Automation Engineer Skills Checklist — What Recruiters Want in 2026
Assess your skills and readiness for the automation and robotics job market.
Where are you in your career?
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Student / graduate with no experience
Junior (up to 2 years)
Mid (2–5 years)
Senior (5+ years)
Career changer
Which direction interests you?
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PLC programmer
Maintenance automation technician
Robotics / robot programmer
Commissioning engineer
SCADA/HMI
Not sure yet
PLC programming: basics (LAD / FBD)
NO/NC contacts, coils, latching
SET / RESET instructions
Edge detection (R_TRIG / F_TRIG)
FBD logic gates
Timers (TP / TON / TOF / TONR)
Counters (CTU / CTD / CTUD)
Comparators, IN_RANGE / OUT_RANGE
Math functions (ADD, CALCULATE, MIN/MAX/LIMIT)
Word and byte operations
GRAPH / SFC (sequence programming)
SCL / Structured Text programming
Variable declaration, symbolic and absolute addressing
IF / ELSIF / ELSE
CASE ... OF
WHILE / REPEAT / FOR loops
String operations
Indirect addressing and pointers
Program structure and data types
OB / FB / FC / DB blocks
Structured and modular programming
Complex data types (arrays, structs, UDT)
PID / PI control
Recipes and production data
TIA Portal environment and hardware
TIA Portal installation and licensing
S7-1200 hardware configuration
S7-1500 hardware configuration
Classic STEP 7 (S7-300 / S7-400)
Analog inputs and outputs
PLCSIM / PLCSIM Advanced simulation
HMI / SCADA
PLC - HMI connection setup
TP / KTP / Comfort panels
Screens, graphic objects, styles
Numeric fields, scaling, multiplexing
Buttons, switches, events
Alarm programming and acknowledgement
WinCC Advanced (SCADA)
WinCC Unified
Communication and industrial networks
PROFINET IO configuration
PROFINET diagnostics (Proneta, Webserver, HMI)
PROFIBUS
S7 Communication (PUT / GET)
Modbus TCP (Master / Client)
Modbus TCP (Server)
Modbus RTU (RS485)
OPC UA (server / client, certificates)
TCP / UDP communication (TSEND / TRCV)
MQTT
RS-232 (serial)
IO-Link
EtherCAT
XML / JSON data exchange
Drives and Motion Control
VFD parameterization (e.g. Lenze i550)
SINAMICS (V90 / G120)
PROFIdrive (RT / IRT mode)
Motion Control / servo drives
Safety (functional safety)
F-PLC / Safety Administration configuration
F-DI / F-DO programming (1oo2 evaluation)
E-Stop function (start / restart)
Door guarding and access interlocks
Light curtains / muting
PROFIsafe
ISO 13849 standards / PL categories
Data, IIoT and Python
Logging data to SQL database
Data archiving to CSV
Python (scripts, testing over OPC UA)
Node-RED
Grafana / InfluxDB (dashboards)
Remote machine access (VPN)
Tools and other
EPLAN / reading electrical schematics
Factory IO (process simulation)
CODESYS
Wireshark (network diagnostics)
Git / GitHub (code versioning)
Robot programming (KUKA / FANUC / ABB)
Professional competencies
Machine commissioning
Diagnostics and maintenance
Technical English (min. B2)
German language
Willingness to travel / site work
How many job offers did you apply to in the last month?
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What is your biggest barrier to landing an automation job?
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