What do you do if you're a control engineer facing intense pressure?

Usually better to take a deep breath. Don’t forget the other guys doesn’t know about PLC programming also even some basic knowledge about 1 and 0. Say to them “we’re working on it”.

1. Prioritize tasks: Focus on critical tasks and delegate or defer less important ones. 2. Take breaks: Regular short breaks can help clear your mind and reduce fatigue. 3. Communicate with your team: Share concerns and collaborate to find solutions. 4. Use problem-solving techniques: Apply tools like root cause analysis or Six Sigma to tackle complex issues. 5. Leverage automation: Implement automated solutions to reduce workload and minimize error. Remember, managing pressure is crucial to maintaining performance and well-being. By implementing these strategies, you can navigate intense situations and excel as a control engineer.

Being calm in a room full of nervous stress men and customers while you're loading the hell out of their product is key. You also need to do this for your team, to get the best out them at this time. Trying to fault find quickly in a room full of headless chickens doesn't work. Keep yourself calm and your team calm and deal with it.

Don’t use such as technical jargons whichever they’re not gonna understand. So if it’s done keep it short done because of that or delayed because of that. Make it simple and easier.

It's easy to get caught up in the details, while it's often the fundamentals that have let you down. I once was asked to step in and help, and found a guy running around ripping open cabinets, scrolling through lines of code, jamming a DVM into test ports - all in a state of mad panic. I told him to sit down and clam down and had a quick look round. Suddenly everything started working as expected. He sat in front of the terminal is shock for a few seconds, and then looked at me and asked "What did you do?". I replied "I turned on the pilot port pressure". The big red lever that was obviously in the off position when you looked at the basics.

In my opinion, challenges and the mistakes that happen along the way are excellent opportunities for personal development. Having experienced a situation before, I am better equipped to handle it and can successfully overcome it. We are all human and make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them and to benefit from this knowledge in the next challenge.

I've found that you rarely learn from a success, but you can always learn from a failure. See failure as an opportunity to learn and it doesn’t then seem so scary.