- I am actively employed during the on season
- I am not employed during the on season
0 voters
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Disclaimer: all financial situations are different so take this with that in mind…
… but you have your whole life to work! Use your limited number of high school years for fun and learning!
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I voted “not employed” in the above poll, but for some additional insight, I did still do a bit of contract/freelance programming during build season. I didn’t spend more than 4 hours a week on it, so compared to even a typical part-time job, it was pretty light.
I’m sorry, but I can’t stop myself from admiring that the poll results match my team’s number. (If you flip the order)
Edit: Not Anymore 
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I worked around 12 hours a week while doing FRC, though my current team is not as “rigorous” as most. If you’re worried about time, you can do a lot with improved time management (something that I’ve not fully learned yet and likely never will).
This is easier said than done for some teams.
When you’re from Hawaii and each events has a lot of travel expenses, a lot of our students work so that they can participate in as many events as possible.
In fact, every year I employ a few so that they can make enough money to cover all of their incidentals. I subsidize the majority of the costs, but when a trip i.e. Chezy Champs is $500 per student, the cost is relative on if this is affordable or not.
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Think this year was highest in last several years for jobs during season. We typically have a couple that job just eventually makes doing robotics too difficult. I was having to know what days our driver worked this year to arrange practice sessions. Our drive coach also worked in season which led to a couple meetings were he was nodding off, and had to talk about getting some more sleep. With the job market for teens, this is definitely an issue that I think we have to pay close attention to. Obviously it is a safety issue if they are not getting enough sleep between school, work, and robotics, along with many are rural students driving 10-20 miles to get anywhere. So something have to pay attention for alertness and making sure students prioritize being rested for school.
I was guessing that 30+% have a job during robotics season.
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My team is in a school district that is considered “affluent”, in a city with relatively low costs of living. They could afford to build two large football stadiums and were able to “find” $10M to build the STEM Center to accommodate 8 FRC teams, even after the bond issue failed. Within this school district, there are several schools where around 80% of the students get subsidized lunches and both parents work, often multiple jobs to survive. Academic performance is typically lower at these schools so college scholarships are often not an option. For many of those students, working during their time in high school is investing in their futures.
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There are also benefits to working even when one doesn’t financially have to.
@waialua359 mentioned students working to afford team travel. Maybe this isn’t a necessity (“I absolutely have to work to make ends meet”) but it certainly improves quality of life. In other cases, maybe it generates some spending money someone wouldn’t have. And, yes, there are A LOT of cases where students have to work,
Separately, though, I think working a little bit while in high school is a good experience. I’m not saying everyone should work 20+ hours per week for their whole high school careers, but having a part time job teaches life skills. Importantly, I think that being a student, working, and doing FRC is a really excellent lesson in time management.
I recognize that there is only a finite amount of time. One of the following will inevitably suffer:
- Time for school work
- Time for FRC
- Time for leisure/family/friends
- Time for a job
- Time for sleep
I believe that finding that balance of those things is worth the effort, but I also know that some people would rather shirk their responsibilities on a few of these in favor of more time to the others.
We all have to make decisions in life about how to spend our time, and there are often a multitude of external factors dictating many of these decisions. That said, I’m pro high school jobs.
Disclaimer: This is coming from someone known to always be VERY busy. Some might say I take on too much, I say I get bored doing less. I worked 15-25 hours a week during parts of high school, but not all of it (my grades weren’t very good, but this wasn’t a main factor). I also worked throughout all of college (including two semesters where I worked very full time (40+ hour/week) jobs and still got my full degree in 2.5 years (standard is 4 in the U.S.), because I would have been bored moving slower. So, take this with a grain of salt – I might be a freak of nature.
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To clarify, so am I! I hire 20-25 high schoolers every summer so I’m a bit biased in that regard though 
Working during the school year, especially during FRCFIRST Robotics Competition season would just be lower on my personal priority list than the other items you listed. Everybody will have their own priorities and reasons for doing things though.
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This same poll would be interesting for mentors, how many mentors take a sabbatical or have an arrangement where they are “unemployed” or without regular pay during build season.
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Would need to include options for mentors that are retirees, college students, seasonal, and others that only work part time or not at all.
Deep enough question you probably don’t want to lose that context.
Usual disclaimers about this being representative of Off-season CD, not CD or FRC as a whole.
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There were 2 students that had jobs during the season that I know of. One was my daughter who worked until build season started then stopped working. The other one I know of just reduced the amount of hours she worked during build season. So your statement of on season isn’t the best. I think it should be broken down into during build/comp season and fall or prebuild season. Our practice amount changes drastically once the game is announced.
My daughter (15 years ago now!) spent her senior year “employed” by filling out scholarship applications. Any she could find. That paid off much better than what she might have earned flipping burgers.
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Is there an option for adults that wish we didn’t have to work during FRC season? 
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I’ve had lots of students who had to work, some all year round and others who worked in the FRCFIRST Robotics Competition off-season and quit/took a break during build season.
I’m curious whether you think that (for example) working 10 hours a week and doing 5 hours a week of FRCFIRST Robotics Competition teaches time management better than not working and doing 15 hours a week of FRCFIRST Robotics Competition? Is doing a larger number of separate activities inherently better time management practice than focusing on fewer things?
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This is so variable. In the case of spending more time on FRCFIRST Robotics Competition, are the goals and work product the same if time increases, or dot he goals increase, too? There’s a difference between “I have to accomplish X regardless of how much time I have” and “if I have more time, I can accomplish X and Y.”
I generally think that more activities help teach better time management, yes. But if someone is doing so many different tasks within an FRCFIRST Robotics Competition team that they need to time manage that internally, that’s good to.
There’s no one size fits all to any of this, especially not to learning how to be a person.
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This past year I took time off work when build season started. Now I think I will return to my job for a while during pre season.
Back when I was a student I had a job for during the season my junior and senior years, but I believe I was able to work my schedule around our meetings. Also my senior year I worked at a ski hill in rentals, so between the waves of customers I had my laptop out and worked on CAD
When i was a student in FRC I worked as a cashier at a grocery store and I set my availability to where I would still have Tues-Wed-Thurs evenings and every other Saturday off. So I still got ~20hrs a week working and easily 20-30 in the shop working on robots or business plans.