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Unread 13-05-2014, 19:54
Brandon Holley's Avatar
Brandon Holley Brandon Holley is offline
Chase perfection. Catch excellence.
AKA: Let's bring CD back to the way it used to be
FRC #0125 (NU-TRONs, Team #11 Alumni (GO MORT))
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Rookie Year: 2001
Location: Boston, MA
Posts: 2,593
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Re: Let's bring CD back to the way it used to be

Thanks for the kind words Ryan.

I 'officially' joined ChiefDelphi back on kickoff in 2004 after a couple of years of stalking. Like Tom pointed out, CD helped me grow up, learn to make concise well-articulated arguments and was a source for endless information on all things FIRST (and more).

I had a chance to interact with guys like Andy Baker and Joe Johnson on a daily basis, and have them critique my designs, strategies and choices. Of course there were spirited debates and arguments, that will come with ANY group that is passionate about something.

What I think we're really missing these days is hearty technical discussion, with original ideas and complimentary content. Looking at designs posted up for critique in the past several years, much of the feedback is regurgitated from older/similar posts. Creative ideas are often first critiqued with something like, "Interesting, but you should just do 6WD kitbot instead...". While this is extremely useful advice in certain situations- I miss the CD that celebrated cool ideas with a nice discussion about them- not endless rants and questions as to why you would ever do such a thing.

I was very fortunate to have some amazing mentors both here on CD and in person along my path. I still have these mentors as I've gotten older and picked up new ones along the way. I would like to think the next generation of FIRSTers can be exposed to the same experience I had here on CD. It's not a simple problem to fix, as cultural issues are often deep-seeded and have massive inertia.

All we can do is lead by example and hope the rest follow suit. Something I have tried to do as a mentor, and I know many others have as well.

-Brando
__________________
MORT (Team 11) '01-'05 :
-2005 New Jersey Regional Chairman's Award Winners
-2013 MORT Hall of Fame Inductee

NUTRONs (Team 125) '05-???
2007 Boston Regional Winners
2008 & 2009 Boston Regional Driving Tomorrow's Technology Award
2010 Boston Regional Creativity Award
2011 Bayou Regional Finalists, Innovation in Control Award, Boston Regional Finalists, Industrial Design Award
2012 New York City Regional Winners, Boston Regional Finalists, IRI Mentor of the Year
2013 Orlando Regional Finalists, Industrial Design Award, Boston Regional Winners, Pine Tree Regional Finalists
2014 Rhode Island District Winners, Excellence in Engineering Award, Northeastern University District Winners, Industrial Design Award, Pine Tree District Chairman's Award, Pine Tree District Winners
2015 South Florida Regional Chairman's Award, NU District Winners, NEDCMP Industrial Design Award, Hopper Division Finalists, Hopper/Newton Gracious Professionalism Award
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