FIRST after Highschool

[jee7s]

I graduated HS in 2000, and I got my BS in EE in 2004. I'm slated to get my PhD in Computational Intelligence and Adaptive Controls this coming May.

I returned to mentor my team last year, a 7 year lapse. I think I was better served by having that lapse, and I think my team was better served as well.

Some will bite my head off for this...but being involved in FIRST has a tendency to put "FIRST Goggles" on. Here's what I mean: Participants get all wrapped up in the FIRST universe that they forget the real universe. Yes, FIRST provides you a framework for the competition, but it also blinds some to the physical reality.

I've noticed this in dealing with students. During my 7 year absence, my team took on the philosophy that FIRST is a shop project, focusing on mechanics and neglecting programming/electronics. They hardly knew any programming, controls, etc...and I had to impart these topics onto them. Since everyone was so stuck in their ways, I worked with mostly new people. That new group and the old group have merged now, and this season is looking better. It did, however, stand in the way of their success last year.

For myself, I have come into a field that is reasonably related to FIRST. However, I know two people from my old team who became involved in IT software and civil engineering, two disciplines tangentially related to FIRST. We are all good engineers, and FIRST does a good job exposing students to engineering, but there is engineering beyond robotics.

Simply, leaving FIRST for a year (or 4, or more) gives you the opportunity to view your future, whatever field it may be in, from a neutral perspective. Getting your "FIRST Goggles" off allows you to bring new ideas into the FIRST universe, which helps the competition (if you ask me).

-JEE