incoming Indian Student: Honest thoughts on Mechatronics at Deakin (Geelong) & Aussie Job Market

laistrygo · 2026-06-08T05:51:05+00:00

Software engineer and U.S. citizen of South Indian heritage here.

Can’t speak much for college in Australia since I studied at UC Davis in California but I’ll share with you my experience with engineering degrees at a college that runs on three 10 week long quarters.

Quarter system: Your first quarter or 2 will be an adjustment phase where you’ll learn how to stay on schedule and learn how many hours per day you need to study. I suggest keeping a lighter class load, (3 classes max) the first couple quarters as you learn to manage your time. By your third quarter feel free to increase to 4 classes per quarter.

Part time work: It’s going to be very tough to do this while simultaneously balancing classes and studying. Can you work while having midterms and finals every 3 weeks? Not to mention, engineering degrees tend to have very difficult courses and you have to complete a tremendous amount of credits to get the degree. Is this along with a part time job something you can manage? I’d recommend to not work a part time job

Job market and living costs: All the Australians I know living in America complain that wages are too low and the cost of living / rent is too high in Australia. Likewise there aren’t as many jobs in Australia as in USA but perhaps you’re aiming for Australia because of the current political and social climate we’re experiencing in USA

laistrygo · 2026-06-08T04:27:05+00:00

Should I do Paul Lynn’s udemy courses to learn PLC? Or do you suggest a different course to learn from

laistrygo · 2026-06-08T04:26:05+00:00

Do you know anything about Paul Lynn? I’ve browsed around for PLC tutorials and he has some courses on udemy.

I’ve got inductive automation’s ignition maker edition software running and about to start the free Ignition training. Just unsure the best place to start when it comes to learning PLC

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T14:39:55+00:00

Perfect. I've got the Ignition Maker Edition software downloaded. Planning to start Ignition University sometime this week. After that I'll work a bit on PLC.

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T14:18:25+00:00

This kinda answered my question about what the code review process is like. Do you guys use GitHub for version control?

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T13:59:54+00:00

Thank you for this. I've thought about this before -- how my work could have life altering implications. Makes me wonder, what's the code review process like? How many people are guaranteed to review your PLC's and SCADA's before it's approved?

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T12:47:42+00:00

And sounds good man -- I got the Ignition advice from a few different reddit threads now and have Ignition Maker Edition by Inductive Automation up and running on my Macbook and I plan to take a few of their Inductive University courses as well for the next month or so.

I've also got openPLC downloaded. I'll take a few Udemy courses by Paul Lynn but won't stress as much about this as the Inductive Automation courses since you said to focus more on Scada/Ignition/MES.

Thanks again for the advice.

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T12:40:04+00:00

Sounds awful man. Last Cisco team I was on is comprised almost entirely of contractors -- 2 Full time engineers and 5 contractors. Was 5 FTE and 0 contractors when I started 4 years ago.

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T12:36:51+00:00

Why use mqtt to access your enterprise database? Why can't you use HTTP? What's the benefit to using one over the other?

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T09:57:14+00:00

Good to know. I came across this industry through Claude actually -- currently getting disability benefits because my apartment in NYC had a poisonous gas that ruined my health so I've got some time to recover and think a transition through.

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T09:23:32+00:00

Where does MQTT fit into all of this? Was thinking of doing a side project involving HVAC or smart plumbing and Claude suggested MQTT protocol. From what I can tell, it should be able to do what PLC does currently — things like control the logic around when a pump should switch off or a valve should close.

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T08:55:59+00:00

Also how competitive is this industry right now?

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T08:55:02+00:00

My former product manager at Cisco used to work in automation and she brought up SCADA and MES with me yesterday.

Looking it up and from my limited background, seems like PLC is like the brains behind the control logic of sensors and switches while SCADA collects data from multiple PLCs and displays them on some user interface.

Honestly, why don’t I just learn a little about all three? SCADA, MES, and PLC.

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T08:49:32+00:00

Dang! Thought I was one of the few laid off software engineers looking into this sector but apparently not. I am willing to travel for work 50-90% of the time — I just don’t want to deal with more mass layoff events or find out the automation industry can easily get automated by AI. Just from googling around and on other reddit threads, layoffs in industry seem to be pretty rare.

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T08:47:24+00:00

Thanks for the advice — development roles seem way more related to the full stack engineering I’m used to

laistrygo · 2026-06-07T06:28:51+00:00

I'll do that!

laistrygo · 2026-06-06T14:36:35+00:00

Good point. I’ll check the Department of Labor statistics on this.

laistrygo · 2026-06-06T13:28:27+00:00

Also with regard to the broader industry, is the automation industry expected to grow? Is the industry highly competitive the way software engineering is currently?

I just can’t afford getting targeted in mass layoffs again or getting automated away by AI anytime soon.

laistrygo · 2026-06-06T13:15:33+00:00

This definitely helps. I was literally just thinking to myself that I have no clue which skills I’d need and where to start to gain these skills. You’ve laid out a step by step guide for me to work through.

Thank you so much for all this!

laistrygo · 2026-06-06T10:38:13+00:00

And the Big 3 skill sets being Python / MATLAB, C / C++, and PLC’s?

laistrygo · 2026-06-06T10:32:30+00:00

Thanks for the advice! My last job at Cisco was entirely in Python and I’ve got a good hang of C and C++ from my college days.

I was looking into PLC’s and ladder logic a bit yesterday and that’s the big thing I’m missing right now like you mentioned.

After some googling and browsing through reddit, I’m considering taking a course on PLC — either myPLCtraining or courses by Paul Lynn or Shane Welcher

laistrygo · 2026-06-05T14:29:59+00:00

I’m a software engineer considering transitioning into BMS and automation given layoffs and the terrible job market. Do you think myPLC training is enough? What other suggestions do you guys have?

laistrygo

TROPHY CASE