New to robotics...feel lost, useless, and robotics career question

[dlavery]

Legolas52-

Let me give you a very short version of just one story about what can happen. A while back there was a senior on one of the teams participating in the 1999 FRC program. It was her first year on the team, and because she would be graduating, it was going to be her last. She joined the team without really knowing what to expect, and believed she was without a specific skill that could add to the team's capabilities. Her initial experience was very similar to the one you describe. Part way through the build season, one of the team mentors sat down with her and a friend and explained how a servo worked. At the end of the discussion, they were told, "OK, now that you know how that works, we need you to do something. You have to build a little adapter and mounting fitting for the servo, and set it up so it can make this particular motion that will release the tie-downs on the rest of the robot. The servo only has to make one simple motion, but it has to do it absolutely perfectly each and every time a match starts, otherwise the rest of the robot will never work. Can you do that?" The two girls took over the task, built the servo adapter and mount, and made dang sure that it worked every single time it was needed. It was only a simple single-servo motion, but it was important to the successful operation of the entire robot.

After getting a start with her team by building that one little servo system, she was hooked. At every meeting she found a way to get more involved, and worked at really understanding how the robot and the team could be improved. She had so much fun with the team that, a year later, she co-founded a brand new team during her freshman year at college. Five years later, she worked for a full year to be personally responsible for creating 12 brand new teams and chairing the planning committee for a brand new FRC regional event. Today, she is a Regional Director for FIRST, and a dyed-in-the-wool roboholic!

Yes, robotics does get to be more fun as time goes on. And we should be clear - "as time goes on" can be a long time. I have been doing robotics-related work for over 20 years, and it continues to be a lot of fun. But, you should expect to put in a lot of work to make it fun (nothing happens for free!).

Is it worth it? I dunno. People will answer that differently, based on their own experiences, values, and perceptions. You will have to answer that one for yourself, after you have participated in the process a little longer. But the one thing that I can guarantee is: you won't get anything out of the program if you don't stick with it, but if you really do put a lot of energy into a full and honest participation in the program, the results can be amazing.

-dave

[Steve Yasick]

A Mentors view:

We see this all the time here in Zeeland. The question for us is "How do I give you the task that will keep you going until you get hooked?"

I am glad you sent us the e-mail here on CD. I think you need to get that small job done then "get in the way" and ask questions of the mentors. Most important, don't quit!

Mr. Yasick

P.S. I love the name of the town you are from

[TheAnsweris42]

I had the same sort of useless feeling the first few days on the team, but here's the thing, especially if you are on an inexperienced thing - find someone no one else wants to do. I wound up reading the rules at home one night, and overnight became the recognised 'rules guy'. Its odd how many times people need information, and its great to be the one that has the answer, like the earlier battery man example. Keeping up on things here on CD is another job you might take up... I'm kinda describing my own job, I think. What I'm trying to say is that there are a lot of opportunities, techinical and not, when you're doing something as complicated as this competition.

[atomikitten]

Originally Posted by TheAnsweris42

I had the same sort of useless feeling the first few days on the team, but here's the thing, especially if you are on an inexperienced thing - find someone no one else wants to do. I wound up reading the rules at home one night, and overnight became the recognised 'rules guy'. Its odd how many times people need information, and its great to be the one that has the answer, like the earlier battery man example. Keeping up on things here on CD is another job you might take up... I'm kinda describing my own job, I think. What I'm trying to say is that there are a lot of opportunities, techinical and not, when you're doing something as complicated as this competition.

That's a neat job and would definitely help your team. Since you said there's only 4-7 people on the team, why don't you start recruiting other members? Grab some people out of the comp sci class, see who's really ahead in math, who loves physics, get people from DECA and Student Council to help you with the business and PR end of the team. There are so many awesome people you meet through FIRST. There's always someone to supply you with the supportive can-do and don't give up attitude; why would you want to leave?
Keep your chin up, kid; you're probably more valuable than you realize