UNSW School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering graduate Elena Aruldoss shares how curiosity, collaboration and saying yes to new opportunities shaped her journey from student projects to engineering innovation at RØDE.
Have you ever wondered what life in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering looks like? Elena Aruldoss, 2024 UNSW MECH graduate, shares her exciting path through engineering and the openness to new experiences that has defined every step of it.
Connecting with people and trying things early is what she recommends to anyone starting out in Engineering. That same openness is the quality that has shaped her career most and continues to drive her work as a Mechanical and Automation Engineer at RØDE.
"Don't feel pressure to lock yourself into one very specific definition of what a mechanical engineer should be; MECH is so much broader than that. The more you put yourself out there, the more you start to figure out what actually excites you."
Her journey has been guided by a "yes, and" mindset. From humanitarian and coastal engineering to microphone manufacturing, and experiences with Engineers Without Borders, her path covers a lot of ground, but she's clear that it all comes together at the intersection of people, machines and physics.
Joining UNSW's Sunswift Racing Team was the moment she knew she was in the right place. Working toward a tangible goal like the Sunswift Car 7, alongside students from different disciplines, made Engineering feel real.
"It never felt like work, it just felt exciting. I loved the fast problem-solving, the collaborative environment, and the feeling of building something meaningful together. That's when I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be."
Alongside the technical experience, Aruldoss turned classroom learning into real-world impact. Working alongside Moses from the African STEM Education Initiative (ASEI), local school communities in Uganda, and fellow UNSW students, she helped design handwashing stations to improve hygiene practices in schools.
"There is always a cultural, social, and economic context around it, and if you ignore that, you are only solving half the problem. That shift in thinking is probably one of the most valuable things my degree gave me."
Elena works as a Mechanical and Process Engineer at RØDE, where her day-to-day spans analysing production data, designing jigs and fixtures, building process documentation, troubleshooting on the floor, and sometimes prototyping designs hands-on.
"What ties it all together is the engineering intuition and problem-solving foundation I built during university. Whether I'm troubleshooting something on the floor or designing a new process, I'm still using the same way of thinking I developed throughout MECH."
In her current role, she leads process design for new products, a position that keeps her thinking broadly across design, manufacturing, people, quality, and scalability. What she finds most rewarding is taking a design all the way through to a physical product that people can use.
One guiding concept she keeps returning to is Ikigai, the Japanese idea of finding meaning at the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. It was introduced to her by a mentor, and it has stayed with her since.
"I still revisit it every year or so as I grow and change, and it always helps me find direction without feeling locked in."
Engineering has changed the way Elena approaches every problem she encounters, inside and outside of work. Whenever she faces a challenge, she instinctively thinks in systems, solutions and trade-offs, a way of thinking, that she can't switch off even when she wants to.
