An engineering degree in electrical, mechanical, robotics, mechatronics, etc. will help get you in the door for the title "Controls Engineer", since you need to know the both hardware and software usually. Having good experience and a portfolio can replace the degree. There are plenty of courses online and in-person that get you into this field pretty quickly, it's relatively easy to learn, but difficult to master due to the diverse applications, platforms, and industries. There are a lot of industrial automation integrators that will take anyone, train them up, and contract them out in exchange for low wages, long work hours, but you get the skills and can then gtfo.
There are also industrial robot programmers who come straight out of high school, get some quick training and go to automotive integrators who contract them out to large automotive companies. This usually requires less engineering knowledge because the industrial robot platforms are relatively easy to learn and what you're doing most of the time is teaching the robot where to go to meet cycle times which is tedious, you use a "pendant" not a laptop usually, but that's changing with all the offline programming software, but reality never matches the simulation.
There reason most people don't like this field is you have to be in the "field", sometimes that's a loud ass, highly dangerous, manufacturing floor, outside in the searing heat or frigid cold, working with people that are.....uh...not the brightest, and work under constant pressure since "controls" is usually the last to get all the specs and the time you get to finish got shortened due to late deliverables from mechanical and electrical. It's not a job you can really do remotely. You can program remotely, but at some point your going to test you code on the machine and you're responsible for not breaking anything or killing anyone.
If you work at start ups that are in the a manufacturing, processing, or general heavy industry, think SpaceX, Relativity, Rivian, etc. they use structured text (STL) which is like Pascal and usually use Beckhoff's TwinCAT platform which is a modern platform relative to Siemens and Rockwell platforms, but due to their start up nature they usually have a mix of platforms.
I've been working in this field for quite awhile and the systems can be complex and challenging. The software you write controls equipment that can cause massive damage and even death. This leads to very conservative programming languages and frameworks.
Beckhoff's TwinCAT platform lends itself to git pretty well, there are XML stuff on most files, but it's mostly readable as long as you use STL (Structured Text) which is their recommended language.
Siemens's TIA Portal you can export the source code to make it readable in git as long as you code in SCL (structured control language, which is really structured text), but it's not automatic and a lot of times the binary blob that is the source code and the exported readable code get out of sync cuz of lack of discipline by the programmer.
Rockwell's Studio 5000 can be readable if you use STL (structured text), may be this has changed though, I haven't used it in a long time.
Programming experiences in the industrial controls world is highly dependent on the brand/platform, the IEC 61131-3 describes the standards for industrial controls programming languages, but each brand implements them in a different way so there really is no standard. Writing structured text in one platform does not guarantee the same code will work in a different platform.
Also, those numbers would be way more if they actually reported all the injuries and/or caught them all. Employees definitely hide their injuries cuz they want to keep their job.
If you guys only knew about the “near-misses” as well, they are wild.
As some who worked there for 4.5 years, this is an accurate description of the work culture at SpaceX. You sacrifice safety for speed. As a young person it’s an opportunity to take on a lot responsibilities, but at that point in your life you don’t have the fortitude to tell Elon, who does push the agenda directly to personnel, to say you do not deem this task safe/smart/responsible.
Gwynn is a sly leader that tries to balance out Elon and non-Elon agendas, but will capitulate to Elon on a regular basis. You definitely do get fired for delaying any Elon focused project, regardless of the reason, if you’re annoying enough or easily replaceable. If you want to go toe to toe with Elon you better be the most productive person, with a good track record, have a rare skill set or knowledge, and be willing to risk your career.
There are also industrial robot programmers who come straight out of high school, get some quick training and go to automotive integrators who contract them out to large automotive companies. This usually requires less engineering knowledge because the industrial robot platforms are relatively easy to learn and what you're doing most of the time is teaching the robot where to go to meet cycle times which is tedious, you use a "pendant" not a laptop usually, but that's changing with all the offline programming software, but reality never matches the simulation.
There reason most people don't like this field is you have to be in the "field", sometimes that's a loud ass, highly dangerous, manufacturing floor, outside in the searing heat or frigid cold, working with people that are.....uh...not the brightest, and work under constant pressure since "controls" is usually the last to get all the specs and the time you get to finish got shortened due to late deliverables from mechanical and electrical. It's not a job you can really do remotely. You can program remotely, but at some point your going to test you code on the machine and you're responsible for not breaking anything or killing anyone.