Comradeship // Freechat

What I learned through graduating (in Europe) is that if you really want to work in some specific area you're gonna have to get a foot in the door (or however that expression goes) as soon as possible. Otherwise you'll have to go with the flow if you want a job right after uni, and that job may be far off from the area of work you want. Your uni having no relation to that particular field of knowledge would be another great obstacle, so you might want to email professors/graduates about it. I haven't done this myself, but I would suggest looking up (ideally local to you) companies that do stuff you're interested in and maybe asking people in your field working there (through LinkedIn or whatever) what paths are there for a newbie. If you like something in China you'd want to study in China in a region/uni related to it.

I realise this advice may not be realistic or specific at all, and honestly it sucks having to suck up to a private company (I imagine it's much worse in Burgerland), but other than that I cannot help. Anyhow, I wish you luck, comrade.

Potentially you could learn Mandarin and apply to a chinese uni - there are several engineering degrees that will lead to work in robotics and AI. It will be way cheaper than the US and you will have much better future prospects of actually working in the discipline of your preference. It doesn't even have to be a top 10 uni though I would still check career prospects of any given university. You may even want to ask that if you did a year in the US at grad level would those credits be transferrable over (though this would be a more expensive way to do this).

If you wanted a roundabout way of doing the above is to network by interning at a robotics company (eg Japanese such as Fanuc or Kawasaki) as someone else metnioned but again you may want to aim for Chinese industry in your horizon.

I don't have personal experience here, but something I looked into for myself in the past (and don't currently have much opportunity to get into atm) as a starting point is workforwater.org -- more or less similar advice re:look at prospective career paths specific to what you're looking for. That website/org seems to have a (nation)wide but not super deep network to help connect mentors, apprenticeships/ish (depending on the role/location), and intern programs, at least for both water utilities and wastewater treatment industry. Either way, it's a leg up in terms of networking for that specific area. Many of the higher positions require engineering, although I can't recall if it's mechanical or civil or either/both.

Just thought to put it out there in case you had some interest in that field, infrastructure might be crumbling in this country but it's still sorely needed, and will be needed always... so, points for job availability and stability.

Dark factories sounds really awesome (best bet would be mechanical->robotics or electrical??) but unless you plan to leave the US I can't see heavy or innovative automation getting off the ground here unless it's under the graces of bezos or musk or their ilk, or a startup looking to eventually get acquired by venture capital (this is an extremely precarious position to be in, startups fail all the time but even when they "succeed" eg get bought out, your position may be eliminated in the acquisition process).

There should be someone in your institution that will consult career path for you.

For my knowledge, with engineer degree, you likely to become prole (i.e: the one who work).

If you want to become boss, manager, or similar positions, go study finance, business, mba, ...

My father got a doctorate in mechanical engineering and was able to go far with it. He made a very nice career for himself. He spent his whole life developing ideas and obtained several patents in the process. Good luck with your education and career.