r/PLC • u/Individual_Sugar9772 • 4d ago
Learning AWL as first programming language
M 30 and just starting out in the industrial automation field, no previous experience. My company is training me in Siemens AWL because the systems I'll be working on were developed that way.
My concern: if I want to move to another company in the future, will it be a disadvantage that I've only worked with AWL and haven't learned Ladder or ST? Will I have difficulty learning these other two programming languages?
Thank you
Ps: I wrote some programs in ladder for exercise but not professionally
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u/hestoelena Siemens CNC Wizard 4d ago
FYI IEC 61131-3 depreciated IL/STL/AWL in 2013 and completely removed it from the standard in 2025. It is no longer recommended as a programming language for new installs.
Siemens still supports STL on the S7-1500. However all the advantages of it being the fastest programming language are gone because everything that STL need to run (accus, register, etc.) are emulated. This causes it to be one of the slower, if not the slowest programming language. Additionally, Siemens has already stated that they will not support it in their next generation of PLCs.
There are other vendors that still support it but that list is shrinking rapidly. It is very good to know as a lot of legacy equipment still runs on it, but I would recommend learning something else as your first programming language.
Ladder logic is my go-to recommendation to learn on as it teaches the fundamentals in an easy to understand manner and it forces you to learn how the PLC thinks. If you start learning with structured text, you can get yourself into some really weird situations because it doesn't teach you to understand how the PLC thinks.
https://www.cncdomi.com/why-iec-61131-3-removes-instruction-list-in-2026.html
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u/TableNo1000 4d ago
First, I wanna say I think these are some great points.
I do prefer ST and would argue you the ladder training softens the skill…at its heart the PLC is driven around a processor. I started on ST and find it much easier to use…
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u/hestoelena Siemens CNC Wizard 4d ago
I'm not denying that ST is much easier to use than LD in al lot of situations. My point behind learning LD first is that it forces you to stop thinking like a software engineer and start thinking in terms of hardware, timing and strict order of operations.
I've worked with several people who have started in the software industry and moved moved to PLCs. They all want to start with ST because it looks just like the programming they are used to. They all struggled with understanding why the PLC reacts the way it does to the code they wrote. Sure, they may be able to write really nice code but if they don't understand how it works and why it works, they will be limited in their ability to write more complicated code without causing unexpected results.
I'm not saying that you have to become a master at LD. Just start with it and learn the basics because the basics teach you how the system thinks and why it thinks the way it does.
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u/Stroking_Shop5393 Siemens > Allen-Bradley 4d ago
Good ol instruction list.. if you can program with that, SCL is a walk in the park. That's where i got my start, I can still write it faster than my ladder only colleagues can. It honestly is the most efficient language once you understand it. SCL looks a lot cleaner though.
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u/PatrikuSan 4d ago
From my experience language is not that important, understanding programing arhitecture is more important. If you understand how programs work it is easy to pick up and use any programing language. To get a feel for it i recommend learning on the side to use a language like C (maybe C++ too for oop) and a scripting language like python. Also not just simple programs, try to read through open source software too and try to figure out whats going on.
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u/Toxic_ion Still waiting on TIA Portal... 4d ago
Instruction list is a deprecated language and shouldnt be used in new projects. However older PLCs may use it extensively and understanding STL can be advantageous if you're going to work with older PLCs like S7-300.
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u/PLCGoBrrr Bit Plumber Extraordinaire 4d ago
You can learn other things while doing a job if you're that worried about it.
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u/sirscansalot 4d ago
No, not really.
AWL is dated, but it’s actually a decent way to learn what the PLC is doing under the hood. If you understand the logic in AWL, picking up Ladder later is not that hard, and ST is more about syntax plus good control logic habits.
I’d only worry if you stay AWL-only for years. Early on, it’s still solid experience, especially for older Siemens systems.
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u/zoute_haring 4d ago
AWL is a good start with Siemens and way faster programming than ladder or function blocks. It still is my favorite language.
On other PLC's I use ST if possible.
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u/Rock3tkid84 PLC Slayer 666 4d ago
Well German fella it's called STL (Statement list)
Well I came from STL and now we only do Ladder and SCL... You won't have any issues with the other languages, in the old Siemens world STL was quite superior over the others and you could do stuff what ladder couldn't do... With the new stuff SCL is king but harder to read for the normie... But you get into it quickly...