UNSW Engineering is more than a degree. After completing a Mechatronic Engineering degree at UNSW, Cosette Wheeler is now working as AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) Engineer at Dematic. She says the degree alone was good but it was the student societies that sold it for her.
I chose to study engineering at UNSW for the opportunities UNSW had to offer. The degree alone was good but it was the student societies that sold it for me. These societies not only encourage you to socialise with others in your degree but they also hold events where you can network with people in industry who studied the same degree or participate in competitions and projects where you can apply the theoretical skills learnt in your courses in real-world situations. It was also an added bonus that my parents are both UNSW graduates and actually met at UNSW.
I’m currently working at Dematic as an AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) Engineer. I design, test and commission automated driverless forklifts on different sites across Australia. It is a rewarding job as I get to see projects through from start to finish and make changes along the way. Each site brings about new challenges so I am constantly learning and improving. What’s really exciting is I get to work in warehouses that have a variety of automation and I get to see it all in operation. I am living my mechatronic engineering dream. This job has taught me a lot about being confident in what I know, being flexible in the way I operate so that I can handle any problem that arises and has allowed me to use my mechatronic engineering skills in applying my knowledge of electrical, mechanical and software to problem solve.
UNSW showed me through individual presentations and group assessments the effectiveness of having good communication and teamwork skills, which is essential for engineering. Through observing others I was able to learn ways that I could improve my own skills to better convey a message and effectively interact within a group.
I highly recommend studying mechatronic engineering as you gain a wide variety of skills that are applicable to a large number of roles in industry. The people in my cohort have gone into a range of different industries, some of which I didn’t know a mechatronic engineering skill set would be suitable for, e.g. finance. I also recommend getting involved in societies and student-led projects. These are where you secure your knowledge. And my most important piece of advice is to have fun and enjoy your time at uni.