I have a unique perspective on this; much of it is due to my personal experience:
I am female (duh
). During high school I was one of 5 females on a team of 20 students. I entered the team without any technological knowledge, so I sought information and education on how to machine, prototype, and design. I had mild success but I found a greater passion: the PR, the awards, being interviewed with judges, and event organization. Next to that stuff I still machined parts in the shop and enjoyed it, could I do both?
I went to school to study Mechanical Engineering because robots are cool and I was a FIRST female who wanted to break the stereotype. After two years in college I realized that I was trying to be somebody I'm not. I'm not a designer, I'm not a person absolutely enjoys taking things apart & putting them back together again, and I'm not a person who enjoys talking about gear boxes all throughout a FIRST gathering after a regional. All I was doing was breaking a stereotype, but in order to be true to
Who I Am I decided that life isn't about being who you want to be, but being who you are.
I'm a person who can make ideas happen. I can dream up a FIRST off-season competition, ask people for a tens of thousands of dollars, and organize the event. I enjoy making my ideas turn into reality. I feel like more of an entrepreneur. Oh great, another FIRST female going into business - Not Really. I'm now studying Industrial Engineering and I'm loving it! However, I do want to get a high-tech MBA afterwords.
Basically, I want to be a person who creates jobs for engineers. Not one of those engineers who fill a position.
I want to learn how to weld, machine better, and I enjoy working on FIRST robots with teams who need the help (not teams with 7 engineers who've been working together for ten years and are set in their ways). But this is only a hobby. I'm not tech-minded, I wasn't raised to be, and what I'm good at/enjoy can make me a lot of money in the future.
Girls, if you are techy, great! If you're not, don't worry about it. We're all good at something and FIRST can show you what that is. Just remember, be true to WHO YOU ARE.
erin