Quote:
Originally Posted by sircedric4
And as for recruitment efforts and finding competent programmers let's remember that not everyone has the resources, contacts, or interest and recognize that not every team can get a competent programmer all the time. I live in the real world and there isn't enough time in the day sometimes. As it is, our team does have one competent programmer and its the mentor your chatting with right here. :-) I can name 6 teams in my immediate area that don't have the luxury of a dedicated programmer and they get help where they can. I just think when setting up game designs, the GDC does remember to give a little consideration to smaller teams (which I would be willing to bet is the vast majority of teams, just not the powerhouse known teams) and as such I don't expect to see fully auto as a requirement anytime soon.
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I still find it surprising that you're the only competent programmer, but I concede that may be because I don't have much experience with teams outside my immediate area. Our school is medium/smallish, with 90 people in each grade, but we've managed to find 3 competent programmers this year, 2 of them dedicated. Our team isn't particularly good, certainly not a powerhouse, but any of the 3 programmers can write the teleop code within an hour (provided the drivers know what they want, the electrical stuff is connected correctly, the mechanics work, etc).
As for recruiting programmers, I think the best way to get them is to inspire them. Don't say they get to write the driving code and winning the game is entirely the responsibility of the drivers. Tell them they get to work on the camera, let the robot make intelligent decisions, or score autonomously. That's what got me enticed; I certainly wouldn't have joined the team just to make the robot drive.