Mechatronics vs computer engineering, which is better?

The world is changing so fast which creates a diversity of opportunities. For students, many careers are spooned. like mechatronic and others. A lot of students wonder about choosing mechatronics or computer engineering. So Today we will put mechatronics vs computer engineering in a ring and see who will be the winner.

This will easily allow you to choose which one to go for, mechatronics or computer engineering. So keep reading.

Should I go for mechatronics or computer engineering?

Mechatronics vs computer engineering. Both are good specialties. It is wiser to choose where to get comfortable with, rather than other things. But I will give you 4 critical things helping you to beat the confusion.

market job growth:

According to the US Bureau of labor and statistics, computer hardware engineering is predicted to grow by only 2 percent during the next 10 years from 2020 to 2030. Which is considered much slower more than all average specialties.

On another side, mechatronics engineering is a promising domain. it predicted to grow by 6.4% during the next 10 years. In other words, 3 times bigger than computer engineering which is interesting in terms of job opportunities.

If you are purely biased toward numbers and calculations, computer engineering could be bad for you. But it doesn’t mean that computer engineers would not be able to find jobs. Companies still hiring and they will still do in the future. The domain will not be dying.

In fact, currently, there are more computer engineering jobs than it was in the past. The question is just we need more programming computer jobs than designing hardware. So this is what is reflected in the market today.

passion

This is the big mistake that students make. That is to say, students choose between fields and seek the most financially and rewarded majors. They look for more status and social reputation. Going in this path could be one of the worst decisions that lead to :

unhappiness: 85% of employers in America hate their jobs their do daily duties and tasks just for the wage which can lead to trouble and psychological issues. having jobs without purpose and goals makes the daily routine jobs heavy and unsatisfied which could lead to depression.
All that happens when you pick a career just for the money and you don’t care about your core values. Happiness and satisfaction must a priority before any other thing .regardless of parent obligations or high salaries. This is true that nobody would argue.

laziness and boredom: you’re lazy. you can’t do the small jobs easily, always not excited and sometimes you don’t want to wake on a job day. Everything feels heavy and without sens. You find things, boring and nothing is driving you to do your tasks.

Boredom and laziness are not personality traits, they are significations of lack of passion and interest. So first you will be excited about the salary or your status. Later, everything is fading and passion is still the only fuel. Thus is better to find you fuel. Does it exist in mechatronics or computer science?

salary

We could not deny that salary consists of one of the most driving factors for students to choose between majors. regardless of whether it is good or bad. But society pushes the majority to go in this way. You can see in this table below the computer and mechatronics engineer salaries. So to notify the difference.

know your strengths

Don’t look at your weakness, find your strengths and work hard for them. In other words, figure out in which subject you are good at and where you enjoy, or in which subjects, you score high. Also, ask your teachers, they could help you to know more about yourself if you are not sure.

your colleges and friend can also give you valuable ideas and unseen points that you could not mention about yourself. For instance, you could be very witty in Robotics and you don’t know that about yourself, or any else domain.

But the most highly recommended way to know yourself is by having more experiences in life. Fear of failure must not be an option. Go and test. Accept the process of trial and error. Testing is a more effective way to know yourself more.

You still don’t know and you are confused about it?

Here is the deal.

Were going to do 3 simple steps together and calculate your bias towards mechatronics and computer engineering. So you will know definitely which branch to choose without any fear or hesitation. So follow the steps.

mechatronics vs computer engineer first step

In our first step, we must have slight information about each domain, mechatronics, and computer engineering. especially we need to pick 3 subfields from each domain, that is what we need to make our study. the details will be explained later so follow the steps.

mechatronics engineering subjects

Mechatronics is a major based on 3 principal elements, Electronics, Mechanics, Programming theses topics are the foundation of mechatronics engineering. these 3 principal elements determine the nature of the subfields you will study. You can see below, some mechatronics subjects…

  • Fluid Mechanics

  • Theory of Machines

  • Hydraulics and Pneumatics

  • CAD/CAM

  • Digital Electronics

  • Linear Integrated Circuits

  • Motor Drives

  • Microprocessors andMicrocontrollers

The mechatronics field has more than the subjects that we noticed above, we just picked up a few subjects from a domain to keep things simple.

computer engineering subjects

Computer engineering is a combination of electrical engineering and the science behind computers, this specialty tends to dive into the hardware of computers more than software, like design and architecture roles. I Will give you 8 subjects of what computers engineering study.

  • Programming Languages.i.e C,C++,Java etc.

  • Data Structures

  • Artificial Intelligence

  • Machine Learning

  • Image Processing

  • Pattern Recognition

  • Data Mining

  • Operating Systems

after having slight information about each topic mechatronics and computer engineer we will pick 3 subjects from each major and we will get like this below

mechatronichs engineer subjects 

computer engineer subjects

Fluid mechanics

motor drivers

hydraulics and pneumatics

microprocessor and microcontroller

CAD/CAM

linear integrated circuit

you have the choice to choose any subjects you want. We picked these subjects as examples for our study just for the illustration.

So in this first step, all you have to do is to choose your subjects as I did.

mechatronics vs computer engineer second step

the second step comes to studying each domain for 1 day and gathers results. So we can calculate our bias toward computer engineers or mechatronics. this study will take 6 days but it is worth it to know which direction to go. Thus let explain now in detail.

we will take our example to facilitate the explanation.

On the first day, you will study fluid and mechanics(the example that we took above on the table) with 2 hours of duration. Even you don’t know anything about it, pick a course or immerse yourself in fluid and mechanics make yourself like you have this subject and have to finish it.

after 2 hours of fluid and mechanics studies and discovery, you have to put your mark for 1 to 10.

1 => means you’re not interested at all

10=> means you’re excited and enjoyed this subject

so you can put the number you want, it must be between 1 and 10. more interest you have most score will mark.

On the next day, we will do the same process with hydraulics and pneumatics(the example that we took above on the table) we will study the hydraulics and pneumatics for 2 hours and noting how much interest we have.

You will continue until the 6 day,(last day) and gather the information’s, finally put them on the table like this.

Here is my example for mechatronics

mechatronics

interest score

Fluid mechanics

6

Hydraulics and Pneumatics

8

CAD/CAM

9

So simple now I will sum up all the values which give me

mechatronics score= 6 + 8 +9 = 23

My score in mechatronics is 23

So we will do the same thing with computer engineering, and here is my example

computer engineering

intrest score

programming language c,c++

5

artificial intelligence  

6

data structure

1

computer engineer score= 5 +6 +1=12

my score in computer engineering is 12

So it is obvious that I was biased in this experience toward a mechatronic domain, which my score indicates. so the battle Mechatronics vs computer engineering ended up. The winner, in this case, is mechatronics. Now the turn on you. You have to look for your winner.

It could be a silly experience but once you test it and go on this journey. You will discover yourself more and know how much important that is.

So after these 6 days of dedication and work journey, It simple but believe me it was a brilliant experience. in these 6 days, you will discover yourself more and get close to your destination.

we made this simple experience with just 3 subjects for each topic. You could do more, the more subjects you put into test the more thing gets clarified.

mechatronics vs computer engineer (conclusion )

We based out in this study about interest non-money or social statue. So this is what I suggest to anyone who wants to join some major. Choose where you find who you are, not what your friends or colleges tell you.

go on the journey, do the test. it quite simply, is 12 hours experience not that much and you will see the difference. This experience is an opportunity to discover yourself more. and remember more self-aware you are happier you’ll be.

Mechatronics vs computer engineering battle might teach you something. When you discover and draw your way don’t let other people’s judgment slow you. keep going straight and don’t look behind.

yassin.ajanif

Yassin ajanif is a physics graduate and electromechanical engineer width more than 5 years in the field. My goal and my team are to share our experience to help you succeed in your career as a stem major. we talk about all tips, problems, and struggle STEM students face in their career and how to overcome them.