Do you get blamed for every thing one your team!!!

[Goober!!!]

for the new guys and girls on you team do you get blamed for every mistake???

[Goober!!!]

^ well not every mistake but most of the mistakes because i am blamed alot: (Hint my name is GOOBER)

[JamesCH95]

Let's face it, most of the mistakes ARE made by newbies. I asked our freshman this year to assemble the kit-bot chassis... they put bracekts in up-side down and were missing about 30 bolts... there are directions and no excuses. Not to say that veterans don't make mistakes, we do, I do, but newbies make them far more frequently in general.

Edit: I looked at what I've experienced and what the numbers show, and looking at them in a purely objective manor. My post is what I found. Obviously you don't yell at rookies, belittle them and such, it's just not right to do. I know FIRST is a learning experiance, I've learned more on my team than anywhere else. BUT if the robot fails to ship or perform because of a mistake, the whole team is let down. Measure ten times, cut once.

[Josh Hambright]

*deep breath*

Everyone makes mistakes, regardless of how long you've been doing anything, we all forget a bolt, or forget what pin something is on, or forget to solder something, or cut something wrong, or have a typo in a press release, it happens. A wise man told me a few nights ago, that it is important to own up to all your mistakes, so that others can see you doing that and wont deny and try to hide their own.

When you make a mistake, learn from it, take that oppertunity to see what else can be improved, and move on. If someone else makes a mistake, its not because they are inferiour to you, or bad at stuff, they just made a mistake thats all. Take that oppertunity to show to them how to do it properly, and how to do it better in the future.

No need for blame games, thats petty and just ends up causing more problems, while never fixing the origional problem.

BTW, that wise person was Mr. Baker, and even with his vast amounts of skills, experience, and knowledge, he will be the first to tell you he makes mistakes too, so it doesn't matter who you are, we all do it.

[Jaine Perotti]

Your first year on a robotics team is definitely a learning process (and it remains that way for the rest of your time on the team too). Whenever we learn new things, we are bound to make mistakes. Mistakes are ok, in my opinion. In fact, I think mistakes are good.

When I was a freshman, I knew absolutely nothing. I was so clueless about robotics... I don't even know why I stayed on the team. So naturally, I made alot of mistakes. Many many dumb mistakes. When one makes mistakes, yes, that person is responsible for them. However, too often failure is viewed in a negative light. I know it sounds like a bit of a paradox, but one of the philosophies of my team has always been this: "failure is desirable".

What makes failure desirable? How does that make any sense?

When someone makes a mistake, they learn something. They get a deeper understanding for what makes [insert aspect of robotics here] work/not work the way it does. In this way, they have benefited from their failure. They know not to make that certain mistake again, and they learn something from it.

I don't like it when members of a team get "blamed" in a negative way when things go wrong. It doesn't help anyone, and it makes the members of the team feel more self conscious about making a mistake. Within every group of people, there is a certain "mistake comfort level". How comfortable to you feel about messing up or not knowing what to do? Do you feel alienated or do you feel that someone is willing to help?

On a team, I believe that one should feel comfortable with not knowing... there should not be an atmosphere of disrespect for those who know less. The lack of a high "comfort level" is what is responsible, in many instances, for making people quit a robotics team. It makes me sad to read that people "get blamed for everything that goes wrong", when they should be treated with more respect. Someone should be constructively explaining what went wrong and why, instead of playing the blame game. Blame does not help anyone.

Alot of times this disrespect comes from other members of the team. Freshmen/rookies are often treated with contempt by veterans. I am disappointed with veterans' behavior towards those who are merely trying to learn. I am disappointed when those who are supposed to be teaching the rookies, end up discouraging them. Discouragement is not what FIRST is all about. FIRST is about inspiration.

Another reason why I hate discouraging behavior is this: an example of disrespect is being demonstrated to the younger members of the team. Negative attudes will be passed from one "generation" of veterans to another. The rookies will be taught that it is ok to yell at other people, blame them for what goes wrong, and treat them poorly. This cycle of bad attitude will stick with the team, until someone tries to break it... a very difficult thing. Negativity will fester for years within the team dynamic, and everyone will be worse off.

So next time you feel like yelling at a freshman because they made a dumb mistake, try to be constructive and explain what they did wrong respectfully. Don't ruin the experience of "failure" for them. View their failures as an experience in which they learned, not in which they screwed everything up for the team. Think about what the goals and objectives of FIRST are, and make a decision to inspire, not discourage.

-- Jaine

[Wetzel]

No, that's Kyles fault.

Wetzel

I am on on mechanical sub team and im kinda new wqith mechanical and i kinda get yelled at once in a while cuz im just not fast enough to get tools, etc.

[Eria4044]

Some. To demonstrate the situation I'm in, here's a little story. Just now, soda was being handed out. Somebody dropped one and someone said, "Just give that to somebody." Immediately, they gave it to me.

[Dorienne]

Well, when I was a rookie, I wasn't blamed for too much...considering I didn't do much at all with the 'bot. But sometimes they'd jokingly blame me for things. They still do on occasion, but it's all in good fun.
No worries, Goober. FIRST is about teamwork and developing good positive relationships with your teammates and other teams, but it's moreso about learning from experiences. Don't sweat the small stuff, rookie.

[Mike Schroeder]

Yes, yes i do, since i joined in 1998 its always been way to go mike, or mike did it or something like that

I am now a college mentor and the kids on my team still blame me for stuff

but i wouldn't have it any other way

[Bcahn836]

I don't but we always blame our lead programmer Miles. LOL

[Adam Y.]

Remember any mistakes that you make can always be corrected with super glue.

[davelu]

Ahhh!!! my teamates always shift the blame on to me or the entire team, cuz they all know i am bad at telling the truth.


and some times we blame it on the niners... guess what we call the niners while the teachers away..."SLAVES" we make they clean the floor and everything else, and that's how i was traded last year..i think i am kinda going off topic. oh, well.

[Mike]

FIRST Lesson 1:
Don't go "We should paint these joysticks" and then wiggle the joystick randomly while mentors hands are in the drivetrain.

...enough said.

[KTorak]

I'm a rookie and I haven't made too many mistakes...The biggest i made was probably when I was machining a part and i shaved 1/4" too much off, wasn't a big deal, but we couldn't use it once someone forgot to compensate for the 1/4" by moving the holes 1/8" in on each side