Mechanical Engineers with the rise of 4th dimension
Mechanical engineering is a salient department in the engineering domain. There are various important domains where mechanical engineering skills are needed. However, with the advent of the computer science era, there has been depreciating interest in this area. As per talks of Sarit Das, former director of IIT Ropar and current professor at IIT Madras, this trend may change with the advent of the new 4th dimension in this field.
History
Trends in the field of jobs are subjected to change as per market needs. In the 1970–80s, most of the students opted for mechanical and electrical domains. This trend changed with a boom in the tech industry and a rise in computer science demand. People began to opt for this domain in high frequency as the need increased. This led to a decrease in interest in mechanical and other parts.
The need for mechanical engineering skills is in Electric Vehicles, automobiles, machining, etc., there is an expected increase in the need for a workforce in this field as per Sarit Das.
The 4th dimension
Usually, the mechanical domain is considered to be of 3 spheres- manufacturing, design, and thermal. This has been the predominant discretion in this field. However, as per Sarit Das, there is a new thing coming.
“Sectors such as electric vehicles, smart and connected devices, bio-engineering and 3D printing and renewable energy are some of those where demand will be very high,” says Sarit Das.
As stated by Das, this concept of industry 4.0 is where computers and mechanical systems will have a symbiotic relationship benefitting both domains. This would make human intervention less, enabling auto decisions and developments. A combination of cyber-physical systems, the internet-of things, and the internet- ofsystems make the possibility of an intelligent factory a reality.
Opportunities
Das said that they were looking for professors with the knowledge of both mechanical and computer science domains to get the required technical know-how to teach students about these.
Electrical Vehicles are an upsurging domain as well as shown by Tesla. Green energy is the need of the hour due to the climate change disasters we are facing. There is a real need for qualified people in this field to apply their knowledge and develop new innovations. Innovation is in need of evolution and change.
AI needs have been rising as well. Apart from programming, there is much scope for mechanical skills to build mechanisms for robots, etc. Optimization has been game-changing in many domains currently in the market, and this comes with knowledge of the field that students get in their schools and colleges.
Conclusion
Das also asked students not to decide career options only by looking at compensation packages that others get. This is quite true in every aspect. One must look for work that excites him and do that with zeal, money will come, and one will also get satisfaction which is unbuyable in every aspect. Mechanical is also a domain to be looked at keenly in the following years, and no surprise that we can get the next billionaire from this field as well.
