My Advice to FRC Rookies

I have spent the last season on a local FIRST Robotics Competition team as a programmer and web dev, and joining said team has resulted in some of the best memories of my life. I truly, and I mean truly, love the environment and the people I get to work with. However, if there was a new member to my team (or any other team for that matter) listening, There are a few things I would want to share with them regarding my experience.

1. You get out what you put in

From the very beginning of my time as a web developer on the team, my mentor told me this a thousand times over. And, it really is true. The more time I spent programming and interacting with other members, the more I felt like I was actually growing as a person. The people on these teams, or at least my team genuinely want to help you, and if you let them, the sky is the limit in terms of how much your skills can develop.

Some specific tips I have for this section are:

• Spend as much time as possible in-person

Especially with programming, it can feel so easy to just do your work from home. However, I feel like a ton of the experience and learning on the team comes from actually being around your mentors and teammates. So, when it's possible, stop by wherever your team operates, even for just a couple hours.

• Ask questions

It's okay, and I dare say expected, to not know things as a rookie. Asking your teammates questions is a great way to learn. Most importantly however, do NOT ask AI! This brings me into my next topic:

2. AI is NOT the answer

Programming is hard. In my experience, the majority of problems I struggled with were ones where I wasn't necessarily struggling with syntax, but rather how to even solve the problem in the first place. As a new programmer, it can be really frustrating to not know how to do something, and AI can feel like this magical tool that can give you exactly what you need in a flash.

But what, really is the result? The result is that you never really learned how to solve that problem at all. Sure, you (might) have beautiful code that does exactly what you wanted, but what really was the point? Being on a FRC team is supposed to be fun, and, by choosing to not learn what you are showing up to these meetings to learn, then why are you here?

I'm not saying that you are a disgrace to the team if you use generative AI to solve a problem in some extremely specific use-case scenario or something, but the truth is that there is so much documentation for almost everything that goes into making these robots. Along with that, you have teammates to help you. Programming can make me want to rip my hair out at times, but I wouldn't trade any of those nights where I was absolutely crashing out for an AI just handing me the answer. Because, at the end of the day, there is no gratification that comes from saying an AI wrote it for me.

3. Interact with other members

Kind of relating back to my first point, it is so important to actually spend time with the other members of your team. On my team in particular, the subteams can feel so divided. The majority of the time, we are working in completely different locations, and even at competitions, programming is just doing their own thing in the corner of the pit.

Because of this, I think it is really important to spend time talking to members of other subteams. That could mean helping out with mundane tasks for mechanical, or just socializing with other members outside of when the team is operating. During times like the offseason, it can be great to just talk to other members, and even put your skills together to build something awesome.

Sure, a lot of the competition is about winning. But a fair amount is having fun with it too. As a new member, it can really feel like you are out of the loop. Actually taking the time to learn about your fellow teammates can drive that feeling of isolation away, and even make you want to be a better member as well.

In all, the first season on a robotics team can be terrifying, but actually putting in the effort learning and spending time with your teammates can make robotics feel like the most amazing thing in the world. Don't be afraid to not know the answer, and have fun along the way too!