Irving
29 July 2017
As an electronics/mechanical/software engineer with some 35+y experience I still enjoy making things that work. I'm using Systemvision and other cloud tools to teach/mentor/support A-level (year 11/12), BSc and MSc students but it saddens me that so many of the BSc and MSc students, having done physics at A-level and physics and/or electrical engineering at degree level have so little real-world experience. Only a small proportion have actually had the physical experience of designing and building a circuit with real parts, soldering and testing it. It is really concerning that a "Mechatronics" degree has no practical mechanical or electronics content but is purely theoretical.
Simulation has its place and I really like it, but building things for real teaches the subtleties that a simulation won't necessarily throw up. Or am I an old fuddy-duddy?
Discuss!
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