I’m currently a senior in HS and am interested in going into robotics as a career, but majoring in robotics specifically is risky because it could leave me with a limited amount of job possibilities. I was originally thinking of majoring in EE, but am now veering more towards either MechE or CS since I’m interested in both the design and the programming aspect of robotics. However, I’m having trouble choosing between the two because I would be happy in either of those aspects (although maybe a little bit more in design).
In terms of job prospects within the robotics field, which is better?
Also, I have heard that it is harder to switch into CS than it is to switch out into an engineering major - how true is this in general? If that’s true I might just apply for CS and switch once in college if I feel MechE is better for me.
Some schools have CS in the engineering school, some don’t. Check each school for this, plus ability to switch in/out of a specific major. Switching into engineering is often hard because the curriculum starts in year 1.
For CMU at least, switching from MechE to CS is pretty hard, but this depends on the school. I would say a CS degree would give you more job opportunities than a MechE degree in general. So should you decide not to pursue a career in robotics field, CS is a better degree to fall back on.
@idkName, those are two pretty broad and unsubstantiated claims. I wouldn’t agree that CS will give more job opportunities in robotics OR that it is a better fallback degree than ME.
@Mathophile26, before you even consider CS, you should ask yourself one question. Can you see yourself in front of a terminal 8h/day?
Also, don’t write off Robotics as too narrow. The few true named robotics degrees available are just ME degrees with one or two robotics classes as tech electives.
When it comes to applying to jobs, your degree title matters less than the skill set you bring. Job post will often be under a given title, but they will always say or equivalent degree or experience. You could apply to lots of ME or EE jobs with a Robotics degree.
Lastly, you should also post this in the engineering forum.
@eyemgh I was very careful about my first claim. In terms of CS, just look at the average salary for CS majors and the average salary for MechE, and you can see a difference. However, that is the average, so it may not necessary apply to you. Second, from my experience, I tend to see a lot more tech companies at career fairs hiring CS rather than MechE. however, once again, that is just my experience. It could be different else where.
I must add. You disagree with me yet you didn’t provide any support for your claim. I would agree with you if you shared some experience.
Lastly, no way am I saying pick CS over MechE. If you like MechE better, go for MechE! But in my opinion, if they are equal, CS is better choice (but as a CS major, I’m pretty biased).
@idkName, what you cited has nothing to do with robotics. Yes, on average CSs make more that MEs, and it’s a hot, very employable degree right now. ME is not exactly suffering. That’s not however what the OP asked.
Robotics is a subset of Mechatronics. Programming is an important piece in robotics, but by no means the sole, or even, depending on the device, a very complicated piece of the whole. A candidate with a CS degree will bring no mechanics or electrical experience. The question isn’t which is the better degree period, but which will be the better route for Robotics.
As for personal “evidence,” my son has a BS in ME with a concentration in Mechatronics. He’s currently a grad student working on a Mechatronics thesis. I have a pretty good handle of what’s in a robotics curriculum.
Oh, then I 100% agree with you then. I was answering the question of which major has better job opportunities in general because the OP posted “but majoring in robotics specifically is risky because it could leave me with a limited amount of job possibilities.” If the OP want a job in Robotics, he should 100% major in Robotics if he has the chance.
@MA2012 thanks for the advice I’ll look for the policies of the schools I’m applying to!
@eyemgh@idkName thanks for the insightful comments! I was interested on job prospect info both in general and in the robotics field, so this was extremely helpful. While I’m 99% sure I want to go into robotics, the thing is, I’m not sure if that’s how I will feel in the future and I want to have a fallback career, which would probably require a more general degree (correct me if I’m wrong).
@eyemgh is CS really sitting in front of a computer most of the time? Because in that case it’s not really for me… I’m definitely someone who needs to do things hands-on, which makes me lean towards MechE (although I still think AI is fascinating… too many choices!). One question though - do you know (maybe since your son has done ME) if the courses required for a ME major in general are oriented toward robotics or are they very broad? I’m worried that I won’t enjoy many ME courses simply because my interests lie in robotics specifically. If that’s the case, I might focus on Mechatronics.
A person I know who is now doing research in robotics for her PhD went to Carnegie Mellon for undergrad, where she did a Computer Science degree with a double major in Robotics. She works on algorithms for improving movement and dexterity of robots.
I heard from another student at CMU whose major was similar to Computer Science that it was very easy for him to get a volunteer position in the robotics research lab because they had enough mechanical engineering students but not enough who were interested in programming the robots.
@Mathophile26
For my summer internship, I sat in front of a computer for most of the day. For my previous research internships, I did similar things. So yes, CS jobs are usually sitting in front of the computer. However, CS in the robotics could be different, as the job tends be more hands in nature, so idk. But I would guess it is still mostly sitting in front of the computer as well.
In terms of CS minor paired with MechE, I think it is doable. I don’t think it will be significantly harder than just MechE. Especially if you go to engineering schools like Caltech, where everyone has a CS minor because it is way easier compared to engineering. Once again, it depends on the school. Although I would say, getting a minor doesn’t really boost employment opportunities that much in the pure software field (like if you wanted to work at Google as a software engineer), but in the robotics field, I can see it definitely helping (amazon robotics for instance). Minor usually is something that you want to learn in college as a hobby/interest instead of learning to find a job.
@Mathophile26 I’m sorry, I don’t know how hard it is. I imagine it would be pretty all-consuming with not much time for other things. Maybe you could talk to students about it during a college visit. Maybe someone on Reddit knows.
@idkName thanks for the detailed response! I’ve pretty much decided on applying MechE to schools and possibly minoring in CS. I think as you said, the minor wouldn’t be so that I could become a software engineering or something, it would be so I would have knowledge about more than just ME for the purposes of robotics.
@Much2learn do you think a MechE minor would teach me enough to be useful in terms of robotics? I’m just worried that CS might be oversaturated and therefore it would be difficult to find a job aligned with my interests.
@Mathophile26 You will want to check to see if the schools you’re interested in allow you to minor in ME or CS. The California schools we looked at don’t have that option, at least that I’m aware of. If you go ME, take a few extra CS courses as a fallback. Lots of people in software development come from majors other than CS. I doubt there are many mechanical engineers that didn’t major in ME or some other engineering major that has a similar lower division curriculum. The CS curriculum often won’t have all the physics, statics, etc that other engineering majors will.
It sounds like OP would fit into that category as well though. Programming work is very important in robotics and fun for many, but it can be terribly unfulfilling for someone if they don’t enjoy it.
Absolutely not, it’s relatively common in fact.
CS taught within engineering doesn’t always mean that it’s any better for robotics though, it’s really a case by case basis. And very few schools offer engineering minors. Finding a place where both of those things work out is very limiting, and I’m not sure if it offers much benefit.
Exactly what “advanced coding skills in high demand” does a CS major get that a minor doesn’t? Part of the reason I would recommend so highly that CS is not the primary here is because a good CS minor will prep you to futher explore any other part of CS as one sees fit. The core skills are the same, and much of the “in demand skills” are simply new languages to learn, riffs off the same core concepts. It doesn’t really work that way with engineering.
@youcee@PengsPhils great points! Sorry if it’s obvious but is it ok/allowed to take CS courses as a MechE major? Since I’m from California and will likely end up going to college here I’ll look into if the schools I’m applying to offer a CS minor. I looked into USC, UCLA, and CMU so far and they do offer CS minors. As they are some of my top choice schools if I end up going to one of them I should be set!
Thank you to everyone who responded, it’s definitely helped me in making my decision!
CS minors are usually pretty common and pretty open, though UC’s can be a bit weird about it since it’s an impacted major. Still, a minor should be very accessible. Just check per school, but it should be pretty easy logistically.
