Do you want to: Know more than your boss? Sleep like a baby before a start-up (less crying in the middle of the night)? Get back early from start-ups? Have vendors ask what you think works best? Become the "go-to person?" Have your CEO smile at you? Inspire your children to become automation engineers? Get knowing twinkles in your eyes like the technologist about to retire? Get asked what your key to success is? Get invited by operators to special meals in the control room kitchen? Create a worldwide recognition of the value of the automation profession? Become famous and a regular guest on late-night TV? Be remembered for all the right reasons? While this book cannot guarantee the above results, the content should provide an automation engineer with a proven pathway to career and technical success. Much of the automation field relies on experience, and many believe that experience only comes with gray, thinning hair and plenty of wrinkles. However, with this book, we invite you to fully benefit from two lifetimes of hard-earned lessons and to avoid many of the technical and career pitfalls the authors encountered along the way. With 60 years of experience in automation and control, Greg McMillan and Hunter Vegas have installed equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars and managed thousands of projects. We have seen (and sometimes made) many mistakes, and we wear the scars and gray hair as proof. Luckily for you, we're ready to share what works and what doesn't, so the next generation can learn from our experience. So... save your hair! Avoid premature aging! And most importantly, save yourself a lot of pain and suffering! We really wish we'd had a book like this when we were starting out.