor, control, and collect data from our equipment became critical. That’s when our director of application development started evaluating SCADA solutions. After considering several options, we chose Ignition — and we’ve never looked back.

In 2018, we enrolled in on-site training to dive deep into the Ignition platform. I had researched other SCADA solutions and found Ignition to be extremely developer-friendly. With its powerful scripting environment and fast development cycles, it felt like having power tools in my programming toolkit.

Many developers dream of working at Google or Microsoft or launching the next big mobile app. But the truth is, the skills of a software developer are highly valuable in industrial automation. In fact, this field needs people who understand modern software practices and can bridge the gap between IT and OT.

I hope this post helps open your mind to the possibilities beyond the mainstream. There’s long-term, meaningful work to be done in industries like oil & gas, water infrastructure, and manufacturing — work that combines real-world impact with cutting-edge technology.

I’ll be posting more about how programmers familiar with Python, Java, Node.js, and other tools can transition into the world of industrial automation. If that sounds like you, stay tuned.

Until next time, continue coding.