I first joined robotics in 2005, my freshman year. At that time I didn't know much of anything, other than I liked computers a bit. I only knew 1 language at the time: QBASIC.
My sophomore year I took programming 1 and 2. Unfortunately the programmers didn't pass their knowledge down, and and all 3 of them graduated that year. In 2007, this forced me to learn C, a completely new language to me, in 2 weeks. Oh we also needed a PID control for the robot. Before then I thought it would be simple to control. If its to the left go full speed to the right, and vice versa. This causes gearboxes to implode in case you were wondering
. But boy do you learn fast when the entire team is counting on you. The code stabilized 2 days before ship, but mechanical issues plagued us through the regional.
Senior year I learned so much about signal processing and how to get a better SNR. We ended up winning the NYC regional, and making it to a DOUBLE TIE BREAKER in the quarter finals at Archimedes. I still remember how I felt when the scoreboard came up. This is really what sealed the deal for me to major in electrical engineering. FIRST also got me a full ride to college, for all 4 years. I still mentor the team, not because of the scholarship, but because FIRST is addictive.
This isn't all FIRST did for me. The summer before my freshman college year, I interned at ANADIGICS, our sponsor. I did some really fun stuff there. My boss was also the engineer that helped at the school, so he knew exactly what work to give me. It would be challenging, but fun.
And above all: I learned how to learn.