[Ben Martin]

I was on 234 as a student for four years, mentored team 1747 at Purdue University for four years, and now have joined team 225 as a professional engineer. I'll give you my insights into these transitions.

What were some of the largest adjustments you had to make while undergoing this transition?
This is largely reiterating what others have said, but the biggest adjustment is having to step back more. From the student's perspective, if a mentor is jumping in and doing all the work, the student may wonder why he/she is even there. One of the biggest challenges of a mentor is inspiring students to be intrinsically motivated to complete tasks and better the team, and (at least for me) this is what most of my time goes into as a mentor--i.e. you're building the people to build the robot as opposed to building the robot.

What lessons did you learn from your first year of mentoring?
How to deal with problems and issues that generally fall into mentor hands to solve-- conflict resolution, purchasing, travel logistics, etc

Have you tried mentoring through digital media (ex: Skype video chat, emails, etc.), and if so, how? How successful is this method?
If you are considering remotely mentoring your old team, I would recommend looking into the local teams as well. I personally like to be working hand-in-hand with students working at least as hard and long as them, because I believe that mentors set examples, and that is easiest when the example is right there with them as opposed to instructing from a distance. I know that many students become attached to the culture of their old team, but (at least for me) I have found it pretty easy to fit into whatever local FRC team there is around.

What is it like suddenly belonging to a new team? Did you carry over many of the things you learned from your high school/previous team?
I have done this twice--it isn't as difficult as it seems. You start slow, and as you prove yourself, you gradually have more say in the workings of the team. You may or may not find yourself mentoring in the stuff you did in high school depending on what is required (this year, I was the most-involved electrical mentor, though I barely touched electrical the previous eight years). You'll disagree with some people about how things are done, but those differences get resolved over time.

Who or what was your inspiration to mentor after high school?
I knew a bunch of students from 234 who were mentoring at Purdue after high school, and I wanted to too. Teaching/inspiring is tons of fun. Don't bite off more than you can chew, though--different people can handle different workloads, and if it is too much, FIRST will still be waiting for you four years later.