Automation Engineering

Are you fascinated by machines and robots? Do you always wonder how these machines work and how are they designed? Do you want to develop new-age groundbreaking machines with your innovative ideas? Well, if you have affirmatively answered any of the above questions, then a career in Automation Engineering is an ideal one for you. Automation Engineering is spread across two major domains of designing software and hardware technologies. In the digital age, this field is an essential area of study as every industry demands innovative equipment and machinery that can facilitate efficient production processes. Through this blog, we will provide you with a detailed guide on what this specialised domain of Automation Engineering entails, the courses you can pursue in this field and the career opportunities it entails.

What is Automation Engineering?

Automation involves designing efficient technologies that need minimal human assistance. A course in Automation Engineering familiarizes students with the techniques of building automated industrial equipment. Pursuing this field, you will get to know about the diverse spectrum of Robotics including the processes related to repairing, sustaining and troubleshooting automatic, computerised, robotic, mechanical industrial apparatus, robots, computer numeric control (CNC) machinery. Students are also trained about electric circuits, thermodynamics and fluid dynamics to understand the know-how of automated machinery.

The primary duty of an Automation Engineer is creating machinery that can function on their own along with enhancing the working efficiency and accuracy by designing manual programs. To make machines that can replace human efforts, automation engineers frame, program, reproduce a varied range of technologies and equipment.

Skills Required to Become an Automation Engineer

Keeping in mind the rigorous knowledge and expertise that this field demands, here is a list of major skills that are required to become an automation engineer:

• Experience in Coding and Programming
• Deep-embedded Knowledge of Robotics and Automation
• Must be Familiarized with Network Servers like DevOps, Cloud, and Agile
• Diverse Knowledge of Computer Science and Software Development 
• Ability to Troubleshoot Equipment Defects

Roles and Responsibilities of an Automation Engineer

Since automation is maintaining its foothold in every the corporate as well as the medical sector, an array of career opportunities have emerged for Engineering graduates. Other than factory and manufacturing automation, IT automation majorly focuses on service automation. The major role of an IT automation engineering is to delete all the errors and defects occurring in a product, be it in software or in hardware. Even customer-related issues are solved using automation with minimal human interference. All this is designed and programmed by the Automation Engineers to minimize manual work. Working in this field, you will be required to carry out a multitude of tasks like,

• Designing and programming QA tests using scripts which can automatically test functionality.
• Identifying errors, bugs and quality issues in several programs.
• Carrying out execution tests for systems, databases, networks, application, software and hardware.
• Identifying opportunities for automation within software processes.
• Designing and executing QA tests using scripts that automatically test functionality.
• Running tests for databases, systems, networks, applications, hardware and software
• Colluding with other business clients to know where improvisation can be done.
• Collecting more databases and applications to improve automation.
• Gathering pieces of information from clients, customers, colleagues to provide a better solution to automation.

Job Opportunities

Automation as a field combines science, IT as well as Engineering but the specific skillset required by a firm may vary in different industries. In the IT sector, QA Automation Engineer is the most popular profile while some other job prospects include:

• Automation Systems Engineer
• Automation Specialist
• Automation Design Engineer
• Software QA Automation Engineer
• Selenium Automation Engineer 
• Cloud Automation Engineer
• Test Automation Engineer
• End-to-end Automation Engineer

Top Universities and Colleges

With Artifical Intelligence encompassing the various aspects of the technological world, a large number of students are opting for Automation Engineering courses. Grabbing a degree in this field from a top-notch university can provide you with the right knowledge and exposure in this field. Below we have mentioned the major universities and colleges that are renowned for their Automation Engineering courses.

• Ontario Tech University, Canada
• British Columbia Institute of Technology, British Columbia
• Sault College, Ontario
• Centennial College of Applied Arts and Technology, Canada
• Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
• Conestoga College, Canada
• Wellington Institute of Technology, Australia
• Conestoga College of Applied Arts and Technology, Canada
• University of Technology Sydney, Australia
• University of Cincinnati, USA
• University of Melbourne, Australia
• University of Bristol, UK
• University of Alberta, Canada
• University of Wollongong, Australia

FAQs

As the world is gradually shifting towards AI technologies, securing your career in Automation Engineering is definitely a future investment. We understand that deciding the right career path which can give wings to your dreams can be stressful. During this perplexing phase, let our experts at Leverage Edu assist you in choosing a suitable combination of course and university that matches your interests and career preferences.