Online Courses and the Odyssey Projects

As the end of the month approaches I have been able to complete a few projects and make progress on a couple more.

I have finally been able to make a couple of online training courses available online. I thought I would have them up on my website first, but I am reevaluating how to present them there without duplicating content. So I put them here instead:

These are comparatively inexpensive, and if you want to learn the RSLogix 500 platform, all the basics are there. The other course is intended for management types who don’t really need to learn the programming side.

Another project I am even more excited about is my “Odyssey” project. Last week I described how I record videos and mentioned that by far the faster method was to just hit “record” and start programming. At that point I had created 3 videos on Siemens Step 7.

Since then I have created 4 more in that series while finishing a couple of industrial math videos. Here is a link to the playlist on Youtube:

If you click on the “Watch on Youtube” icon you will connect to the whole series.

There are going to be a lot of free videos in this project. I plan to start a series in Allen-Bradley RSLogix5000 next with the same general format, the idea being that if people like the series they will eventually pay a membership fee to get unlimited content.

I also move into my new facility next week and already have a student showing up for a 4 day class, and another scheduled for the end of the month. I plan to also offer training classes online live, but need to work out some of the logistics, using Webex, Zoom or whatever. Any suggestions are really appreciated.

• A quick plug for why you should take a course from me: As far as I know I am the only company offering hands on courses on how to structure and write large professional programs. Why can I do this and others can’t? Of all of the other instructors and companies offering courses, none that I know of have written hundreds of actual machine programs and started them up. I have worked in the machine building industry since 1996, owned a machine building company where I did most of the programming and startup, and also worked for a larger world class machine builder for 6 years. I know other programmers that have equivalent credentials, but they aren’t teachers, I have done training nearly full time since 2013. I know lots of instructors, but they haven’t built and started up machines they designed. So if you want to learn real advanced programming techniques and industrial program design, sign up for a class!