Instrumentation engineer is a technical expert who is proficient in designing, building, testing and repairing electronic and mechanical components that are required for carrying out various processes in an industry.
This professional works in a variety of industries including aerospace and automotive engineering companies, medical technology institutes, chemical plants and consumer electronics manufacturering campanies.
In order to perform instrumentation engineer responsibilities with efficiency, a candidate needs to have updated technical knowledge which is required to build a new equipment and modify the existing one.
Along with designing and building new equipment, this engineer needs to ensure that the equipment is effective, easy and safe to use. In addition, he/she is often involved in developing and testing prototypes and creating technical manuals.
Once an instrumentation engineer develops an idea in his.her mind and draws the basic schematics, he/she transfers the concept into the computer simulator to work in detail.
While proceeding further in this task, he/she may team up with technicians as well as other engineers to create user- friendly and efficient technology.
Instrumentation engineers have to spend several hours in researching the modern technologies and develop new methods to upgrade them. For instance, a team of instrumentation engineers working in chemical plants may be asked to upgrade an existing operational system.
In this case, their first task would be to study and find out the drawbacks of the system; this may be due to difference in old analog gauges. They would then design schematics for replacing gauges that have digital displays in addition to efficiency in programming.
These specialists can use the software programs to create the perfect physical dimensions and internal functioning of electrical circuits. They supervise technicians to develop and analyze prototypes.
After a design passes the physical test successfully, these engineers prepare a formal technical document to submit to the company for managerial approval.
Work activities of these engineers are significant, since they assist a company in operating various functions optimally in short as well as long terms. Their duties are vast and not limited to building or/and modification of the following:
Responsibilities of an instrumentation engineer are not limited to the following:
Candidates with a bachelor's degree in engineering, engineering technology, or scientific discipline with work experience of more than two years and knowledge of instrumentation engineering is eligible for the post of an instrumentation engineer. This combination knowledge can be gained by education and work experience in the same field. Although the exact discipline varies as per the industry in which the candidate has planned to work in, most instrumentation engineers possess a graduate mechanical, electrical or computer engineering degree. Usually, most employers expect the applicant to have a graduate level degree, but few may want to hire a candidate with an advanced degree.
An instrumentation engineer needs to have certain skills and knowledge to carry out their routine task efficiently"
Performing all the instrumentation engineer responsibilities with efficiency, experience, finger dexterity, knack for solving complicated issues, time management is essential.