After completing 2 years of a Bachelor of Business I've decided to jump ship and start again. As a result I'm looking at getting myself into biomedical engineering.
Given that we're nearing exams once more, I'm hoping to find a few people involved in this field that are currently procrastinating and wasting time on here.
Can anyone give me some insight into this field? Any Universities you recommend, sub disciplines etc? Right now my sights are set on UQ, who offer an Electrical and Biomedical Engineering degree, but I'm open to direction from you fine folk.
i'm doing that degree right now...and am in first year so i can't give you much insight. at this stage its introductory biology, maths etc
lecturers are good
and yeah
i chose this over mech/biomedical in sydney. but that's purely because i prefer qld to sydney.
i chose this over mech/biomedical in sydney. but that's purely because i prefer qld to sydney.
Yes, I heard that Monash offers a Mechanical/Biomedical degree too, which quite frankly I find more relevant to the specific field I want to get into, versus Electrical/Biomedical (which is offered at UQ). That said, I still have my sights set on UQ, as it's really where I want to be.
Cheers for your (all be it limited) perspective :) Hope there's a few Yr2/3 or even Postgrads out there that'll see this thread and come in here and share a yarn.
The monash biomed engineering course is virtually the same as the electrical engineering degree with all the biomedical electives included (and a couple of the core electrical subjects optional). You can't do the biomed engineering subjects in a mechanical degree but I think they are offered to mechatronics students if you are more interested in the mech side of things (double check on the monash website). A lot of people I know at monash who are interested in that field do the combined electrical engineering/science degree (and choose the biomed electives from both degrees).
I do electrical (not biomed) but have had a couple of the biomed lecturers and they are a mixed bag (some good, some awful). They seem to do interesting research though – they currently have a team trying to build a bionic eye.
After completing 2 years of a Bachelor of Business I've decided to jump ship and start again. As a result I'm looking at getting myself into biomedical engineering.
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Good Evening Tomfischer,
Thought I would give you a few thoughts after working in the field for 20+ years.
What you cover in Uni is very interesting, however once you get into the workforce you will find most of the jobs, both public and private, are fixit / repair technician jobs (this is electronics/biomed).
If you are after design work, then get a couple of years of experience with large multinationals locally (which will probably be as a service engineer) then move overseas. Or try your luck with the few small local manufacturers.
The people who have done the best, studied Electronics, then did Biomedical post grad studies. This gave them the option to move out of Biomed if they wanted.
Really, since most of the Australian Biomed work is Technican Level consider something like this;
http://www.health.qld.gov.au
I know many public biomedical departments where there are people with Masters Degrees, MBAs and even Phd's doing repair work.
While there is nothing wrong with that as a career, many were led to believe they would be doing high level design work while at Uni, and were quite disillusioned by the reality.
Hope this gives you a bit of insight into the field.
Hal
You can't do the biomed engineering subjects in a mechanical degree but I think they are offered to mechatronics students if you are more interested in the mech side of things
Thanks for your perspective and advise :)
As I've written below, I'd ideally live to be on the research side of things. That said, nothing would thrill me more to actually build (Mechatronics/Biomed degree) and be a part of bringing to life with a team, that which I've researched.
Thanks a ton for the insight guys. I've always found that first hand, real life, experience trumps any career or "advice" that a lecturer or professor at a University can provide. As someone said to me, you're paying the University money, therefore you're part of a business transaction and as a result you're never going to get neutral and completely truthful advise.
Hope this gives you a bit of insight into the field.
Hal
Cheers Hal, it really does. My heart is set simply on getting into the research and design areas of this field. Basically that's where I want to be, and no where else. Like the rest of what you've said (real world experience versus illusions), how is the research field in Australia? Is it large enough that I have a realistic chance of getting involved in it? Or will I be forced overseas?
I like the idea of completing a sole Electronics Engineering degree, and then picking up the additional Bio units post grad. My problem is though that I'll already be pushing 26 by the time I graduate and basically I don't want to be waiting a further 2 years, or so, before getting into this field simply for the sake of a safety net. Whilst it would be the logical thing to do, I don't want to be pushing 30 and only just beginning my career.
I'll constantly be checking this thread, so please anyone who has even the slightest bit of relevant info, please feel free to share it.
I'll constantly be checking this thread, so please anyone who has even the slightest bit of relevant info, please feel free to share it.
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Hi Tomfischer,
Had a chat to some associates about getting into Biomedical Research and Design in Australia, and unfortunately they said it would be very unlikely. Overseas is your likely destination.
The consensus was:
1. Finish your Business Degree, and at the same time do Mathematics Bridging subjects for your Biomed Degree.
2. Make absolutely certain you go to a decent University with a good Biomed program. They did not know which Uni's in QLD to recommend. Other Whirpoolians should be able to advise on this.
3. Get in touch with the secretary from the SMBE (Biomed Technical Society) about employment prospects here and overseas. Email address at the bottom of the linked page.
http://www.smbensw.org.au/Conference.html
If at all possible, get to even one day of their conference next year. Great for getting to know potential employers. Many students/graduates do this.
4. While studying, try to get some part time work with some Multinationals. This is where your Business Degree comes in. Evidently there is more chance of employment in the Business side rather than the Engineering side. Move across into a more Engineering related role if possible; even if its just a part time Bench Tech role.
Once you Graduate; try for a transfer overseas.
Eg:
GE/Philips – America
Drager/Siemens – Germany
Nihon Kohden – Japan
And you are right about the age factor. I was advised that over 30 makes life harder for entry level design jobs, especially overseas in the current economic situation.
Hope this helps,
Hal
G'day Hal, thanks once again for taking time out of your day to actually discuss this with people you know. Sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner, I'm super behind in my assignments and I've got exams coming up too to study for (Yay for doing Tafe and Uni at the same time).
You've given me quite a bit to ponder over. If I need to go to Germany, Japan or the Scandinavians to get involved with research, then that's where I'll go.
And from what I could gather, UQ is the leading institution here in QLD for this sort of degree, which is why I'm going with them.
Cheers,
Tom.
A lot of people I know at monash who are interested in that field do the combined electrical engineering/science degree (and choose the biomed electives from both degrees).
+1. I tend to think this alternative is probably better as the BiomedSci/Eng degree forces you to do pure Biomed subjects that have very little overlap with Engineering. Most people doing the double BiomedSci/Eng want to be Biomedical Engineers so sometimes the really specific, memory-intensive Biomed subjects feel useless. It feels a bit overkill to do a whole Biomedical Science course when you could just do focused subjects in a Science (Biomed)/Eng course.
Definitely a lot of interesting research going on. I think however, you have to be realistic about where it will take you. The reason why I absolutely hated the course was because the career would be mostly lab and research based (on top of the fact that the course sucked imo) and so didn't suit my personality. It seems in Aus there are quite a few opportunities for Tech's but I think the best design-based work is overseas.
If you're considering coming down to Monash, note that doing either double in BiomedSci/Eng or Sci/Eng robs you of the opportunity to do a true common first year in Engineering i.e. you won't get to sample all the other engineering streams before selecting a specialisation. I think, because of this, you really miss out.
Sure, Biomedical Engineering really is a field of the future but it's not for everyone...good to see you doing your research (I sure wish I did back when I was making these decisions!)
sha'mon...
Once more, thanks for the insight and first hand stories. I also agree that I'm probably going to regret missing the pure first year of Engineering. For all I know I'll skip right over an Engineering discipline that actually might be my true calling.
But after dicking around for 3 years straight I really just cannot afford to waste any more time.
Additionally, I don't think I'm capable of getting into the Biomed Science degree as from memory that required a Chemistry prerequisite, something I missed in Highschool (I went with Physics).
I've still got a few weeks to really nail this all down, but it seems that with every story I hear I'm getting swung further and further away from what I originally thought was what I wanted to do :/
Additionally, I don't think I'm capable of getting into the Biomed Science degree as from memory that required a Chemistry prerequisite, something I missed in Highschool (I went with Physics).
You don't have to do a full biomed degree, do you? A straight engineering degree with a part involving biomed would do the trick, like in your original UQ electrical and biomedical dual major (or you can do mechatronics with a biomed minor?). Looking at the course list it seems there isn't much difference betwen majoring in electrical vs elec/biomed in terms of the courses you take, so I don't see why you couldn't just get a normal electrical job when you graduate if jobs are scarce or something. You'd miss out on being able to fill your entire degree with electrical electives but who cares? 100% focus on one discipline can't be healthy for anyone :)
Oh and re: the common first year thing (I'm at UQ, first year mechatronics) – I'm not doing the common first year and yet I still feel like I've taken a pretty wide range of courses: computer systems, physics, maths, software, electrical... and if I weren't doing a BSc on the side I'd have had another two subjects and done mechanical/materials/thermo type subjects. And this was me focusing pretty heavily on my one specialisation, so if you wanted to sample a lot of subjects you still could (I think you still have a couple of electives in elec/biomed).
Anyway, as I said I'm not doing biomed, but I do fall under anyone who has even the slightest bit of relevant info so hope that helped!
OP seeing as how you'd have to move overseas, have you considered a graduate engineering degree through Uni of Melb?
Overseas institutions really want a name, and melb uni does provide that. Also I think the graduate engineering entry requirements are light, and it's 3 years. You can specialize in bioengineering and (my favorite) neural engineering.
I'd recommend at least giving graduate engineering a look into. It's csp and full fee from memory.
Good luck; I'll be watching thread. Third year neuroscience student here, if you want my background.
I also agree that I'm probably going to regret missing the pure first year of Engineering. For all I know I'll skip right over an Engineering discipline that actually might be my true calling.
But after dicking around for 3 years straight I really just cannot afford to waste any more time.
I don't know about universities up there, but at Monash, doing the common first year has no impact on degree timing, usually...You just have to choose the double degrees that allow for the common first year.
Regardless, I highly recommend sampling all strands of engineering efore committing to one.
Cheers for the replies once more guys, don't want you to think I didn't read them I've just been really swamped right now and actually haven't even had enough time to really contemplate and think over everything that been posted.
Kind of stupid considering I want to get my QTAC in before the 30th of the month :D