So, you're not an engineer! How do you help your team??

[jonathan lall]

Oooh, life story time.

I'm happy to say that I've worked on every aspect of the team's development since I joined, with the notable excption of programming/electronics (because that job's for softies ). First year, I spat out prototypes at a blinding speed and helped out a little with our successful Chairman's bid. I knew far more than anyone in my year, but I also had much to learn. This was satiated by how much work I put into the actual final assembly of the robot that year, simply because there was a low turnout starting with exams and never really ending. By my second year, my brother and I were the two main designers and builders on the team. While he did the gearbox, it was often Steve W and I protoyping the function in Mr. Anderson's garage, sometimes alone (you'd be scared too). I put in some machine shop time on our gearbox as well, but that department was handled almost exclusively by Tristan. This was probably my most engineering-oriented year, which was not only out of necessity, but also out of interest in doing that kind of stuff. I got to be the human player, and only incurred one penalty, which happened in our final match on Curie in an ambitious six-two-stack, but it didn't matter anyway. I was a ****ing good human player. But by 2004, I was by far the most experienced student on the team; this meant that I had to start working in a leadership role and offer smaller contributions to every aspect of the team, from writing the Woodie Flowers essay with J Flex, to designing our website. Then I took over dutes as driver. It left a lot less time for engineering, most of which I did at the machine shop on our behemoth trannies. Yeah, you know the ones. Anyway, recently I've been picking up the slack for my year's low contributions to the team.

I see a trend of jacks-of-all-trades in this thread, but perhaps that isn't surprising on a FIRST-themed forum. Now, all these engineering overtones, and my engineering roles on the team would suggest I become an engineer. I certainly enjoyed playing them. But nope, I'm too self-respecting to become an engineer. Try lawyer.

*ducks*