Control.com - Nerds in Control

Respected Sir/s,

I am Gaurang Shah, currently studying 'M.Sc. in Automation and Robotics' at University of Dortmund, Germany. I have completed my first year of study and have one more year to finally obtain the Master's degree. I thank you for your time, in advance, for reading through my eLetter.

My area of interest is primarily 'Automation and Control' and I intend to pursue my Master thesis in 'Controller design and it's implementation', whether be it a Continuous or Logic or a Discrete controller type. Owing to my strong academic interests, I have an inclination to pursue 'Ph.D. in the areas of Automation and Control'. However, I have a dilemma regarding 'What shall I do after my M.Sc?', the reasons of which I have presented below:

1) In future, I would like to see myself working for some Firm/company, specialised in the above areas. Hence, what shall be a preferable option: a) Pursuing job in some company, immediately after M.Sc. OR b) Pursuing Ph.D. immediately after M.Sc. and then going for a job in some company, after Ph.D.?

2) Would a Ph.D. degree be an added advantage for getting a job in a Company? OR it doesn't matter much, whether I have a M.Sc. or Ph.D. degree, if I am to finally work for a Company?

I have been following your website for quite a long time and I find it 'very useful'. I would appreciate your open comments on this matter and your valuable guidance for helping me to arrive at a decision.

Yours sincerely,

Gaurang Shah,
Student of Automation and Robotics @ University of Dortmund, Germany

i must say, your educational background is rather impressive!

just a little background so you understand my take on this: i am a technician in a steel mill in the united states. we have some engineers in our plant with backgrounds similar to yours, and sometimes i deal with vendors of the same level as well.

what you do for your education depends ultimately on what you want to do with your education...
we have an automation engineer in our department who is currently pusuing his phd in the evenings after work. i cannot say honestly whether this predominantly helps him or hurts him in terms of the job, but i can definitely say that it does both to some extent.

as an example, many of our problems arise from relatively simple causes, though at the time they may be hard to identify specifically. in cases like this, the engineering staff can be immensely helpful in identifying the root cause of a problem. there are cases, though, where the engineering staff may misinterpret the symptoms of the original problem and cause even more problems than we began with. in case you were wondering, my statements here come from very recent experience...

in terms of job prospects, in the usa i have heard stories of too much education actually making it more difficult to find a job, although i personally do not have this problem - my only education after high school has been on the job.

as a technician, i would definitely suggest that you spend some time in your chosen industry with the people who actually use the products you design. far too often, i work with equipment that does not live up to its design specifications. perhaps it is because the equipment is used in a manner that is harsher than the original design called for, or perhaps it is poor maintenance in the past. it is hard to say for sure. frequently it is as simple as how something is put together. perhaps the controls cabinet can be assembled fine in the factory where it was made, but to actually service the components inside it in the field is nearly impossible. or a transducer that fits perfectly according to the blueprints, but requires a magician to replace after a year or two of service, due to the corrosion or dirt buildup that should have been anticipated from the beginning.

i'm sure i did not even come close to answering your actual questions, but hopefully you (and perhaps other engineers) can find something of use in my comments. whatever course of action you decide on, i wish you the best of luck.

dave

I got one MSc in Control from England and one MSc in Automation from Hong Kong. I think I have the very similar background with you. But, there is NO way out for expertise at control/automation in Hong Kong. But, I think it should not be a problem in Germany.

However, I still think it is better to get some work experiences before pursuing the PhD. It will really help to visualize your research direction. For example, adaptive control in certain machining. However, it maybe good for continuing PhD after MSc if you want to be a professor in university.

Anyway, get some work experiences if you want to work in industry but go ahead for PhD if you want to be a professor. Good luck to you!

Regards,
Paul (Hong Kong)