Is Mechatronics a good career?

[Cy-Fy]

Hey guys I'm at that point of my life where I kinda need to choose where I'm going and what I'm going to do with my life.

 

At first I was very interested in Mechanical Engineering ecause it sounded cool, and I always thought that it would allow me to build awesome stuff. However I also realised that a lot of that career is theory based and I know that I have always worked hard to do stuff that I like (like hands-on stuff: Designing and making.)

At the same time, I was taking a "Technology and Design" class at school, and I freaking love it because we get to design, plan, manufacture and actually make the product all part of the coursework. I loved that and I started to like electronics because of it (all of those projects I did involved you designing the PCB, soldering the components and writing the program flowchart on the computer). So I started looking at Electrical Engineering but I didn't like it because it didn't include any of the mechanical stuff that I like, like manufacturing and actually making useful products.

 

My main fear is that the career I choose may not be the one that makes me happiest and I would hate wasting 4 years of my life studying something at uni that I don't fully love.

 

So I talked to my friend and he introduced me to this "new" career called Mechatronics. To me that is the perfect combination of the stuff I want to do in the future (in mechatronics they also often specialize in robotics which I also find awesome). And I think that this would suit me best

 

Now the questions:

Does any of you know if Mechatronics is a good career for the future? 

 

Does it give good job prospects at the end of the university course?

 

or am I better off doing something else a bit more "mainstream"?

 

Thanks very much guys, I really hope someone can help me because I'm a bit confused on what I should do.

[AnnoyedShelf]

Hey guys I'm at that point of my life where I kinda need to choose where I'm going and what I'm going to do with my life.

 

At first I was very interested in Mechanical Engineering ecause it sounded cool, and I always thought that it would allow me to build awesome stuff. However I also realised that a lot of that career is theory based and I know that I have always worked hard to do stuff that I like (like hands-on stuff: Designing and making.)

At the same time, I was taking a "Technology and Design" class at school, and I freaking love it because we get to design, plan, manufacture and actually make the product all part of the coursework. I loved that and I started to like electronics because of it (all of those projects I did involved you designing the PCB, soldering the components and writing the program flowchart on the computer). So I started looking at Electrical Engineering but I didn't like it because it didn't include any of the mechanical stuff that I like, like manufacturing and actually making useful products.

 

My main fear is that the career I choose may not be the one that makes me happiest and I would hate wasting 4 years of my life studying something at uni that I don't fully love.

 

So I talked to my friend and he introduced me to this "new" career called Mechatronics. To me that is the perfect combination of the stuff I want to do in the future (in mechatronics they also often specialize in robotics which I also find awesome). And I think that this would suit me best

 

Now the questions:

Does any of you know if Mechatronics is a good career for the future? 

 

Does it give good job prospects at the end of the university course?

 

or am I better off doing something else a bit more "mainstream"?

 

Thanks very much guys, I really hope someone can help me because I'm a bit confused on what I should do.

I've heard that it's a great career for the future. I have a bunch of friends in mechatronics.  Be aware though, that it's highly competitive.

[Cy-Fy]

I've heard that it's a great career for the future. I have a bunch of friends in mechatronics.  Be aware though, that it's highly competitive.

Oh really? Would you mind telling me what universities they go to because I'm having a really hard time finding unis that teach mechatronics on Google heheh

[AnnoyedShelf]

Oh really? Would you mind telling me what universities they go to because I'm having a really hard time finding unis that teach mechatronics on Google heheh

What country are you located in?

[Cy-Fy]

What country are you located in?

United Kingdom

[ManOfDisguise]

Hey man, I'm 16 and have for a year now been studying Mechatronics. It's really interesting and an important and needed job as thats pretty much what everyone says. 

 

At least at the school I go to here in Slovakia 1st grade I learned the basic stuff about how to do technical drawings(or however you call it in english),how to dimension an object/part(give it dimensions like length,width,etc. etc.) I can't really describe these terms in english but first grade was more or less focused on the techincal drawings. Now I'm in 2nd grade and doing more hands on stuff. I even have a class called "Mechatronics" where I do a lot of cool stuff with Hydraulics, Pneumatics on these systems/workstations http://www.festo-didactic.com/int-en/learning-systems/equipment-sets/hydraulics/training-packages/hydraulics-training-packages-tailored-training-in-industrial-and-mobile-hydraulics.htm?fbid=aW50LmVuLjU1Ny4xNy4xOC41NTYuNzUyNg

 

then they also teach us how to use Autocad, we ocasinally learn the basics of how to use a lathe(is that the english word?), a cutter/milling machine, and some smithing/forging. I don't know what else we will de but atm we are just in the basics I can tell you more if yo uare interested about what we learn 

[Cy-Fy]

Hey man, I'm 16 and have for a year now been studying Mechatronics. It's really interesting and an important and needed job as thats pretty much what everyone says. 

 

At least at the school I go to here in Slovakia 1st grade I learned the basic stuff about how to do technical drawings(or however you call it in english),how to dimension an object/part(give it dimensions like length,width,etc. etc.) I can't really describe these terms in english but first grade was more or less focused on the techincal drawings. Now I'm in 2nd grade and doing more hands on stuff. I even have a class called "Mechatronics" where I do a lot of cool stuff with Hydraulics, Pneumatics on these systems/workstations http://www.festo-didactic.com/int-en/learning-systems/equipment-sets/hydraulics/training-packages/hydraulics-training-packages-tailored-training-in-industrial-and-mobile-hydraulics.htm?fbid=aW50LmVuLjU1Ny4xNy4xOC41NTYuNzUyNg

 

then they also teach us how to use Autocad, we ocasinally learn the basics of how to use a lathe(is that the english word?), a cutter/milling machine, and some smithing/forging. I don't know what else we will de but atm we are just in the basics I can tell you more if yo uare interested about what we learn 

Hello man, thank you very much for your reply! I am really interested in what you are studying now. It seems really interesting, I would like to know, if you don't mind, what you thin of studying this s other careers like Mechanical Engineering etc?

[ManOfDisguise]

Hello man, thank you very much for your reply! I am really interested in what you are studying now. It seems really interesting, I would like to know, if you don't mind, what you thin of studying this s other careers like Mechanical Engineering etc?

What I study a lot in Mechatronics is the different types of materials used(so something similar to metalurgy), technical norms/tolerances, different kinds of calculations like  how much stress a material/object can withstand, transverse stress, torsional stress(i don't know if these are the right terms in english), what material to use where,because Mechatronics aren't the type of Engineers who do a lot of hands on things in their work like they arent the guys who are working on the machines really, but they either program them, control them, examine them if they are functioning right, they maybe design them like which material to use, work in Autocad to make some 3d rendering of some idea or something like that. We have 2 groups of engineers in my school, the mechatronics and the other group are the ones who are the more hands on, who learn more about the machinery I guess and will probably be the ones working on the machines.

 

In Mechatronics you learn a bit of everything as the term mechatronics is a combination of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, telecommunications engineering, control engineering and computer engineering. This is also why these peopel are very valuable and needed. I heard from my principal that a lot of the srtudents who graduated from my school went on to do all kinds of interesting stuff, get paid really good, do things like design interiors of planes and all kinds of interesting stuff. 

 

I didn't really know what school to choose to go to so I chose Mechatronics and it's a really interesting thing to learn and if you are into it it will be fun too. You will learn exactly how to draw a component/part in different views, give it dimensions, draw the insdie and outside, what materials to use, how much pressure it can withstand, etc.

 

For example now in class "Mechatronics" we are learning about different sensors and how they work. We make and connect an electrical circuit so it can power the hydraulic part and for now we are doing simple stuff like making a "piston"(if thats how i can call it) move(with the use of hydraulics or pneumatics) and of course the electrical part(the brain that gives information) and the piston moves, hits a sensor and that makes it move back to its original position. You can do cool stuff like change speed of how fast the piston moves in or out or even make it manual without a sensor(press one button - piston moves out, pres another button piston moves back in)

 

 

Sorry if I can't explain these terms well if you have more questions just ask I'll try to answer them

[Cy-Fy]

What I study a lot in Mechatronics is the different types of materials used(so something similar to metalurgy), technical norms/tolerances, different kinds of calculations like  how much stress a material/object can withstand, transverse stress, torsional stress(i don't know if these are the right terms in english), what material to use where,because Mechatronics aren't the type of Engineers who do a lot of hands on things in their work like they arent the guys who are working on the machines really, but they either program them, control them, examine them if they are functioning right, they maybe design them like which material to use, work in Autocad to make some 3d rendering of some idea or something like that. We have 2 groups of engineers in my school, the mechatronics and the other group are the ones who are the more hands on, who learn more about the machinery I guess and will probably be the ones working on the machines.

 

In Mechatronics you learn a bit of everything as the term mechatronics is a combination of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, telecommunications engineering, control engineering and computer engineering. This is also why these peopel are very valuable and needed. I heard from my principal that a lot of the srtudents who graduated from my school went on to do all kinds of interesting stuff, get paid really good, do things like design interiors of planes and all kinds of interesting stuff. 

 

I didn't really know what school to choose to go to so I chose Mechatronics and it's a really interesting thing to learn and if you are into it it will be fun too. You will learn exactly how to draw a component/part in different views, give it dimensions, draw the insdie and outside, what materials to use, how much pressure it can withstand, etc.

 

For example now in class "Mechatronics" we are learning about different sensors and how they work. We make and connect an electrical circuit so it can power the hydraulic part and for now we are doing simple stuff like making a "piston"(if thats how i can call it) move(with the use of hydraulics or pneumatics) and of course the electrical part(the brain that gives information) and the piston moves, hits a sensor and that makes it move back to its original position. You can do cool stuff like change speed of how fast the piston moves in or out or even make it manual without a sensor(press one button - piston moves out, pres another button piston moves back in)

 

 

Sorry if I can't explain these terms well if you have more questions just ask I'll try to answer them

Thank you very much for all this information! I really appreciate your help and don't worry I understand perfectly what you are explaining I have one more question, how difficult do you find this type of engineering? I ask this because some people say that any engineering is really hard but I personally like maths etc... so what do you think of the difficulty of this career?

[ManOfDisguise]

Thank you very much for all this information! I really appreciate your help and don't worry I understand perfectly what you are explaining I have one more question, how difficult do you find this type of engineering? I ask this because some people say that any engineering is really hard but I personally like maths etc... so what do you think of the difficulty of this career?

I mean I've never really been super good at math(not terrible at it either) the math here is harder than the math on the "easy" schools but compared to other schools we take the same stuff in math if you are good at math then you shouldnt have a problem, I owuld only worry if you are like super terrible at math . Maybe its not the easiest career as there are a lot of calculaitons(like calculating those stresses in materials etc.) but if you are good in math and can turn around the formulas/expressions then that's really all there is. Mechanics for example where we calculate a lot of this stress and stuff is similar to physics where a lot of the time you will have to calculate stuff like "force" or how do you say it in English which is F(in Newtons) , and then more and more quantities will be introduced to you like you will have to calculate maybe torsion/twist moment or something like that. Like when we have to calculate something as in do some Excersice they draw us a picture of the component maybe give it some dimensions like diameter, length or something like that and we have to calculate all these stuff like force,twist moment,polar moment, stress(how much Megapascals it can handle), etc.

 

If you like math and are good at it then it wont be hard for you.

 

I also got told at my school before choosing this school that math in Engineering is hard but it honestly isnt something super hard at all. Unless you are just not very good at math at all and arent willing to learn you will be just fine

[AnnoyedShelf]

United Kingdom

oh can't help you there sorry...

[Cy-Fy]

I mean I've never really been super good at math(not terrible at it either) the math here is harder than the math on the "easy" schools but compared to other schools we take the same stuff in math if you are good at math then you shouldnt have a problem, I owuld only worry if you are like super terrible at math . Maybe its not the easiest career as there are a lot of calculaitons(like calculating those stresses in materials etc.) but if you are good in math and can turn around the formulas/expressions then that's really all there is. Mechanics for example where we calculate a lot of this stress and stuff is similar to physics where a lot of the time you will have to calculate stuff like "force" or how do you say it in English which is F(in Newtons) , and then more and more quantities will be introduced to you like you will have to calculate maybe torsion/twist moment or something like that. Like when we have to calculate something as in do some Excersice they draw us a picture of the component maybe give it some dimensions like diameter, length or something like that and we have to calculate all these stuff like force,twist moment,polar moment, stress(how much Megapascals it can handle), etc.

If you like math and are good at it then it wont be hard for you.

I also got told at my school before choosing this school that math in Engineering is hard but it honestly isnt something super hard at all. Unless you are just not very good at math at all and arent willing to learn you will be just fine

Thank you very much man, this is all super helpful for me specially right now that I need to make important decisions about what to study

[Recon97]

You can definitely work in DERPA or make robots for NASA

[Misanthrope]

My main fear is that the career I choose may not be the one that makes me happiest and I would hate wasting 4 years of my life studying something at uni that I don't fully love.

 

No degree you can study will make you happy. Happiness just doesn't depends on the jobs you can get. More over, the jobs you can get don't even depend on what career you study. For the most part, people need engineers, administrators, etc. Very specialized jobs have much worst career opportunities unless you're willing to do unreasonable things like working for free to get your foot in the door, relocating to another country altogether where they might actually need specialized jobs, etc. 

 

I say take 1 or 2 years off school for now and just try getting an entry level job on a field you might be interested in and test the waters before committing to a degree.

[ManOfDisguise]

Thank you very much man, this is all super helpful for me specially right now that I need to make important decisions about what to study

np anytime man

[Cy-Fy]

No degree you can study will make you happy. Happiness just doesn't depends on the jobs you can get. More over, the jobs you can get don't even depend on what career you study. For the most part, people need engineers, administrators, etc. Very specialized jobs have much worst career opportunities unless you're willing to do unreasonable things like working for free to get your foot in the door, relocating to another country altogether where they might actually need specialized jobs, etc.

I say take 1 or 2 years off school for now and just try getting an entry level job on a field you might be interested in and test the waters before committing to a degree.

Thanks for the advive! I will consider all my options and I will definitely consider what you've told me too