Siemens TIA Portal

TIA Portal is Siemens' engineering framework, and STEP 7 is the PLC programming tool that runs inside it. Siemens describes STEP 7 as the tool to configure, program, test and diagnose all SIMATIC controllers, and says TIA Portal also brings WinCC Unified for HMI screens and SINAMICS Startdrive for drives. In this course you use STEP 7 to program the S7-1200, WinCC to build the HMI screen, and S7-PLCSIM to test it, all inside TIA Portal.

Most PLCs, Siemens included, are programmed in the languages defined by the international standard IEC 61131-3. According to the IEC, the current edition, IEC 61131-3:2025, defines structured text as the textual language and ladder diagram and function block diagram as the graphical languages, with sequential function charts used to structure programs. This course starts with ladder logic, the language most beginners meet first, and builds up to reusable function blocks.

No. Siemens publishes a free 21-day trial of TIA Portal, and it is the full product for those 21 days: STEP 7 for the PLC, WinCC for the HMI screen, and S7-PLCSIM for simulation. You need a Siemens account to download it, which is also free.

It is if you install it at the right moment. The trial clock starts when the software is installed, not when you first open it, so installing on day one wastes days you have not used. Modules 1 to 3 need no software at all, so do those first, then install before module 4. That leaves the full 21 days for modules 4 to 22, which is comfortable at about an hour a day. If the trial does run out before you finish, the remaining lessons still make sense to watch and the assessments do not require the software.

No. Every exercise runs in S7-PLCSIM, the simulator included in the trial. A physical S7-1200 is useful later, but nothing in this course requires one and no exercise assumes you have one.

A 64-bit Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise machine (the current TIA Portal V21 no longer supports Windows 10 Pro; older versions such as V17 still install on Windows 10) with 8 GB of RAM, around 50 GB free on the drive, and administrator rights to install. TIA Portal does not run on macOS or Linux; people do run it in a Windows virtual machine, but give the VM plenty of memory or it will be painful.

No, and the first three modules exist for exactly that reason. They cover what a PLC is, what the scan cycle means, what 24 V DC is, and how sinking and sourcing inputs differ, before any software is opened.

Yes. Every module, every practice task and every assessment. You create an account so your progress is saved and so the assessments can be marked. The only paid item is the certificate, and only if you decide you want it.

It is an EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you pass the final assessment, and it carries a unique number anyone can verify on our site. It is not a Siemens credential and we will never describe it as one. Siemens issues its own certifications separately, and no third party can award them.

On its own, no course will. What it gives you is a program you wrote and can talk through in an interview, which is more than most freshers bring. It covers the Siemens fundamentals that appear in almost every automation job advert in India, and it is a reasonable way to find out whether the work suits you before paying for anything.

Yes. Learning costs ₹0 in India: every module, the written notes, the practice tasks and the final assessment, with no card and no trial period. The only paid item is the optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, ₹499 including GST for this beginner course, paid in rupees through Razorpay, and only if you want it after passing the final assessment.

Yes. EDWartens India runs the Automation Engineer Program (AEP), a classroom programme at its Electronic City centre in Bangalore. The Automation Engineer Program (AEP) teaches Siemens PLC programming in TIA Portal in person at our Electronic City centre, alongside the other PLC brands it covers. This free course is separate and fully online; it is a good way to try the subject before deciding on classroom training. Details are at edwartens.co.in/siemens-tia-portal-training-bangalore, and the programme itself at edwartens.co.in/courses/aep.