Team Mentorship Question

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by Boomtownblues

I completely agree about the work/life/team balance, I'd like to enter as a part time mentor at first to gauge how I'd be on the team. Is this unadvisable?

Definitely. Remember, when you go to help out out a team, things have been going on before you got there. The team has a way of doing things that perhaps you are not familiar with/you aren't used to. As a part time/side lines mentor, you'll be able to much more easily assimilate into the program you join as well as observe the group in order to recommend any changes.

Originally Posted by Boomtownblues

I guess my biggest question at this point is what is the best strategy to play as a mentor? Is it more of a role where you question and challenge members to overcome design challenges?

This depends on your attitude towards mentoring and the attitude of the program you join. I know, me personally, I enjoy being a part of the process. So I have no issues asking questions, throwing in/out ideas, and turning the occasional screwdriver.

However, other teams like their mentors to take various approaches. This might be a discussion that you have with the lead mentor of the program you join as well as something you develop throughout your mentoring career.

Originally Posted by Boomtownblues

Do you make your own curriculum to teach them the tools they need to design and construct a bot, or do you try to expose them to the right material and let them discover it themselves?

I think you need to take note that robotics members come in an hierarchy. The seniors (most of them) are fully functioning members, and in a well developed program, they can best most mentors. So any style of curriculum wouldn't really target them.

When my team is targeting new members, it is with the understanding that no amount of classroom training is a substitution for getting out there and building. Therefore, we attempt to teach the basics (give them the "tools"), and then throw them in.

Originally Posted by Boomtownblues

How much responsibility do you leave in the member's hands in terms of making organizational decisions?

I think this is more to do with the program you join. Obviously, you want to the students to do ask much as possible. However, the answer to this question is a fundamental debate, not only on these forums, but in almost all of FIRST.

- Sunny G.