Most active/popular team roles

[TofuRama]

Build has been the most popular with our team since it's the most hands-on and the one that most new recruits have felt comfortable with. This year programming has definitely been the most active since we have scheduled more programming sessions for the off-season compared to build and electrical.

[CNettles11]

We keep the technical subsystems around 3-5 people each but, we allot more manpower to the nontechnical subteams because those things are generally harder/more tedious than hands-on work. We ARE a robotics team, and geeks usually lack social skills needed to get sponsors.

Originally Posted by CNettles11

...geeks usually lack social skills needed to get sponsors.

I'm sorry, I don't usually do this, but I felt the need to.

I am a "geek", and have earned our team $5500 within the last month, and I'm working on more! Not all geeks lack social skills! Wait, I take that back. I barely know any geek that lacks social skills! Have you seen us at competition, or showing off our robot? I'd say when it comes to social skills, geeks are just about the most social people I know! I'm not saying every geek in the nation is an outgoing go-getter, but a large percentage are, and that number grows greatly with FIRST robotics.

Please get more information when using words like usually to describe a group. Some may, but that doesn't mean all do on a regular basis.

Thank you.

[CNettles11]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

I'm sorry, I don't usually do this, but I felt the need to.

I am a "geek", and have earned our team $5500 within the last month, and I'm working on more! Not all geeks lack social skills! Wait, I take that back. I barely know any geek that lacks social skills! Have you seen us at competition, or showing off our robot? I'd say when it comes to social skills, geeks are just about the most social people I know! I'm not saying every geek in the nation is an outgoing go-getter, but a large percentage are, and that number grows greatly with FIRST robotics.

Please get more information when using words like usually to describe a group. Some may, but that doesn't mean all do on a regular basis.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, OUR geeks lack social skills. It's one thing for us to talk to people we know but, when we try to get sponsorship, we tend to lock up or turn red.

Originally Posted by CNettles11

I'm sorry, OUR geeks lack social skills. It's one thing for us to talk to people we know but, when we try to get sponsorship, we tend to lock up or turn red.

Don't worry! FIRST will take the jitters right out of you! (I know, it worked for me!)

[davidthefat]

What a great question. I honestly do not know. I have been stuck in my own bubble that I am not aware what most people are interested in. Sure, there are those who are clearly doing certain jobs, but a lot of the others, I have no idea.

[ttldomination]

So I would say that everything is a little popular for different reasons.

Programming - Students have this notion that programming will detail long nights filled with hacking and interesting schemes to take over the world and stuff. Many don't even get past the fact that they have to learn a programming language and they end up on mechanical.

Mechanical - Many students join mechanical because they want to build the beauty that stands before them. They want to walk into the shop empty handed and walk out of the shop having just built a 120 lb robot. Many don't realize the work required to design components, to think 2-5 steps ahead, and ultimately deal with failure. These students often end up quitting the team or taking a back seat role.

For the most part, mechanical is popular by the number of students involved, but a significant number of them are screw turners. We've recently had a growing number of students who take part in the actual design creation and critiquing process, which leads to better build quality and greater interest in mechanical.

- Sunny G.