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Originally Posted by jijiglobe
My experience as president was hugely stressful, and left me in a position where I had to stop and ask myself if it was all worth it. I have to admit that this year, during build season, I wasn't really in a good place emotionally; there were just too many things to worry about, on top of my classwork. On top of all that, my team made it to Einstein this year, which left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I'm happy that my team was successful, and that my hard work payed off. On the other hand, I'm worried about the implications of this success. Is it necessary for our leaders to push themselves this hard for our team to be successful?
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Upon further reflection, I wanted to address the work-life balance you're talking about. This of course is not FIRST's responsibility. It is something that everyone needs to work out for themselves. A team's culture and your role within the team will have a lot to do with how much pressure you face from FRC.
Beyond that, it's been my experience that working in STEM fields can get super competitive, particularly in an educational setting. There is a lot of ego tied up with how quickly, how devotedly, and how thoroughly one groks <insert favorite STEM subject here>. IMO this attitude can be quite discouraging to certain personality types, even though it may provide drive to other personality types. Some of the worst tolls it can take are:
* poor work-life balance
* unhealthily unrealistic achievement expectations
* insulation from peers driven by professional jealousy
* valuing outcomes over process
Thankfully FIRST seems to be less prone to this but it is not immune. You see it when students, mentors, and volunteers sacrifice basic needs and relationships to keep a team or an event going. You see it in unfounded accusations of cheating towards high achieving teams. You see it when teams are more interested in banners than in their students becoming passionate and healthy people.
The C in FRC is for competion. Sometimes we lose track of why we're competing. It's not supposed to be about ego. Competition is supposed to be a carrot to drive learning and practicing skills. No one should have to put a whole team's season on their back. And, should you find yourself there, there is no shame in setting reasonable boundaries, even if it means lowering the team's expectations. There will be disappointment but dealing with disappointment is also part of life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jijiglobe
Also... Airplanes aside, some people were throwing legitimately dangerous things onto Einstein (someone threw a large paper shuriken made out of several sheets of paper that narrowly missed someone in our pit crew. From the height it was thrown, it could have easily hurt someone really badly). Can FIRST please do something about the paper airplane situation?
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The venue at Worlds is so big I think teams need to self enforce this. I find it very rude when people are throwing things, especially during or between matches or when someone is at the podium. Much worse if it's something that could actually hurt someone (did we leave safety in the pit?)
Maybe it would help if FIRST had an area set up dedicated to people to flying paper airplanes. Maybe a contest for who can fly furthest?