What’s up, legends!!!
I’m Maadhav, and I’m absolutely STOKED to be your guide through the organised chaos that is Part II Mechanical Engineering!
Choosing your spec can feel like trying to juggle blindfolded while riding a unicycle (teachings of the all-star Peter Bier 😉). But don’t worry, I’m here to spill ALL the beans 🫘 on what it’s actually like to be a mech student because let’s be real, someone needs to tell you that yes!! You WILL dream about free body diagrams, and no, that’s not entirely normal, but we’re all doing it together!
A Little Bit About Me (Because Oversharing is Caring):
- I’ve stress-tested a spoon just to see how far I could bend it before yield failure…I know…
- My browser history is 90% “beam deflection calculator” and 10% “why do I hear boss music when I open Inventor” 💻
- I once spent 3 hours debugging a truss analysis only to realise I forgot to convert mm to m (we don’t talk about it) 📐
- My favourite pick-up line is “Are you a moment? Because you make my beam deflect” 😏 Too far…? It has a 0% success rate, but I’m committed to the bit. (Let’s see if this gets past the mysterious forces of blog publishing, and if you’re reading this, somehow it did...)
So What Actually IS Mechanical Engineering Part II? 🤔
Picture this: It’s March 2026, you’re sitting in a lecture theatre, the lecturer walks in and says, “Welcome to Mechanical Engineering Part II.” PLOT TWIST!!! You actually know what you’re getting into! That’s where I come in. Let me paint you a detailed picture of what your semester will look like, complete with the good, the bad, and the “why did I choose engineering again?” moments.
MECHENG 235 (Design and Manufacture) 1 AKA “Robot Building Bootcamp”
Remember the pure joy of building things in ENGGEN 115? Well, MECHENG 235 is like that, but with MORE TOOLS and ACTUAL ROBOTS. This course got a glow-up this year that would make the Kardashians very jealous.
COURSE STYLE & VIBES:
| What You Get | The Beans 🫘 |
| One weekly lecture + 3-4 hour group project sessions | Olaf (the lecturer and certified legend) has main character energy, and the TAs are genuinely lifesavers |
| NO EXAM | I know right?? It’s giving “too good to be true” but it’s REAL |
| End-of-semester robot competition | We tried to convince them to do robot battles, but apparently “safety concerns” 😒 |
WHAT YOU’LL ACTUALLY LEARN:
- Engineering design (aka how to make things that don’t fall apart)
- Manufacturing processes (3D printing goes BRRRRR)
- How to work with electronics (including soldering) without electrocuting yourself
- The art of troubleshooting when your robot decides to have an existential crisis
THE PROJECT (The Main Event):
You and your squad get to build an ACTUAL ROBOT. This year’s challenge? Create a tennis ball-collecting, incinerator-feeding mechanical masterpiece. Think Wall-E but with more engineering stress and fewer love stories.
Here’s a sneak peek of our robot: If designing and building stuff like this gets you excited, Mechanical might just be your calling. 🔧
SKILLS YOU’LL GAIN:
- Autodesk Inventor (your new best friend/nemesis)
- Arduino programming (teaching robots to think, what could go wrong?)
- Laser cutting
- Soldering (hot metal, steady hands, questionable life choices)
- Working with components (sensors, motors, and other electronic wizardry)
Real talk: This course is INCREDIBLE. Is it stressful? Absolutely. Will it make you question your life choices when your robot won’t stop spinning in circles? 100%. But when your creation finally works and moves around, it’s pure satisfaction!!!
MECHENG 201 (Introduction to Mechatronics)
Plot twist: even as a mech student, you get to dabble in the dark arts of mechatronics! This course is like a sampler platter of engineering: 25% control systems, 25% programming, 25% electrical, and 25% “wait, what subject am I in again?”
WHAT’S ON THE MENU:
Robotics programming, control systems (making things move the way you want them to), electronics that won’t fry your brain, sensors that sense things (shocking, I know), and digital systems that are smarter than me on most days.
PROJECTS THAT WILL CONSUME YOUR SOUL:
- VEX Robot Programming: You’ll code a robot to complete tasks, then team up with a lab partner to create the ultimate robo-duo
- Smart Home Design: Because who doesn’t want their house to be smarter than them?
MECHENG 242 (Mechanics of Materials) “The Stress is Real” 💀
Do you enjoy calculating things until your brain hurts? Do you miss the “fun” of ENGGEN 121 statics? Well, buckle up! Because this course combines the greatest hits of statics with stress and strain analysis. It’s like a reunion tour, but for engineering pain…
WHAT YOU’LL STUDY:
- Material deformation (things bending in ways they shouldn’t)
- Stress analysis (not the mental kind, the engineering kind… though you’ll get both)
- How materials fail (and why that’s important to know BEFORE building bridges)
Fun fact: One time, the lecturer literally told everyone to stand up and stretch because half the class was asleep. At 1pm. On a Wednesday. We’ve all been there…
ENGSCI 211 (Mathematical Modelling 2)
All Part II engineers take MM2, and it’s basically unchanged from what previous bloggers have covered. Check out those blogs for the full scoop: I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here 😉.
ENGGEN 299 (Workshop Wonderland) ⚙️
Every Part II student gets to build a motor from scratch, but mech students get the VIP treatment with EXTRA WORKSHOPS! You’ll create components for a metal tic-tac-toe board because apparently regular tic-tac-toe isn’t engineering enough.
EVERYONE GETS THESE SKILLS
- 3D printing (motor components that actually work!)
- Laser cutting (acrylic covers with precision cuts)
- Soldering (connecting the electrical bits without starting fires)
- Motor building
MECH STUDENT BONUS ROUND
- Milling (turning metal blocks into game pieces)
- Welding (joining metal with FIRE and SPARKS)
- Turning (making metal cylinders into perfect playing pieces)
Is Mechanical Engineering Right for You? 🤔
You might love mechanical if you:
- Enjoyed the hands-on chaos of ENGGEN 115 ✅
- Want to work with both digital design AND physical building ✅
- Actually liked your Part I courses (especially ENGGEN 115 and 121) ✅
- Can’t decide between different types of engineering and want to dabble in everything ✅
- Dream of designing things that actually move and do stuff in the real world ✅
What’s Next? 👀
This is just your first semester snapshot! Part III gets even more specialised and mechanical-focused, diving deeper into advanced design, manufacturing, and all the engineering wizardry that makes mechanical engineers the backbone of… well, everything that moves.
My next blog will zoom out and give you the bigger picture: What mechanical engineering REALLY is, career paths that’ll blow your mind, and why I chose mech over all the other options.
Remember: Every successful engineer started exactly where you are now, confused, excited, and probably a little terrified. That’s completely normal! The fact that you’re reading this blog means you’re already on the right track.
So, future mechanical engineers, are you ready to turn your engineering dreams into reality? Are you prepared to build, calculate, design, and occasionally cry over an Inventor assembly that just won’t cooperate?
If you answered yes (or even a hesitant maybe), then welcome to the mechanical engineering family! We’ve got hard hats, safety glasses, and a concerning amount of enthusiasm for things that spin, move, and occasionally explode in controlled ways.
See you in the next blog!!!
Your mildly traumatised, heavily caffeinated, always-questioning-his-life-choices engineer,
Maadhav