mentoringtips

Mentoring Information

What's involved

What sorts of jobs, how much effort, tips and trick...

The time commitment for being a mentor varies. It's totally up to you to decide how much time to put into being a mentor. It does help you and the team to be very honest and up front about the time you are willing to commit. That way no one's feelings will be hurt.

The build season lasts six weeks. Teams meet often during that time. Some teams meeting daily for 8hrs, sometimes staying up till midnight. Other teams meet a few times a week. As the build season end approaches, teams usually end up meeting more often to get those last bits of work done. After the build season is over there is still work to be done. Teams prepare for and attend at least one official FIRST competition. Some attend more than one or go to locally sponsored informal meets.

There are all kinds of things a FIRST team needs help with. Here is a list of some technical and non-technical things a typical team needs help with. Many mentors may be familiar with only one or two areas but by the end of a season they end up learning about lots of other areas. Cross training at its best!

Technical
- mechanical
- electrical
- software
- design

Non-technical
- rules and competition expert
- marketing (t-shirts, buttons, posters, flyers, etc)
- fund-raising
- budget/treasurer
- organizing/office skills
- food and feeding the team during build season
- Leadership/planning (teaching students how to lead and plan the project)

Teams looking for mentors

If you know of a team looking for mentors, especially near Sun campuses, please list them here with a name to contact.

Location	Team	Kind of help needed	Contact
Burlington MA	BHS Robotix Team 2876	All kinds	maciej dot wiczynski at sun dot com

Searching for a team

You can search for teams in your area or contact your FRC regional director for more details.

Final Steps

If you become a Sun mentor or volunteer, consider registering with the Sun Global Volunteer Program. This gives the company an idea of what projects are important to employees. Also, there may be Sun $ for FIRST available through the "Dollars for Doers" program.