Meet Brent Erlauer, SCADA Technician
Brent joined the Energenecs team in the summer, taking on the role of SCADA Technician. In this capacity, he is involved in designing and implementing control and communication systems. His responsibilities include overseeing SCADA system equipment, managing components and assets, addressing SCADA network communication issues, and consistently maintaining, analyzing, and enhancing network system performance. We asked Brent about his professional background and his current duties in the role.
Where did you work before Energenecs?
I was living in Colorado, working for a company called Munro. They are a pump and pump station manufacturer, mostly for irrigation. I was programming the pump stations there.
How did you get to Wisconsin from Colorado?
Well I grew up in Cedarburg and then was living in Milwaukee after college, but four years ago my wife and I moved out to the western slope of Colorado. We love the outdoors and the mountains so we took advantage of our childless freedom and moved to a small farming town called Palisade, which is known for its peach orchards and vineyards. We absolutely loved it out there but now we’re planning on starting a family, so this past summer we bought our first home and moved back so we could be closer to family.
So how did you get into your field of work?
It’s been a bit of a journey. I started off as a mechanical engineer working for manufacturing companies. My first job in the industry was an internship at Master Lock. I was working in testing and reliability. One of the guys there designed and built an automated lock life cycle testing machine that would automatically lock and unlock padlocks in order to test their longevity. I thought it was really cool and thought that I would like to have a job like that. Unfortunately, automation and controls is really more electrical engineering, so I had to slowly steer my career in this direction through my last few jobs.Did you go into technical school for that?
I went to UW Lacrosse and got my physics degree there. Then I transferred to UW Milwaukee and got my mechanical engineering degree. Now I’ve kind of pivoted to becoming more of an electrical engineer. It wasn’t the most direct route, but now I’ve got a pretty wide breadth of knowledge and skills, which is nice.
What is a typical day as a SCADA tech?
It varies depending on what’s going on. Some days I’m writing or tweeking programs, some days I’m testing control panels in the shop or starting them up in the field, and some days I’ll get a random service call where I’ll have to go fix or replace something in the field. I like the variety.
Are you typically onsite or mainly in the office?
It’s mostly in the office or working from home, but I go out to job sites a handful of days a month. It’s nice to get out and see parts of the state that I’ve never been to before and to talk to clients and contractors at the jobsite.
What do you enjoy about your job?
I like it when you take a heap of separate parts, put them together in a very specific way, add some electrical magic, and it comes to life and works exactly how you want it to. It’s very satisfying. I also enjoy the fact that the work we do, helping provide clean water and treating wastewater, is essential for modern society to function. We wouldn’t be able to enjoy our comfort, convenience, and health if it wasn’t for systems like ours. It’s nice working for a company that has a net positive effect on society.
Do you mainly work on your own or do you work with a team?
I’d say both. We work as a team by fulfilling our different roles to achieve a common goal, but a lot of it is individual work. So we get together to make sure we’re on the same page, but a lot of the programming and testing I’m just doing by myself. When I’m at job sites I’ll often have one of our service technicians with me and sometimes the project manager stops by. A lot of times there’ll be contractors and electricians there helping install the systems. And then of course our clients or folks that maintain the systems for the local municipality. So it’s always a collaborative effort.
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
My wife and I are big into the outdoors, we like hiking, camping and hunting. And I’m pretty big into sports and movies. But we bought our first house when we moved back, so lately, fixing it up has taken up most of our free time.
Do you have any favorite hiking spots that you’d like to go to?
Nearby, I like the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Bayside. Devils Lake is one of our favorites and we’ve backpacked a lot on the Ice Age Trail.
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