Mentor experience

[GeeTwo]

This thread is prompted by a spotlight post, which I've extended a bit:

Originally Posted by engunneer

every freshman or first time FIRST student comes onto the team with little to no experience. The whole point is that you will get to learn how to do some new things.

The question I'm really interested in, however is "As a mentor, how much experience did you bring to the table that was directly applicable to FRC?" I am mostly asking to help spread the idea that prior specific experience is not necessary to mentor an FRC team, though I do expect a few answers to the contrary. I considered a poll, but I figure that the stories are important.

Our team has just completed its fourth year of competition. Apart from some occasional mentoring from our own graduates, none of our mentors had ever competed in FRC/FTC/FLL/Jr. FLL, nor built a robot prior to becoming involved in FRC. (Jesse, our head coach, and his son Joey, each had one year FRC experience prior to our team's start with 1912, Team Combustion.) Here's the "prior experience" of our nominally technical mentors:

Jesse (head coach): A geneticist who opted to spend a decade or so as a teacher so he could spend more time with his children. He did spend a few years as a physics major.
Larry (original lead mentor): A NASA mechanical engineer who was drafted because he happened to attend church with Gixxy, our founder, during the period when he earned his PhD. OBTW, Larry now does mostly business side mentoring.
Bob: a physical oceanographer PhD, (Naval Research Lab) who also does mostly business side mentoring.
Gus (me): has a physics MS with a computer science minor, has been working for the Navy as an underwater acoustician for 26 years. But I do enjoy the robotics challenge!
Jeff: A computer programmer, who uses Java and Git on a daily basis. Unfortunately, his oldest child is well short of high school age, and is not particularly interested in computers, robots or even machinery. He is therefore at about half of our build sessions.
Shannon: An A/C tech with Johnson Controls. He probably has more practical knowledge of building things than everyone mentioned so far put together. His son graduated in 2015, but we expect/hope to keep him as a mentor.
Isaac: A former IBEW member, now mostly working pneumatics with Ingersoll Rand. He transformed our controls team, but is now focused on the business side of the team. He was pulled in by his son Seth, but stuck with the team when Seth dropped out.
Jim: A Navy ship's engineer. Unfortunately, he's about to be deployed to the Pacific.
Philip and Lester: NASA engineers. Both are great at getting us a few hours of machine shop time, but neither is around often enough to be part of our design process.

[Dan Petrovic]

My experience comes strictly from having been there before.

I was a very dedicated four-year member of my high school team. I was team captain for two years and pioneered some new organizational methods that still exist nearly 10 years later.

I am now one of many alumni that has returned to my high school team to mentor. I'm still working on how I can introduce my field of work into FRC, but until I figure that out, I have experience breaking apart the game and organizing a build season.

[evanperryg]

FIRST experience can help, but it's not a deal breaker by any means. Our lead mentor is an alum from 1592, and many of our own alumni come back during college to mentor in their free time. However, we've had multiple mentors come in with little to no experience with FRC, and contribute greatly.

[Jon Stratis]

Going back to my teams rookie year... None of the mentors had FIRST experience. All had applicable majors and jobs that provides a lot of general experience in mechanical, electrical, or computer engineering.

For myself, I had a 1 semester class experience a few years prior with robotics - a class called "autonomous robotics" and nicknamed "Lego Lab". Basically, we built and programmed Lego robots using MIT Handyboards and a collection of provided motors and sensors. There was a whole game set up for us to play (drive around an arena picking up plastic Easter eggs, determine if they are normal, brightly colored or painted black, and deposit them in either your "nest" or your opponents, indicated by two bright lights, polarized in opposite directions), a competition structure and all that. Very fun, in a way kind of like the FIRST competitions.

Another mentor also had some directly applicable experience, having done some sort of running robotic dog for his master's the year prior.

So, that's a little relevant experience from 2 mentors out of the 9 we had our rookie year. Every mentor we've pulled into the team since then hasn't had any directly relevant experience.

[MrRoboSteve]

I joined 3081 in 2011 as a mentor when my oldest son was on the team. While I came with deep background in software development and am pretty handy around the house, I didn't have a lot of experience with soft real-time systems, sensors, or mechanical engineering. The other mentors on the team were parents and the faculty advisor (teacher) who were handy and hard working, but had little directly relevant work experience.

This year we had three parent mentors and two team alumni mentors. None of them had directly relevant work experience.

[Clem1640]

I became a 1640 mentor at the end of the team's 2005 rookie year when my eldest daughter was recruited onto the team.

My work background and training was in chemical engineering. At the time I joined I had just successfully completed managing a large engineering project in China relating to large scale atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition. While chemical engineering is not such a close fit to robotics, I did bring some robot-useful knowledge:

1) Project management skills
2) Team management skills (multicultural)
3) I had designed a lot of the specialized chemical vapor deposition equipment; mechanical design was not a new area
4) I was familiar with 3-D CAD (using it to design equipment & systems)
5) I had designed and debugged process control logic for real-time chemical processes. Robotics control systems are also real-time.

So, while I had no specific robotics skills whatsoever, I was able to utilize my work skills and bridge some of these (with a lot of new learning) to robotics.

[Foster]

I started on 1640 (See Clem's post above) for the Rack and Roll Season. I came in with:

Basic Mechanical Skills
Computer Programming - lots of Micro-computing chip skills (lots of PIC experience and that was the IFI controller) in assembly and C
Electronics
Project Management
Basic Math skills and some physics knowledge
Build lots of erector set / go carts / etc as a pre-adult
Built stuff in Lego / Metal / Wood with my kids
Teaching experience at the college level
Web based systems -- I got our second and lasting website up
Wicked sense of humor(*)

I did part FRC / FVC the first few years and then moved more to the VEX side.

FRC is good for learn as you go.

I did programming, some build, lots of project / logistics management. I drove once, wrecked the robot, haven't driven since

(*) Foster phrases "Well I'm just the web guy but .. ", "That's not going to have a happy ending". "Hope is NOT an engineering strategy."

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

The question I'm really interested in, however is "As a mentor, how much experience did you bring to the table that was directly applicable to FRC?" I am mostly asking to help spread the idea that prior specific experience is not necessary to mentor an FRC team, though I do expect a few answers to the contrary.

Although you haven't stated this explicitly, I believe you a referring to technical experience, as opposed to experience as a whole.

However, there are many soft skills (experience) I wish more mentors had. In 1678's mentor meetings, I emphasize that what students need, now more than ever before, is adults who just show up. Adults that will serve as role models both within and outside of FRC and FIRST.

The single best life event that has equipped me as an FRC mentor is my experience serving as director of a youth summer camp on houseboats on a lake for five summers. My capacity to mentor students increased exponentially during these times on the water, doing nothing related to my chosen career field (Mechanical Engineering). Granted, FRC experience and Career experience has really helped as well.

Recognizing the immense value in "soft skills" allows your mentor base to bring in contributors from all backgrounds, whether or not they have the "hard skills" that many expect to find on a robotics team.

-Mike

Edit: I missed that you listed only your technical mentors. I'll just take my soapbox and go to a different thread now...

[wireties]

I'm an EE with vertical expertise in distributed control systems. Almost all my technical expertise applied directly to FIRST including...

C++ and embedded software techniques
VxWorks, Linux and embedded operating systems in general
Electrical design
Systems design

I know some teams struggle with software and/or electronics but our team was different. We struggled early on with mechanical design. Nowadays we have several talented MEs so I can stay in my wheelhouse! I notice that direct FIRST experience seems more helpful to MEs than to EEs and CS types. We build robots with weight limits and for limited use - it is different than most of industry. Materials and construction techniques specific to FIRST robots are evolving, becoming more and more specialized.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

Although you haven't stated this explicitly, I believe you a referring to technical experience, as opposed to experience as a whole.

Yes, that was the original intent, but a welcome expansion. The most professional business experience I can think of among our mentors is that Monica's father is a one-man caterer, and I believe that she helps him out with business matters as well as with the execution side. The vast majority of our mentors were recruited by student team members, a significant majority by their son or daughter.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by wireties

I notice that direct FIRST experience seems more helpful to MEs than to EEs and CS types. We build robots with weight limits and for limited use - it is different than most of industry. Materials and construction techniques specific to FIRST robots are evolving, becoming more and more specialized.

Not what I was originally looking for here, but a marvelous crystallizing observation! Reading this clarifies one of the things that I really liked about Recycle Rush: It presented a really different problem than most years. In particular, by eliminating the need for bumpers (and reducing other stresses), it shifted the balance away from rugged construction towards speed and reliability. The GDC really did come up with a game that could get mecanums on Einstein - and win. I hope they continue to provide challenges that keep us from becoming too specialized. The more specialized FRC becomes, the more it subject it is to being viewed as an end in itself rather than a means to inspiration, recognition, and preparation of young people for an innovative career in STEM.

[wireties]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Not what I was originally looking for here...

What I'm getting at is that relevant technical experience is helpful to be a "technical" mentor. EE/CS experience relates directly, ME a little less so (direct FIRST experience is handy for the MEs) and other technical backgrounds also apply. But building robots is not all we do - skill and experiences in management, budgeting, sales, IT, generic technical experience, welding, machine operators and especially adults who enjoy teaching and sharing with teenagers are invaluable team mentors. It takes all kinds, no doubt I missed a few important roles.

[IronicDeadBird]

So basically I have done First robotics since 5th grade with FLL, but I would say that most of my experience I pull and implement into the team I mentor comes from outside of FRC. There are plenty of shinning examples on how to handle FRC from high level teams if a student or mentor just looks around. On the other hand the experiences not directly connected to FRC but still useful are what I prefer to bring to the table as a mentor.

[SJaladi]

I started mentoring 1923 as a Freshman MechE student with very little prior FIRST experience (I mentored my younger brothers FLL team for a year). I did however have a lot of experience with shop tools, design and fabrication, as well as some of the electronics we commonly use. My first day with the team was kickoff in 2013 and I hit the ground running that build season. There was a bit of a learning curve with the student-mentor relationship side (how to be an effective mentor etc.) but I felt fairly comfortable with the technical side pretty quickly. Now after my third year, I feel like I'm starting to hit my stride as a good mentor, and not just a robot builder, but I still have a long way to go to stack up against some of the greats out there.

To answer the original question directly, I had no FRC experience, but plenty of technical skill. I was at the very least competent with every tool the team owned and usually experienced enough to teach students, I was good with Solidworks, though we didn't really use it til this year, and I was good with electronics. I picked up really quickly on pneumatics and the only place I still lack proficiency is programming. Strategic design was something I've learned along the way and I still have quite a bit to learn in that regard. In my opinion to be an effective technical mentor, you just need to have the right attitude, a willingness to learn, and some basic level of design knowledge.

[Jen Lawrie]

This past season was my first year as an FRC head coach. I'd say that I came into the program with pretty much no relevant technical experience aside from a solid grasp of physics and familiarity with most of the hand tools in our lab. I hadn't heard of FIRST before I began teaching three years ago. Although I have an engineering degree, my background and training are more organic chemistry than robotics. I didn't feel particularly disadvantaged by this. I've got no problem learning from my students on the team as well as other mentors - and I learned a lot this year. I think the "soft skills" I was able to bring to the team were probably more useful in my role. Thinking about the other mentors on the team, we have a pretty equal mix of college-aged FRC alumni, parents with relevant technical experience, and teachers affiliated with FIRST programs.