[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by runneals

I saw this and thought I would add on the VERY important part that it seems like (not being a FTA, but doing a LOT of troubleshooting myself in my work) that an FTA needs critical thinking skills/ability/reasoning even before technical skills. If you're not able to think critically under pressure, then I'm sure it'd probably not be very fun.

Finally to go back to the point above, MAKE SCHOOL FIRST (if you're going to college). MAKE FIRST SECOND. Being an FTA requires you to be there Wednesday Morning through Saturday Night. If you are in classes, it'd be pretty hard to miss a few events worth of classes. I would second what everyone says about starting slower and finding your niche. For me it was utilizing my passion/artistic ability of photography at events to be a photographer. Not at events it was attempting (still working on that first blue banner) to mentor teams to success.

Agreed on both. I was meaning to include critical thinking with technical knowledge, but having knowledge doesn't directly imply an ability to use it, which is indeed a separate skill. In hindsight I've seen both sides of that coin (part of being a scorekeeper during a rough event).