As someone who dropped out of a mechatronics engineering degree, let me tell you what it's really about: you know how when you walk into an elevator, and push a button to tell it what floor you're going onto? That's mechatronics. Mechatronics is the field of using electronics to control mechanical components of a machine, whether it's a dishwasher or a robot. If the school is half-decent, they'll probably focus more on robots than dishwashers (since it's a lot cheaper and easier to get a little tiny robot working than a great big dishwasher, and the basic principles are the same) but there are only so many jobs designing robots, and there is no doubt a lot more much-less-sexy work designing things like elevators and dishwashers. Just don't delude yourself about being a jack-of-all-trades, because you're going to be focusing on that one field once you get past the basics. Of course, in a way, that's a good thing, since it'll make it a lot easier for you to get a job once you finish your degree and seek to enter the workforce.

RustedPantheress wrote:

Hey, I am going to be going for jack-of-all-trades skill levels. Not just one degree either, and it's not all going to be formal study. I mean, why study just one thing? And it's not going to be "little bit of this, little bit of that..." scattershot, it's going to be 4, 5, fields of study or so and get good at them.

I found that it is a good idea to do formal studies in a few topics since curricula actually tell you certain boring but useful things you didn't know you will need, and the exams actually force you to go through all the exercises. My own approach was to pursue one or two fields to actual degrees (math and computer science in my case), do fairly in-depth study of another handful (psychology, medical engineering), do a smattering of nearby or fun topics (neuroscience, computer graphics, Latin) and then read intro textbooks or intro courses for loads of other domains as light entertainment (or sleep aids, as the case might be - economics, I'm looking at you!). The result was a pretty nifty profile that while on paper is not looking too bizarre (the CV only covers the obvious degrees and in-depth studies) allows me to work very interdisciplinarily - I can talk to those bio guys, and I can surprise philosophers by using reliability engineering. The main point is, one should feel at home in a sizeable chunk of the knowledge landscape, be confident enough in one's skill in a few useful corners to *do* something, and have a competence profile that is guaranteed to be unique - that way you can both do good stuff and convince other people that they just have to hire you (or let you set up your lab). So I think your plan is good. Just remember that time and energy management are important skills to learn early on. Incidentally, RPGs are a great motivator to read up on diverse topics. They are almost as good as actual formal study, at least if you try to GM things well. Without gaming I would not have acquired those skills in astrophysics and natural disasters that I now use so much.

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And I have plans.... Oh yes, do I have plans... All I need to start is a 3d printer and an industrial laser. Well, those and raw materials... Get in the lab losers, we're going to do science.

Muhahhahaha! Should I charge up the reactor, misthress?

Arenamontanus wrote:

RustedPantheress wrote:

And I have plans.... Oh yes, do I have plans... All I need to start is a 3d printer and an industrial laser. Well, those and raw materials... Get in the lab losers, we're going to do science.

Muhahhahaha! Should I charge up the reactor, misthress?

I suddenly feel the need to create a character whose muse has a personality skin based off of the Igors from Discworld.

GreyBrother wrote:

Communication is also something that comes in handy when you are versed in several fields. Regular IT comes to mind as an example. In my area, not many techs know how to talk "User" and simply dish out the specific language you adopt when you get deeper into the IT topic.

In any decent engineering degree, she's going to be learning this sort of thing anyway, with all the reports and presentations she'll be making. Same goes for teamwork, as well; it's a vital skill to learn, since there is no such thing as a lone engineer nowadays.

RustedPantheress wrote:

Hey, I am going to be going for jack-of-all-trades skill levels. Not just one degree either, and it's not all going to be formal study. I mean, why study just one thing? And it's not going to be "little bit of this, little bit of that..." scattershot, it's going to be 4, 5, fields of study or so and get good at them.

As someone that graduated from university over a year ago, and still has not found a job, let me tell you this: this is a terrible idea. Companies will always hire specialists over generalists, and they're going to take people with practical experience over new graduates. I'm not trying to be mean, here; I just don't want you wasting tens of thousands of dollars and four years of your life on something that's functionally worthless in the line of work you're planning on entering.

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And I have plans.... Oh yes, do I have plans... All I need to start is a 3d printer and an industrial laser. Well, those and raw materials... Get in the lab losers, we're going to do science.

Uh huh. So are you planning on going into postgraduate studies, then? I know that down here in Australia, it's not legal for an engineer to practice independently until they've got five years of experience. I'm sure that bodies like IEEE probably have similar rules about their members.

Boredom management is an important skill when becoming professional. Part of it is knowing what will be boring and avoiding it. But equally important is recognizing the stuff that one ought to plod through for the greater good, whether it is a textbook or an administrative process. Just remind yourself that this is part of your Plan for World Domination, and a lot of things will be much more interesting. Same thing for "empty time". One of the biggest advantages with being intellectual is that you can always entertain yourself by thinking. And that afternoon being stuck on an airport is perfect time to finish papers, check out that new idea you had, and read up a smidgeon on that topic that might come in handy someday. As others have pointed out, productive procrastination can be amazingly powerful: instead of doing task A, do task B. But I admit, standards bodies would probably kill me no matter how prepared I was. It takes a particular kind of mind to handle that kind of negotiation. I still have nightmares about learning ISO9000.