As many of you already know, a top organization in the world of automation is the International Society of Automation (ISA). It has grown out of a U.S. organization formerly known as the Instrument Society of America founded in 1945. For those who may not be familiar yet with ISA, their mission is:
Enable our members, including world-wide subject matter experts, automation suppliers, and end-users, to work together to develop and deliver the highest quality, unbiased automation information, including standards, training, publications, and certifications.
Some of the ways they add value for our profession include standards, certifications, education and training, publishing, and conferences and exhibits. They also have a great blog, the ISA Interchange, and many other social channels with which to connect with other automation professionals.
I’ve been a member going back to when I was a systems engineer in the offshore oil & gas business in the 1980s. The ISA team asked me to share my experiences in their “Meet our Members” series. In this question and answer post, Meet our Members: Jim Cahill, they ask me how the ISA has help support my career. I noted:
ISA has helped in my education in process control and instrumentation through their conferences, books, and people I’ve met along the way. Some of the best parts are the marketing and sales folks I’ve met through the ISA Marketing and Sales Summit—not only the event organizers but many of the attendees. I’ve tried to give back by volunteering on that committee and working with people like Greg McMillan to help him with his ISA webinars and other events.
When asked about social media in the automation industry:
I think the nature of the difficult, dangerous, and highly regulated processes that must be safely and tightly controlled make our industry more conservative than most. This extends to many areas, such as the adoption of new technologies and communications methods. I think the industry has come a long way in the eight years since we launched the blog. I see broad global adoption and tremendous peer-to-peer knowledge sharing going on in many communities. The job of automation and instrumentation professionals is extremely difficult and the social networks provide a way to extend the circle of fellow experts to help solve the tough challenges before them.
Check out answers to some of the other questions such as staying up to date, popular social platforms for automation professionals and advice for young automation professionals. If you’re an ISA member, what would you add?
