The Automation School's Learning Center is open for general enrollment!
Whether you're an individual looking to upgrade your skills, or a manager who needs to train up your staff, The Automation School can help you meet your training goals with our in-person, hands-on training taught by a Certified Automation Specialist with over thirty-five years' experience.
And if you sign-up below for free course notifications, you'll also save $50 off your first in-person course!
Sign-up to get notified when the next in-person training course is scheduled:
NOTE: While everyone who registers using the above form will be notified when their selected course has been scheduled, depending on demand we may limit enrollment to the first eight students who enroll.
Why choose The Automation School?
While it is true many companies offer in-person training, you'll find that most of them focus on taking their students through years old presentations and hands-on lab books. And while we're fans of history, in 2025 students need to learn the fundamentals as well as how recent firmware and software releases will impact their work.
And as part of Insights In Automation, The Automation School is the ONLY automation training company who's instructors also interview top product experts on a regular basis, so they can stay up-to-date on what's new and coming.
In additional to having most informed teaching staff on the planet, we also have the most diverse set of hardware and optional exercises of any private company in the USA. Through our partnership with dozens of vendors on the media side of our business, we have more third party hardware available for our students to learn on than any other company.
What in-person courses are currently offered?
While The Automation School offers custom training to meet customer's needs, we also offer several basic and advanced courses which you'll find listed below:
PLC Basics™
Getting started with PLCs was never better with our new, in-person edition of our five-star rated PLC Basics™ course. As the name suggests, this course is designed for Electricians, Technicians, and Engineers™ that have basic electrical knowledge, and now want to learn how PLCs work, as well as how to program, edit, and troubleshoot them.
With the in-person edition, students can chose between courses focused on Studio 5000 with CompactLogix hardware, CCW with Micro820 hands-on, and TIA Portal Step 7 with S7-1200/1500 hands-on (click on an image below to pull up the corresponding PDF.)
Learn A New PLC/PAC In A Day™
Students who are already proficient with one line of Programmable Controllers, and who would like to expand their knowledge to another line or brand, and invited to take our Learn In a Day™ courses to get up to speed quickly with either Compact and ControlLogix, Micro800 or S7-1200 or 1500 PLCs.
NOTE: To be successful in the above “in a day” accelerated courses, students must already understand Programmable Controller Program Scans, Ladder Logic (including the most common instructions,) as well as the various Data Types and Program Flow strategies typically used.
Exclusive Bonus Offer:
On completion of an in-person course at The Automation School, all new students will be enrolled in the “perpetual online edition” of the same course at no additional charge (up to a $200 savings!). This means all you'll not only be able to continue your training online, but you'll also continue to have Q&A access to your instructor after the in-person course ends!
And for those of our existing online students who wish to attend an in-person course, we'll discount the price of your online enrollment by the cost of the online course you're already enrolled in!
To learn more about the online editions of our courses, click on one of the below images:
Learning Center details:
The Automation School's “Learning Center” is co-located with the Insights In Automation offices on the third floor of the historic Clock Tower Business Center in downtown Pittsfield, which is in the center of Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
In the below image (from left to right) you can see the entrance to the Clock Tower's second floor, then the elevator to the third floor, and finally the third floor dining area:
Local Hotels:
Due to the number of local attractions in the area, there are many hotels within minutes of our offices. One of the closet and most affordable hotels is the Holiday Inn & Suites in downtown Pittsfield. Another downtown Hotel under a mile away from out offices is the highly rated Hotel on North (Street).
Three miles south you find several more hotels including the Berkshire Mountain Lodge, Hilton Garden Inn, Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Hampton Inn & Suites, and two miles further south is the Courtyard by Marriott.
Local Attractions:
Local Pittsfield attractions include the Berkshire Museum, Colonial Theatre, Herman Melville's Arrowhead Home, and nearby Hancock Shaker Village.
For those looking for some outdoor fun, to the northwest you'll find Ramble Wild (Lanesborough) and Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort (Hancock). And for some outdoor fun, just due north is Mount Greylock Peak on the Appalachian Trail (Adams).
Jiminy Peak
North of Pittsfield you'll also find some more educational attractions, including the Birthplace of Susan B. Anthony (Adams), the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (North Adams) and The Clark Art Institute (Williamstown)
Mount Greylock
And to the South we have the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home, Tanglewood (Lenox), the touristy Town of Lee (Shops, Food, Outlets), and the one and only Norman Rockwell Museum (Stockbridge).
Norman Rockwell Museum
Need a custom in-person course?
If you need to schedule a “custom” in-person course, please reach out to us via voicemail at 413-749-4300, or schedule an online meeting dwith us using our Calendly link below:
Below is a list of topics we currently offer in our Rockwell and Siemens PLC and HMI custom courses:
