How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Hi guys, I didn't see a thread like this anywhere and I was wondering exactly how being involved in FIRST robotics has affected your career choice. I myself had no idea what I wanted to do after college, but after my involvement in robotics and learning just how much I love machining and learning how to design machines, I am almost definitely going to be a mechanical engineer.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

As for me, I've always liked building things/figuring out how things work, etc., and my involvement in FIRST has really shown me a lot about such things. I plan on going into mechanical engineering, although I am not sure exactly what I want to do after college, I'll let God show me that one.
I do know that I want to stay involved in FIRST in some capacity or another, because God has really done great things for me through it, and I want to give back what I can, for
<none of these things are mine, they're all God's>
He's just letting me use them for a while, so I am expected to make the most of them, and through FIRST He's shown me what those things are. -JH

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

I wanted to be a veterinarian from the time I could pronounce veterinarian. Then, I was introduced to FIRST. Now I know I want to go into engineering, probably bioengineering or biomedical engineering - prosthetic arms and such. If you had told me three years ago that I was going to want to be an engineer, I would have laughed in your face.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Let see............

I'm not an Electrical, Mechanical or Computer Science Engineer. I'm a System Engineer. I make sure that the system goes well and try to minimize the risks. Its like Project Management, but for Engineering Projects. Coming back to the question of how has it affected my career?.....lets see

Because of FIRST my all four years of College are paid.
Because of FIRST I'm working with Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum as a Robotics/Education Intern.
Because of FIRST I'm also working with Metropolitan Washington Airport Authorities as a System Engineering Intern.
Because of FIRST I'll be interning with Northrup Grumman Mission Systems next Summer.

I"m just a freshman in College, and FIRST has affected me in many different ways.
But i would like to point out something here. FIRST provides us with a lot of opportunities (even outside FIRST), its upon us to make sure we use them wisely and obtain the best results.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Well I think my story has been heard, but one of the big things I like to note is that FIRST in high school gave me the opportunity to experience ALL forms of engineering. I designed parts of the robot in CAD, I machined parts, I built up the electronics systems, troubleshot problems at competition, and programmed the robot too (ugh that was back in the days of PBasic!). When I joined FIRST, I wanted to study glaciers (wouldnt it be great to ski as part of your job??) as a glaciologist.

Anyways, by the time I was a senior, I knew I wanted to go into Electrical Engineering out of all of the disciplines because it was the one that made the least sense to me. How does that work? I was curious. FIRST taught me to learn everything I could. I felt I had the most to learn, but also had the desire to learn more in the Electrical Field.

Today Im a systems engineer. The electrical degree allows me to do everything from power design to network architecture within our Radio Systems.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

I'm in my senior year of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for FIRST. My experience in FIRST was what made me apply to engineering in the first place, and my role as a mechanical designer for my team led me towards the ME program.

Additionally, now that I'm applying for jobs, I've found that FIRST experience is invaluable in interviews. Whenever an interviewer asks me to "describe a situation where you were part of a group working towards a common goal" or the like, I have an answer at the ready.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Before I joined FIRST, I wanted to be an interior designer (or a ballerina ;)). My reasons for joining aside, it changed my goals. There is this wonderful man in this program named Walt Hickok who really gave me wings and handed me a camera, telling me to be creative. Because he believed in me, I was able to really explore both the camera (video) end of the Chairman's group and write articles for a newspaper (also pushed for by my now late journalism teacher Ms. O'Leary).

Walt really was my inspiration to just fly into the world of jouralism, especially broadcast. He encouraged me to follow where my heart took me, and my heart took me to broadcast journalism. Now, I am studying it at Michigan State University and will be graduating spring 2008.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Wow, these replies are great! Thanks guys!

And on a side note...Yay! My hundredth post!

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Hmm I wish I had this experience when I was in HS but my personal strengths in math and science and the urge to tweak and build things naturally put me in the Mechanical Engineering track. As you guys graduate I applaud you for taking on this path but I also hope you endure through the challenges of an engineering education.

Like Kim, I'm a Systems Engineer with a mechanical background, that's the latest trend in the work environment. Get to know everything from the hardware, software, Electrical etc. If you understand the big picture you have a better grasp of what your role is.

Go MechE's!!!

Ellery

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

I have a part time job right now :( , but I only work once or twice a week, if I wasnt in robotics, I would be working more often, but its all good. After college I want to do something pertaining to robotics after college, so it is definatly a good thing that I am in robotics.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Before first I thought I might be an engineer, but now I can never even conceive of any other way to go. It's one thing to learn math and study physics, but this is not what I learned from FIRST. The most important thing that I have learned from the past three years is that engineering is the art of creation by use of your imagination. You use your imagination to think of new machines, new systems, new concepts, and new creations.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Going into interviews is a piece of cake. If you really needed to you could reference FIRST in almost any answer (however, don't do that.) If companies are curious about FIRST its really easy to take control of the interview and showcase your experience.
I recently had a 3 day interview with a company and I was jokingly referred to as the Robot Kid by the other candidates and a few recruiters. If you don't end up in Engineering like me (Marketing) it really allows you to stick out in their minds because not many others were involved in something like FIRST. I was interviewing for a market research/product development job and all the recruiters were extremely impressed with what I've gotten out of FIRST. Its really easy to relate what your dream job would be when you've been doing it for the past 5 years on your own.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

My involvement in FIRST has absolutely affected my career choice.

If I had not been a part of FIRST, I probably wouldn't have decided to major in mechanical engineering. Most likely, I would have pursued a science major (science has been a lifelong passion of mine), but FIRST introduced me to the world of engineering - a realm which I had little exposure to in elementary school.

Through FIRST, I discovered a different talent of mine - the ability to lead design teams and create mechanisms. If it weren't for the work I did on my team, I never would have discovered how much I loved doing teamwork to come up with a design solution to an engineering problem.

In my career, I am going to combine my old scientific passions with my newer engineering ones - by designing tools which help scientists do their research. For me, this will be a perfect combination of science and engineering. I am probably going to dual major in meteorology or marine science to facilitate this career direction.

FIRST was the perfect introduction to engineering for me because of it's hands-on nature. Having a taste of what it is like to do real-world design projects will hopefully serve to inspire me to work hard in college. I have always found school to be difficult because it lacks real-world applications, and I have never been good at "book work". Thanks to FIRST, however, I have a clear understanding of the rewards of earning that degree (even if the academic aspects of it are frustrating). Even after high school, FIRST is still inspiring me not to give up on myself. For me, the goal is still in sight. :)

-- Jaine

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

In high school I was on team 175. I always knew I wanted to do something with software. My high school experience in FIRST made my focus embedded software. While in college my major was computer engineering technology at WIT. While there I helped out on team 125. During college I received an internship from 125's sponsor Textron Systems. After college I accepted a full time position as a software engineer there. Today I continue to help FIRST teams.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Because of FIRST I am working at Foster-Miller building the next-generation TALON robots to save lives. Check out my signature for more info on TALON.

I went to college at Drexel University, and I did the co-ops and everything. When I interviewed at Foster-Miller, they were familiar with co-op experience, and I knew it would take something more to boost me into my dream job. I told them about FIRST and how I had been building robots for the past 7 years and it was quite literally the straw that tipped the scale in my favor.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

University of Central Florida has the best Engineering Program...very well rated nationally.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

As fun as FIRST is, I have had the same career goal since middle school. I enjoy working with my hands, I enjoy design and fabrication as well. But I dont want to do that for a job. Besides, if I can have a job of my choice, as well as doing FIRST on the mentor level, I still will have all the benefits, minus the pay.


Just my 2 cents.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Before FIRST I was all about engineering. FIRST told me that I am horrible at it and I discovered my love for leadership and team management. Today I am going to college while working at Hamilton Sundstrand as an administrative assistant (hey, it isn't glorious, but my foot is in the door!)

FIRST definitely gives you that real-life experience you need to see what you will truly want to do. I'm sure that I could have learned the engineering with FIRST, but the leadership/communications/PR roles came much more naturally and suited me better.

Through networking and learning other life-based needs (such as how much to pack for what amount of time, navigating airports, quasi-living with co-workers) FIRST raised me!

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

WOW
Well, i was very much into Programming and was absolutely sure that im gonna study programming in University..
Well, thanks to first i am now studying Aeronautics and Space Engineering, and with a scholarship =]
That kinda tells it all, but i also almost got chosen to a special millitary project in wich you get 2 deplomas in Mechanical Engineering in 4 years. I've been number 18 in their list, when only 16 get chosen...

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

I've always been interested in space, spacecraft, and engineering. When I joined a FIRST team last year, I decided that I wanted to be an engineer, so my goal is to become an aerospace engineer. The interests have always been there, but the decision to make it a career came from FIRST.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

This is a great thread. Someone should let the guys up at FIRST read this.
FIRST has absolutely impacted my career choice.

Before FIRST, I started out wanting to be a Pre-Med major, I wanted to be a pediatrician from the time I was 5 or 6. I was all set for that major when I was a junior in high school. Senior year started and HHS got a FIRST team. My mom had been pushing engineering and FIRST (which we had known about then for 5 years), and my response was always "Huh? What is engineering?"

By the time I graduated, I had completely changed courses. I was enrolled at the Rutgers University School of Engineering as a Mechanical Engineer. The freshman Dean of Engineering (read: a father of one of the kid's on Team 25) knew all about FIRST, and when I went for an interview, he simply said "With the experiences and determination you've learned from FIRST, you can succeed in anything you want."

Wow. What an impact.

I'll be honest, however, I've strayed from that path. I'm now on my third major, but FIRST has helped to open a lot of doors for me, and has also made me focus my talents and decide exactly what my best skills are. When I do go back to school (after my term as a FIRST Americorps VISTA member), I will be going for Education. I've been researching education in NJ, and TCNJ even offers a Technology Education degree.

After working with my FIRST team now for 5 years, I finally realized that this is what I enjoy. I love to see the students I work with grow, learn, and succeed. It seems silly; I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do after high school. And here I am, completely turned around, and happier than I can ever remember being. So for me, being in FIRST has helped me realize one thing, I want to be in FIRST forever. That is why I took the Americorps VISTA position. This is why I still mentor my old high school team. Not for everything that I get out of the program (which I'll be honest, is a LOT), but to help other kids get as much out of it as I have.

Long-winded as usual,
Sara Reffler

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

My first two years of high school I lived in a town with no FIRST team; Science Fair was king of the land. I competed in science fair for two years, first in an area I had no interest in, and the next I did the category of mathematics. I planned at the time to go into investments and did an elaborate experiment involving analysis of the NASDAQ (stock market). I was also president of the Future Business Leaders of America at the school during this time. The experiment placed in state competition.

The next year (2003) I moved to Florida and joined a FIRST team its rookie year. Since then I have learned about design, electronics, pneumatics. I have developed skills in time management, teamwork, public relations, and leadership. I have had hands on experienced working with actual engineers and machinists to learn how to use a mill and lathe. Although the Science Fair was a wonderful experience, nothing has altered my life and thinking like FIRST. I have a completely new respect for engineering projects like NASA's probes and rovers. This sort of thing is my hobby that I enjoy doing, however, I can not see myself doing it as a career and continue to desire to go into finance. FIRST has inspired me and I have grown because of it, this is the point of FIRST. Not every FIRST student is expected to go into an engineering field.

Other ways FIRST has affected me:
*Not only did I receive a FIRST scholarship, but my essays and interviews for other scholarships were loaded with my FIRST experiences and this is the reason I received many of them as well.

*I have met many of the best friends a guy can have that have similar interests.

*It helped me get a job at the Kennedy Space Center (thanks again, Gabe!)

*It has given me a cause to donate my time to share the experience with others


The final thing I would like to mention is about that town I lived in that did not have a team. Bartlesville has started team 2165 to compete this season. (check my signature)

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Like most people who've responded to this thread, my career goals have changed greatly upon being involved with FIRST. However, unlike most people I didn't want to be an engineer before being involved in FIRST, and likewise I still don't. Not that I have anything against engineers, I just lack the pertinent skills needed to be an engineer.

Before FIRST I wanted to be a foreign language teacher. However during the spring semester of my freshman year in college my life was changed. I volunteered for my first FIRST regional (the 2005 New Jersey Regional) and I signed up to be a play-by-play announcer. I didn't think I had a shot to announce since I was the third backup. However, as luck would have it the first two people weren't able to attend the regional. So there I was 18, just out of High School and needed to entertain the crowd at a FIRST regional. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck, but apparently I did well. At the end of the regional Randy Schaeffer came up to me and asked if I wanted to help out with New York City. Since then I've been asked to announce at 3 different regionals and the World Championships. Some people from the crowd even asked where I got my training, and were shocked when they found out that I never announced before.

So anyway, thanks to FIRST I changed majors and am now a mere 2 years from getting my broadcasting license, and hopefully will be working for a radio station shortly after.

I owe a lot to FIRST, and like Sara I will be involved in FIRST for as long as I can, so I can give future kids the opportunities that I received.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

I not only want to be an engineer now, but I've been "in training" as a paid intern at Northrop Grumman:Space Technology since Sophomore year; All from my F.I.R.S.T. experience.

I'm also applying to many schools I never even heard of before; Cornell (School of Engineering), Rochester, Northeastern (I may meet some teammates there), W.P.I., C.M.U. (And make some fancy cameras for future F.I.R.S.T.'ers), UC San Diego (May meet some teammates there too), the California Polytechnics and few others.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

FIRST paved the way to becoming more professional in 3D Moddeling and also Programming. Due to some of the knowledge learned with FIRST and programming, I now have an internship at Siemens VDO doing database scripting for almost a whole year. With this internship i will have a wider road paved and we will see whats next to come !

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

If it weren't for FIRST I wouldn't really know what engineering was. I learned so much in general from my participation and these skills gave me an edge over some of my other classmates. Because of FIRST I got a scholarship for school and an internship my freshman year. The internship has now lead to my current job, a design engineer at NORAM. If it weren't for FIRST I would probably in the army right now.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Prior to going into FIRST I wanted to be an engineer, I got on the WildStang team and decided to go into the video area of the team, something I liked to do at the time and had no intention of persueing past that season. It turned out that I really did not like engineering at all. It was amazingly boring to me, but I loved to make movies. FIRST saved me from being in a career that just wasn't right for me. So now I am going to school for Television Production where my FIRST experience is actually making it easier for me to understand the technical aspects of television production.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

All things considered, it hasn't, yet. I still plan to teach World History at a high school level. But maybe I'll take a liking to FIRST and choose a career that is relative in the future. Who really knows.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Robotics has affected me greatly before robotics I had no idea of what I wanted to do. Now I know exactaly what I want to do and what that is is Aerospace Engineering. Because I find space travel amazing and flight to be amazing. Even though I have never flown in a plane and I'm afraid of heights. I would still love to fly planes and to go up into the space station and look upon the world that is my dream and I will try to do it if I can and lastly if NASA ever decides to go back to the moon I want to be on that flight to the moon. :]

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

Hey! That spot on the flight to the moon is already booked.

By me.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

FIRST has actually made it harder for me to decide what kind of career path I'm going to pursue (although i'm only 16, so it doesn't particularly matter yet). Before robotics, I was only into CS and math. When I joined, I decided to do mechanical on a whim, and now I can see myself studying any one of ME, EE, CS, math, informatics, management, or physics. That's a lot to decide from, but I'm glad FIRST has opened me up to considering more fields of interest.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

The affect of FIRST on my career I think is particularly unique. While many will tell you that FIRST was their reason for going into a particular field of engineering, or college engineering program, I went a very different route. Like most of you, I had an idea of what I wanted to be before I got involved (storm chaser), which ultimately changed to mechanical or manufacturing engineering.

After a year of engineering at Purdue, I found that engineering just wasn't for me. While I was surviving academically, there was more theory than practice than I expected, and I realized that most engineers only spend the first few years of their careers doing real design work. I began to consider other career options.

Now at this point, I had spent a year as a mentor with 461. As enjoyable as FIRST was as a student, I found being a mentor to be all the more rewarding. Ultimately, I chose a career in Technology Education. After moving to the new Purdue team, 1646, in 2005, I have spent as many years mentoring as I did participating as a student. I am looking for the first job of my career, of which paticipating as a teacher mentor will surely be a part.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

i joined FIRST as a freshman, and after attending the portland regional, i knew that robotics (electrical and programming) was what i wanted to do... im going to major in electrical engineering next year (along with 2 of my other friends, one of which i dragged into FIRST)... hehehe...

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

I reply to this question as someone who is at the other end of the career- I have 27 years as an Engineer in the auto industry and have been a mentor with our local FIRST team (773) Kingsville Kukes Ontario, Canada for 4 years. I have found it very rewarding and fun to say the least- It should be mandatory that every corporation fund and mentor a team. I have found it sharpens my "old" engineering skills as well as helps "keep me young feeling". I hope to not sound selfish by this - but it is true. - It is too easy as one ages to fall victim to routine - It is nice to see the youth get enthused over math science and the competition.

I am bit concerned however that our local team 4 years ago was very hard working and dedicated. Over the past 3-4 years the caliber and disipline of the student has degraded to the point its almost a social club. We are at a crossroads with this team and need to make some real hard decisions in the next year or so or it will die. I do not want to see this - but the work and dedication has to start within each individual- I cannot make or force a student to work-. there also seems to be a total indiference with the attitude toward FIRST.

I am thinking it may be time to cease the existence. We are a small school 550 students in the entire school. The band 200 kids- we barely get 15-20 for a team and they are not very dedicated.

any other mentors sensing this same thing ? I would be very interested in hearing from you.

or as a mentor am I doing something wrong??

Les.

Re: How has your involvement in FIRST affected your career choice?
 

:yikes: I reply to this question as someone who is at the other end of the career- I have 27 years as an Engineer in the auto industry and have been a mentor with our local FIRST team (773) Kingsville Kukes Ontario, Canada for 4 years. I have found it very rewarding and fun to say the least- It should be mandatory that every corporation fund and mentor a team. I have found it sharpens my "old" engineering skills as well as helps "keep me young feeling". I hope to not sound selfish by this - but it is true. - It is too easy as one ages to fall victim to routine - It is nice to see the youth get enthused over math science and the competition.

I am bit concerned however that our local team 4 years ago was very hard working and dedicated. Over the past 3-4 years the caliber and disipline of the student has degraded to the point its almost a social club. We are at a crossroads with this team and need to make some real hard decisions in the next year or so or it will die. I do not want to see this - but the work and dedication has to start within each individual- I cannot make or force a student to work-. there also seems to be a total indiference with the attitude toward FIRST.

I am thinking it may be time to cease the existence. We are a small school 550 students in the entire school. The band has 200 kids- we barely get 15-20 for a team and they are not very dedicated.

any other mentors sensing this same thing ? I would be very interested in hearing from you.

or as a mentor am I doing something wrong??

Les.