Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH
And the other thing that doesn't hit you for a while is the networks these kids are developing. Think about this one: If it wasn't for working with other teams, there's a good chance I wouldn't be working in the job I'm in now. When these students graduate college, they will already be known in industry--their mentors and other network folks will make sure of that.
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In the short time I've been aware of FIRST since my son became involved as a freshman this year, I'm convinced that this program will only help him in the future. For the reason quoted above, and because I believe FIRST is cleverly modeled in a way to train these students to navigate the constantly evolving nature of a modern work environment.
Earlier this week, I tossed my hat in the ring to become a Mentor for 5586 after the Wisconsin Regional. I have no engineering skills to offer the kids (unless outhouse engineering counts), but I do have nearly 30 years experience working in the plastics industry. I know I have skills to offer the team that will only help this second-year team.
- I can help them develop a good safety program. They could really use the help here.
- Develop standard operating procedures for the team and train them to the standard. Maybe even an operations manual specific to the team if they don't already have one.
- Introduce the team to some LEAN Manufacturing concepts that translate well to a robotics shop in an effort to eliminate waste. One look at the way they have it set up currently at Kiel High, I immediately wondered how much time is wasted looking for tools. Time is a valuable resource when you only have 6 weeks to get a viable robot up and running. I forsee massive gains in efficiency here if we organize the space and workflow wisely.
5586 is a team with a Mentorship team that skews very young. Their lead Mentor Jake is a 25-year-old mechanical engineer. The others, aside from a couple of exceptions, aren't much older than that. I'm impressed with all of them. That being said, they don't think like parents so I can help them with that aspect. Better communication with the parents would be a step in the right direction.
Being young, they are more inclined to use social media and search engines instead of dedicated forums for information. I have 15 years experience navigating various forums for the information I need. This place is a treasure trove of great information and I see very few from the team here. I need to fix that for that reason plus the all the networking potential that is here (see quote above).
tl;dr: Robots are awesome!