Mentors

[Zil709]

Originally Posted by shyra1353

How do I convince my team that we need mentors ??

I'm shocked, really. I know that without our mentors, our team would be sitting on the floor of our shop, the kit of parts strewn haphazard about the room saying, "So, it's week 5. We need a robot. How 'bout that? Maybe if we put one of us in a box on wheels, we could pass that off as a robot?" Last year, our team was 5 freshmen with ZERO experience and two amazing mentors, who I realize now, don't get nearly enough credit. Without them, we would never even know how to put together a frame, let alone create a running robot.

I came into robotics with an ego that wouldn't die, convinced that I alone held the key to the universe. Okay, so maybe I wasn't that bad, but I would never ask for help. Imagine my shock when technobabble terms got thrown around a few times. Uhhmm...yeah. I took to writing things that i didn't know on my hand and I would go look them up later, refusing to 'look stupid' by asking. That lasted me about a week, and only when I asked my mentors could any real learning begin.

I suggest you just search around Chief Delphi in the Technical forum and find the hardest, most confusing question or five on the board, print them out, and hand it to your team. Tell them "If I leave, and come back in an hour, and every single person on this team understands the answer to that question and can explain it in detail to me, then I'll accept that we don't need mentors." I can almost guarantee that your team will stand staring at you, blinking ever so perplexed at the questions, and will admit defeat in about 4.3 seconds. Good luck!

(Sorry for being long-winded. I'll shut up now. )