Are you still having fun?
 

I'm not sure what the impetus of this poll is.

For me, FIRST used to be loads and loads of fun. It's not, really, anymore. Not for me, anyway.

So, is FIRST still something that's fun for you? Or is it a miserable, joyless, overwhelming, unappreciative job?

It is fun for me because it is all one huge learning experience. You can't buy these kind of experiences. I have felt very burned out at times, but it is only six weeks. I'll sleep next month. :P

Hell yes. I have lost hours of sleep to stress and worry and I have pretty much donated my life to my team (8am-11pm) but FIRST is still tons of fun.

It's because you aren't a kid anymore, you can't just sit back and watch someone else build it for you if you get tired. I'm kinda going through the same thing now that i'm a mentor. Once you get to regionals it will all go away.

I enjoy every moment in FIRST.

design, building, power point stuff, excel, research, tweaking, arguing, competing

its all great

"Winning cures all"

It's amazing how quickly we forget the 6-weeks-of-stress during competition...

Which brings on a whole other kind of stress.... :D

I really enjoy FIRST even though I am not a technical person. On the whole, you learn a lot about human nature in FIRST and not just engineering. I enjoy the whole experience from the build, to volunteering at regionals and nationals. Even though it was my 4th year involved last year was a total blast when I was a referee for IRI, that was the most fun I have had at a competetion.

I'm truly dismayed to see you feeling that way! I hope I never grow tired of my dear FIRST. Perhaps what you need to do is step back and look at what experiences you got during your High School FIRST days, and realize that you are now facilitating that for all those people on your team.
By the way, now that I am no longer a kid, I CAN sit back, because I make them do it all, while I "supervise" ;) . But seriously, I can't think of any nobler or more enjoyable a cause than being a mentor on my FIRST team.
I hope that the impending end of The Six Weeks, you will be able to realize that it was your influence that helped make that whole bot be in that crate...

why else would I be doing it?
 

The fun of FIRST comes from the people. If you are on a team of people who enjoy and embody FIRST, then you should still be having fun. If you're not still having fun, why are you doing it?

I've seen FIRST from both sides, two years as a student participant, a year as a volunteer at regionals, and this year, as a mentor and volunteer. I'm still as enthusiastic and have as much fun as I did the first year. Figure out why you're not having fun anymore; FIRST is a learning experience, but you're also supposed to be having fun and enjoying it.

I'm assuming by this you dont mean to imply that you didnt just watch other people build yourrobot and not put any of your blood and sweat and time and energy into creating the beautiful masterpiece that you can call your own.

As for FIRSt being fun, I love FIRST. Its a great place to relieve stress (who doesnt like to swing a sledgehammer at a piece that doesnt want to stay in place) take out other anger (BANDSAWS!) and hang with some of the coolest people you will ever meet? Competitions are a great way to meet new people, including the most diverse set of skills and personalities, all come together for the same reason...The only time I ever get annoyed wtih FIRST is when I have to witness or reap the consequences of the enormous amountof politicing that goes on in our team, but i think that is just the team, and not any part of FIRST. FIRST is life... =)

What is fun? What is fair?
 

I love the organization of U.S FIRST. Its organization is number

one to me. For more than a decade, it has molded the future

engineers, architects, etc.... for this country and other countries.


For some reason though, some teams take the fun out of it.

Some people forget that its for the students. On some teams

politics is taken into account. I feel that teams are arguing more

on a political level rather than discussing the robotic aspects of

the game.


For example:

I have witnessed a team that has taken them longer to design a

team jersey than build the actual robot.

Sometimes the power of certain individuals goes to their heads.

So instead of dealing with robotic team issues, they argue which

color or what design something is going to be. I believe some

teams waste time, money, and resources of some of their

students. Some team advisor's don't realize how precious some

of their students are until they quit and move onto another team.

I went to college and couldn't live without FIRST. I can truly say that FIRST will always be fun. I think that it is amazing to see how the kids that we mentor learn somethig new everyday. And that they want to be there.

I love FIRST and have so much fun. If we run out of stuff to do or get really frusterated I will play a quick game of euchre with people online and then I feel refreshed and ready to go again.

so have fun and take breaks if you can

everyone will benefit from it.

When I'm at school, building the bot with our wonderful build team, I have fun. When I think about the team and everyone else on it, I suddenly lose that feeling. Isn't it amazing how a few team members can destroy the spirit of a team?

Its always been fun!!!!