Edited by Ts ChM Dr Suriani Sani
For many students, the journey into engineering begins in a classroom. For Muhammad Haziq Fadzi, it began much earlier—in his father’s workshop.
Growing up, he spent much of his time watching his father repair car engines, fix household appliances, and handle various mechanical tasks around the house. With a welding machine and a lathe readily available, he developed a fascination with how things worked. To him, an engineer was someone who could fix the world with their hands. Combined with his curiosity from watching documentaries on manufacturing and production lines, this early exposure sparked a desire not just to use machines, but to understand how they truly function.
University life, however, soon humbled that confidence. One of the toughest challenges he faced was the Applied Numerical Methods course. For the first time, he received a ‘D’ on his results slip. The transition from online learning to physical examinations, coupled with complex projects, left him struggling to understand where he had gone wrong.
Yet the setback became a turning point. When he retook the course in his final year, he approached it differently—focusing on understanding the physical concepts behind the mathematics rather than memorizing formulas. The result was a remarkable improvement, turning a ‘D’ into an ‘A’. More importantly, he learned that persistence and strong fundamentals are essential in engineering.
His passion truly ignited during the Mechatronics and Instrumentation courses. Together with his team, he developed projects such as a Rice Level Sensor and an Automatic Water Gate and Flood Monitoring System. Seeing ideas evolve into functioning automated solutions gave him the confidence to pursue engineering beyond the classroom.
Today, he is a Graduate Engineer Trainee at Princeton Digital Group (PDG), rotating through Systems, Technical, and Project departments. Looking back, he believes engineering is not a solo journey—sometimes, a single conversation or opportunity can change the direction of an entire career.
