Jobs without travel

[AndrewG 13]

I've been working for 6 years since graduating college, I've had 4 different jobs which all involved travel. At one job I was a field service technician which was 80% travel. At the other jobs, it was about 20% travel. Now my gf is pregnant and I'm in no position to travel much. In the automation/controls/PLC field it looks like most jobs involve travel. Any advice on how to get a job with little or no travel?

[Red Dog 0]

It all depends on what you want. If you are looking for the Big Money travel is involved. if you are looking for a stay at home controls position look into the pharisaical, or the food industry. each of these are always looking for a good controls person, and as fast as things change the job never end.

[Steve Bailey 118]

Look for a job with an end-user of automation components. Many places need automation specialists who can modify the original design to adapt to changing needs.

[Crossbow 295]

End user or even a job in manufacturer's telephone support group.  Most phone support guys work from an office or even home office.  I have had jobs which say 50% travel and it winds up being more like 20%, and I've had times where I am coming or going every single weekend.  Right now my travel is about a week a month at most.

[Joe E. 259]

I work for an end user (automotive component manufacturing) and have 0% travel.  Which is how I like it.  With a bunch of field service tech experience, you should be pretty marketable.  We would have looked seriously at you a year and a half or so when we were allowed to hire a technician.  We need another one, but aren't allowed to hire right now.

[kaiser_will 65]

Working for a machine builder or controls integrator will most likely require travel.  But you get to design and startup new machinery, and learn/apply the latest technology.

Working for a manufacturer, such as a maintenance tech/engr or project tech/engr, will likely require little or no travel.  But you get to support new and old machinery, and learn to fix latest and old technology.

[Joe E. 259]

3 hours ago, kaiser_will said:

Working for a machine builder or controls integrator will most likely require travel.  But you get to design and startup new machinery, and learn/apply the latest technology.

Working for a manufacturer, such as a maintenance tech/engr or project tech/engr, will likely require little or no travel.  But you get to support new and old machinery, and learn to fix latest and old technology.

Very good summary of my job, actually.  Our equipment runs the spectrum from no PLC at all up to the latest ControlLogix L71/L33ER and Siemens S7-300 PLCs.  In between, we have SLC100/150s, PLC-2s, PLC-5s, SLC-5/03 & 5/04s, MicroLogix 1000-1400, old gen CompactLogix (serial port only), and ControlLogix L55 back to v11 or so.  I'm thankful that our old equipment does not include any Siemens S5s.

[kaiser_will 65]

On a related note, in my opinion, working for a machine builder may require travel but the work hours are usually typical business hours (yeah, overtime when it is crunch time).

Working for a manufacturer, depending on the capability of the tech staff/quality of the equipment, yes you probably will not travel (much or not at all), but you could work a LOT of overtime.

I bring this up because you could switch jobs from an integrator to a manufacturing facility to get away from traveling (so you are home more often) and wind up working a lot of intermittent overtime (so you are not home much).

[AndrewG 13]

Thanks guys this is very helpful