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Unread 30-08-2010, 01:46
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Re: Doing FIRST in College

Quote:
Originally Posted by iCurtis View Post
I don't think it "universally reduces the chance of a good job", but I do think better opportunities exist for college kids than FIRST. My Design Build Fly team receives sponsorship money from our engineering department, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Nothrop-Grumman, and other small companies too. Having some of the people we meet with know your name is pretty hard to beat when it comes to getting a job.
I would say that is also untrue, I've got contacts at most local engineering firms, along with some larger ones (which you named) a further distance away.

FIRST isn't the problem, it's people being irresponsible (which I suppose is what John was getting at).

I was pretty dead set on not doing FIRST when I came to my school, and evaluated (and went to...) all the clubs and activities that were available. None of them except FSAE had the combination of engineering challenge and competition that I desired, and FSAE was just not my thing.

I determined the best mix of engineering exercise, leadership training, and just plain fun available to me was to mentor the local FIRST team. I still do a lot of design (and for local companies) for other clubs on request, but the FIRST team is what really gets my attention

I admit, every once in a while I miss a class or skip a homework "for the team", but the absence of FIRST would not change that; if I were in some other program, I would occasionally do the same "for that team".

Mentoring a FIRST team in college isn't bad; mentoring a FIRST team at great personal expense and/or exploring what other activities are available is. In my opinion, what's important in college (for engineering) is to learn the material, get respectable grades, and get some quality hands on design experience; the methods are up to the individual.
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