MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 1

The Best Engineer in the World

Neel M Jahan

Harrison STEM Program

Curran

March 21, 2022

MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 2

Table of Contents

The Best Engineer in the World..................................................................................................................1

Career Choice..............................................................................................................................................3
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................3
Job Description of Mechatronics Engineering.........................................................................................4
A Day in the Life.....................................................................................................................................5
Pros and Cons..........................................................................................................................................6
From Here to There.....................................................................................................................................8
Profession Profile....................................................................................................................................8
Education.................................................................................................................................................9
Budgeting..............................................................................................................................................10
Personal Assessment.................................................................................................................................12
My Skills...............................................................................................................................................12
My Personality......................................................................................................................................14
My Motivation.......................................................................................................................................16
Citations....................................................................................................................................................18
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 3

Career Choice

Introduction

In a world changing rapidly where humans can barely keep up. We need assistance in

moving forward into the future. Creating new and more efficient sources of energy along with

helping disperse energy to where needed. Therefore, creating a new clean infrastructure and

power it with renewable and reliable sources of power. To do the listed we need one thing-

technology. My eyes first opened once I learned about the EV company Tesla. The founder Elon

Musk was fascinating to me. Seeing the innovations in the various fields of the world he

intended to help inspired me to follow his steps. A Mechatronics engineer is someone who works

on these techs in robotics. I love working firsthand and creating new devices that can help people

across the world. We can all tell by now that technology is a requirement for many tasks.

Farmers have machines do most of the work that can help be more efficient and effective in

general. For others having machines to help us build complex buildings and structures for

various purposes. We could have never built offices and flew to the moon without any of them. I

want to be the one who can send us to Mars or better yet build a better more stable infrastructure

to help support the worlds ever growing population. I want to invent new devices and help as

many people as I can. I know in a field like this I can expand with the limitless knowledge I will

gain from my master’s degree. I will have multiple degrees built into its rigorous course work

that I intend to take. The varying composes of “a combination of mechanical, computer and

electrical systems. Mechatronics engineers specialize in both electrical engineering and

mechanics and can work in a variety of jobs across multiple disciplines” (Indeed Editorial Team,

2021). I will have qualifications across multiple degrees to create several devices to assist us
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 4

evolve in technology.

Job Description of Mechatronics Engineering

The duties of a mechatronic consist “to develop and maintain smart technologies.

Mechatronics engineers can work in hundreds of industries, but most work in manufacturing,

which has become increasingly automated in recent years. Often, the systems worked on by

mechatronics engineers directly support the automotive, aerospace, consumer goods, and

industrial goods industries” (Stobierski, 2020). With a multitude degree in a diverse number of

fields the salary reflects this well.

The base starting salary is $56-75k universally. In Georgia, the number is around 50k

with top level engineers earning 144k in Georgia with an average of 100k in Georgia

(Mechatronics engineer salary in Georgia, 2018). With an “that the employment of all

mechanical engineers would likely grow by 4% from 2018-2028, which is average, while

opportunities for electronics engineers would decrease by 1%.” (Mechatronics Engineer: Salary,

Duties, Outlook and Requirements, 2021).

However, there are many alternative options that are out there due to the many degrees

that are included in the masters of mechatronics degree. This field is very much based off the

persons work speed because it can just depend on the workers speed but a few important traits to

have in this role include being diligent, improvision and creative. To succeed well in this career,

it is important to be able to work on new crafts and sometimes that means that you need to

venture out to fields that are unknown. Lots of times in this field you need to create your own

devices to solve new and complex arising problems. Mechatronics engineers are highly creative

and can work on various solutions to improve or even create new products that may not exist.
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They are often required to work on things that do not have an answer and use the combination of

skills that have been discussed earlier to solve that unknown problem.

A Day in the Life

Life as an engineer can be slow and can be very eventful. “A day in the life of a

mechatronics engineer could vary depending on their chosen career path, but mechatronics

professionals might enjoy daily tasks such as product design and development, research of

modern technology, monitoring and troubleshooting current projects, and collaborating with

suppliers to obtain the latest hardware. Mechatronics is constantly evolving with the evolution of

technology and many employers in the field expect their employees to attend workshops or

continue their education to keep up with the changing field” (What does a mechatronics engineer

do?, 2018). The place of where you could be working varies a lot sometimes you can be out

mentioning robots and other can be inside a building. It can be different on what project you

could be working on. Just as having to relocate due to the project you are working on, but it can

vary on the company that one can be working for. However, with rare needs to relocate

sometimes you may need to spend some extra time working on patents and designs. There is a lot

into working to make something better or even creating something completely new and working

on that can take time outside of the office as well. Sometimes communicating all this information

with the team, you will be working with is also detrimental to the success of the project’s

success. Mechatronic Engineers work remarkably close with a team of mechanical and electrical

engineers to work on various projects. They are often the head because they have the most

experience in the vast number of fields. Of course, working in the field is incredibly involved in

technology. Its normally a full 40 hours a week with exceptions. The salary is well, and benefits

are the standards of life, health, and other forms of savings. Many of these savings come out of
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 6

the average $55,360 to $166,050. The few cons are how much time can be spent on the job out of

work sometimes. But other than that, being an engineer is flexible

Pros and Cons

There are a lot of important things about being an engineer with multiple degrees. As a

mechatronics engineer you will be very diversly educated and will be able to fix about anything

that there is. The ability to use the critical knowledge from several degrees to utilize and repair

everyday objects can be a very grand skill. Along with this people with very inventive minds and

ideas can also work on problems that may arise and they can fix them with many different

scenarios and ideas. There are also so many opportunities in the emerging fields in engineering.

There are many different industries that an engineering is needed, and a mechatronics engineer is

well fitted for all. There are always fields where technicians are needed such as the

entertainment, manufacturing, and food industry. But of all rewards the pros the best one is being

able to help countless amounts of people with new products and innovations.

With positives to one career field there are of course negatives as well. Some of the fields

that you may apply for or want to get into sometimes require previous experience that can be

hard to obtain sometimes. There are however many places where you can get into some entry

level jobs to get that required experience and often these are the highest paying in a company at

the hourly rate standpoint. However, many of the better companies would need the applicant to

have a master’s degree in the field of mechatronics engineering. With this slight pressure of

getting a masters there is also a possible heavy workload from times to times. This can be

because of maintain files and departments. Creating models of patents and creations. Majority

though will end up going to the testing phase of the products on which you are working. Of

course, working on projects however cost money and that brings me to the last point. The
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budgeting can become a tough aspect to fit in. Getting the money to be able to perform the duties

and building the desired project can often be difficult. Often getting these funds can be applying

for grants and getting help from the company you work for, but this sounds easier than it is. Most

companies do not have money to just give for a project that does not work so often it is more of

the personal spending.

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From Here to There

Profession Profile

The people in this field are normally highly creative. Most of these people have very high

targets and standards and can achieve them. Some examples of creations made by mechatronics

engineers we have “Sophia the Robot, NASA’s Curiosity Rover, Anti-lock Brakes, I-limb, The

CNC machine, Roomba, Robotic Arms for Automation, BLEXX Exoskeleton, Boston Dynamics

Big Dog, and Tesla’s Autopilot” (10 Amazing Inventions Made Possible by Mechatronics

Engineering , 2020). Every one of these inventions that have been made has improved a lot of

different fields in many ways. The people who made these devices had a plan to design a proper

prototype. This would assist to create the end products we know now. Majority of them learned

every step of the way hands on as this is the most effective way to run trials. With the

experiments and they were able to create inventions to aid us! With that most of the engineers in

this field are very well working on a team just as much as working alone. Time to times they are

needed to be able to complete a task very quickly and make sure it is done well. This can also

mean they can be well thought out and know how to solve problems before they even are needed

to be solved. Many of the mechatronic engineers are excellent problem solvers and are often well

on DIY projects thinking of alternatives if one doesn’t work. Mechatronic Engineers are very

highly skilled and creative.

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Education

With such a high and intense requirement to become a mechatronics engineer it only

makes sense that you need a very strong educational background. Just as someone would go to

Emory for Medicine or Yale for Law; mechatronic engineers will want to go to Georgia Tech,

Perdure University, and Cornell University. The easier requirements to meet are taking all your

core classes in high school. Then “You can pursue a B.Tech/BSc Engineering./B.E. degree in

electrical or mechanical or mechatronics engineering” (Team Leverage EDU, 2021). After that

getting a masters in mechatronics will help a lot. But working in the real field and getting work

experience is the best way to be able to really test and improve on what’s needed. However only

the education requirement is only a bachelor’s degree but a masters is recommended. Most entry

level positions only need the bachelor’s degree. Most of these jobs are on a smaller league such

as a mechanic or a technician. There are a lot of entry level other fields such as software

development and team managements. However, there are not nearly as many opportunities if one

was to go for a masters there would be many more opportunities to the candidate. There would

be more prestige’s jobs better payment only for another 2 years of education. Though it is not

needed to get an entry level position a master’s degree is much better recommended. But even

after getting a master’s degree you will still be required to learn more daily. As a mechatronics

engineer you are better off to learn about the newest innovations to better what could be next.

Learning will never go away in this field because of how quickly technology is being improved

nowadays. Though it can be challenging to keep up to the many fields that you would have a

bachelor’s degree in. In your schooling period you will get all the education to have a bachelor’s

in science that can help you peruse many career paths listed before.
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Budgeting

Going to collage for a master’s degree can be quite expensive. But one can be given great

opportunities in life that will help you repay any to all debt that one may take on. Below is a

calculation on how much collage would approximately cost and the estimated time that it would

take to pay it off along with in depth statistics and facts on how much the field of mechatronics

would pay for someone to pay it off.

Table 1

Average cost of one year at Kennesaw State University

(Cost of Attendance - Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (kennesaw.edu))

MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 11

Looking through Table 1 there would be some slight modifications due to no need to account for

transportation, room, and meals because I will be living at home. So, my approximate cost per

year would be around $11,432. During collage I will also be working and paying off most to

hopefully all the debt I may accumulate. I should be working a job where I make at least $15 an

hour and this would mean that most of the loan fees, and personal expenses should be paid off

and not accumulated. Most of the books that I will need have already been uploaded online and

would need no need for purchase as well. Taking these categories into account would bring my

estimated total to around $6,500. Another thing to account for is this is all being calculated

without the GA HOPE scholarship that can help in drastic measures with tuition reimbursement.

With one other thing that I have a collage fund that has an approximate 18k saved up to help me

with extra collage costs and that should be able to help me pay for at least one year in the full.

With all these corresponding factors the approximate cost of collage should be $46,500.

Though this seems like a big number this is almost as much as I would be paying for the car that

is desired. However, the interest rate and the term amount would also play into factor for a lower

monthly payment over a 20-year payment term versus a 5 year. With that “An entry level

mechatronics engineer (1-3 years of experience) earns an average salary of $63,560” (Salary

Expert, 2022). There is no reason to have any struggle with the amount salary made to allow a

longer loan term but with a higher interest rate.

MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 12

Personal Assessment

My Skills

In the engineering field(s) there are many skills that are needed to know. A few skills that

I already obtain that are good to know in this field pertain- soldering, basic electronics assembly,

coding, using various computer programs (such as the Microsoft suite, program development

software’s, etc.) and many more. Each of these skills are important in each part of being a

mechatronics engineer. Soldering is the art of piecing two components (normally computer

components) together using flux and medal. In the engineering field especially in robotics,

electric, and computing soldering is important. Especially in computer and PC areas it is crucial

to know this skill. I have learned this skill before high school and in my internship once again. I

learned more of the importance of soldering in my internship along with real world examples of

it as well. Along with soldering using the office suite is also a vital skill to know. Many jobs and

careers require their employees to know how to use the suite. In the case of a mechatronics

engineer it is a very good skill to know. There will be a lot of documenting and files that need to

be saved for the prototypes. Not only will knowing the office suite guarantee a solid base

foundation for any job but it will also help me have a better chance of success compared to my

competition. When going against other who are proficient in computers it is vital to always be

one step ahead and know something that they don’t. I have gained experience and various skills

in many different computer programing software’s and development sites. This is detrimental to

being able to guarantee my success by giving me an edge up to my rivels. There are many other

smaller skills that I have as well from many experiences and opportunities from the past such as

cleaning and maintaining a clean and secure environment. As a mechatronics engineer you are to

work closely with a team to create something outstanding. The team’s number one concern will
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 13

always be safety. With my prior skills and knowledge, I can help to ensure that I can maintain a

clear and clean environment for the team to thrive. The final skill to be a successful engineer is to

have strong engineering designing skills. I have obtained this skill when creating two devices in

the past and designing full prototypes through using engineering design skills. This is highly

crucial to the general part of making a device. Nobody can go past the protype phase without it.

Creating an efficient and clean design to convey to the rest of your team is a very important skill.

By creating a clear goal with a well-made design will help get the whole team on the same page.

The design task is often given to the mechatronics engineer because they have various

knowledge across multiple studies. Therefor can create a design that can satisfy all the areas

(electric, mechanic, robotics wise) in the model. With my current experience and skillset, I will

be able to succeed in my desired career field.

MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 14

My Personality

Through my lifetime I have been told that I am a very creative person who has a

high level of intelligence on specific areas of life. I can agree with many of the traits that other

people like to describe me as. One of the traits that I have is being hard working and this is

essentially a required trait in the field that I plan on going into. I have always put in the extra

work and effort no matter the cause and the results have shown it. I tend to do good on most

projects because I am a hands-on learner. Being hands on helps me learn fast and adapt to any

project that I am working on. The best style of learning to have as a mechatronics engineering is

to be a hands-on learner. Most of the skills than you will need to be successful with be a skill

learned hands on.

Hence becoming a mechatronics engineer is a perfect fit for me. In the career I work hands on

and get to work on fascinating new creations. There are already many ideas that I have that I can

work on. I already have done so much to progress towards this career path and that is only

because I do enjoy it. Everything in the mechatronics engineering career path is a perfect

alignment to what I love to in in life already. I get to work on new designs and patens along with

working with my hands and creating projects to work on. In this career path I can unleash my

creativity and work very hard to create a product that I will love.

Due to (Personality Perfect, n.d.) an online personality profile analyzation website my

results had shown that I am one to be more intrigued by mathematical and complex theoretical

equations. This already stands true because I love to challenge myself in both math and other

complex problems. The results also yield that I am a “Supreme strategist who are logical,

rational, and future-oriented” (Personality Perfect, n.d.). This is also very true as my main way of

reasoning is logics and statistics for most of my reasoning. Just these two traits alone are very
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 15

vital traits that all mechatronic engineers should have. Being able to think to a level of high

proficiency and to be able to use logics and reason to work on projects are all crucial skills.

The top traits that I got go as follows- Self Sufficient, Intelligent, Strategic, Honest, and

Logical. Once again these are all traits that someone who is going to be making devices should

have. Being able to be self-sufficient is very important because sometimes you can’t rely on

others to understand the task at hand. As a mechatronics engineer you need to be able to solve

problems both part of a team and alone and being able to be self-sufficient is a core aspect. Of

course, being strategic and intelligent are both important. These both play well with one another

when needing to be able to think in the realms of science and engineering. Being intelligent

enables the mind to be versatile and can help with prototypes and designs in many ways. Being

able to piece together many pieces and working on solving intellectual challenges.

All together this career is very well lined up with my personality and my general self. It is

a very clear and precise match on terms of my learning style, personality, and my interests and

skills. I have and exceed in every category that was listed and can only get better as time goes

on.
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 16

My Motivation

Even before all my research, I knew that this is what I had wanted to go into the whole

time. The research that I have done for this assignment has helped me learn more and become

even more interested in the chosen career path that I plan to go into. I would like to think that

this research paper has helped me confirm my path in life. It also helped me plan for my future

career and jobs. From here on out, I plan on going to college. With intentions to interning while

being in school. In school I will be working on a major in mechatronics engineering. Then

hopefully working for Tesla being a very big employer in this field and industry that I will go

into. I intend to stay in Georgia. However, there are not many Tesla factories here. Though there

is one being built in Texas, which is not too far from here. Though moving does not face an

obstacle to me. The biggest obstacle that I may have to face is finding and employer. The reason

why is it is very often for there to be mechanical, electrical, Or software engineers. But

Mechatronics engineers is still a relatively new field. That not many companies have grown on

yet. I think however with hard work, diligence, and determination, I will be able to fight off any

obstacles that I have in the future. Leaving me with not having anything to fear. As of right now,

where intern I am working on electrical engineering. The store where we repair, replace, and

work on all types of electrical components. Ranging from computer to TV's. To various other

electronics. I hope to work here as a student in college to be able to keep up with the ever-

growing industry. I intend to learn in the electrical engineering industry but hopefully I’ll learn

other skills as well. Though I have learned many skills from my internships, I have also learned.

Many other skills from taking this course alone. I have learned how to work better with my

peers. With the many challenging. Engineering projects that we have worked on. Sometimes I

would have to deal with someone. Who is different than I am and works in a different way and
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 17

we had to come to an Agreement and work together to finish off a project. I learned also how to

work well, by myself and pace myself much better. In this class, we were given deadlines then

the rest of the time to do the work. I haven't had any type of classes like this, and it was new for

me to learn how to manage my time on a loose schedule. Though some other schedule things I

learned were related more to travel. Time delays and issues that you can run into the real world.

Going from home to my internship, then to school. Making sure that I was on time to my third

period were real world experience of knowing how to adjust my schedule to all forms of

interruption in my daily routine. There are so many lifelong skills that I will be taking away from

this class alone. I have learned. More things. About my career than I have throughout my entire

time in high school. I intend to take this. And use all the skills. And all the things that have

learned into the real world.

MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 18

Productivity

My Project

The project that I will be doing this year is being split in two different sectors. One part

will be how to build a gaming PC and another on how to take apart a apple product. These will

both have their own individual videos that will e created for each part.

The building a gaming PC project is a multitude of videos that will show all the different

parts that are required to build a good gaming PC. Each video would cover a certain component

of the computer. For example, in the video about the CPU (Central Processing Unit) I would

explain how it works, how to install it, and how to attach parts that it would need (such as a

cooling unit). There would be a various number of subjects including but not limited to the case,

CPU, CPU cooling, Motherboard, RAM (Random Access Memory), GPU (Graphics Processing

Unit), Storage, PSU (Power system unit) and other subjects that other people may face. Some of

these subjects could be going for a laptop vs PC and what unit to get for what purposes. Building

a PC can also be daunting with the wiring and breaking something, but this would also all be

covered in a video about safety and wiring. By the end of the series the audience will be able to

build or even repair any pc by themselves.

The second aspect of the project is taking apart a Apple product. The reason for this is to

show how to take apart complex machines and devices safely. Apple is very well known to cram

everything in a tight space, and it is sometimes impossible to take them apart. However, I plan to

overtake this boundary and show how to safely take apart one of Apples products. I intend to

make a timelapse on how to get the certain parts out. Though series won’t have as many videos it

will be more in depth and detailed then the other series. So this series will be more on the terms

of having prior knowledge and for more advanced members in the electronics community.
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 19

Career Connection

The project that I plan on doing is well connected to my career path in life. Both parts of

the project require a very strong skill in electrical engineering. There is a lot to know about how

to fix and build computers. In these forms of intense projects, you also learn a lot about how

software and lots of hardware works. Another aspect that this project will take in is mechanical

engineering. Learning about compatibility and how it to fix something it its not the correct size.

This happens a lot and it takes some major or minor adjustments to fix the device. Another thing

that happens quite often is having to recode devices for compatibility reasons. I have learned a

lot about how wiring is key due to circuits. Along with out to properly boot a BIOS menu to boot

a device properly. This can all contribute to the coding aspect of mechatronics engineering. There

is now a lot more that I know about what it would be like to be in a future career path in

mechatronics engineering. This internship project will be able to help me in the future by giving

a jump start in many different areas of Mechatronics engineering. Gaining experience in real

world applications is the best way that I learn and this project will allow me to do just that. Gold

that I learn from this internship will be useful if I am to go into some form of repairing

electronics job. These skills would also be useful in terms of upgrading software and hardware

for our companies needs to be able to progress with newer scientific discoveries. I would know

how to do all these upgrades by the project that I am doing now. Along with being able to even

teach my team members in the future on how to do so. Throughout my internship and my

project, I have learned so much about real-world implications of different forms of mechanical,

electrical, and coding. I will for sure take these skills into my future profession that I choose

which will likely be mechatronics engineering

MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 20

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%20of,do%20mechatronics%20engineer%20salaries%20compare%20to%20similar

%20careers
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 21

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MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING 22

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%20with%20suppliers%20to%20obtain%20the%20latest%20hardware.