I always promote FIRST to high school students when possible. I very much feel that it was one of the most (if not the most) important experiences of my career. Nothing else has even come close in terms of how much there was to learn, both in electronic and mechanical terms, but also in team building and other ancillary skills. I didn't really realize it at the time, but I really do feel it was pivotal to my career so far.
I had FIRST on my resume through college, and that work was always the top question for interviewers. It was easy to give a really passionate response, and since rarely had they heard of it, I'd get a chance to explain how the program works and exactly what our team did. I just wish that it was more widespread, not very many schools have FIRST teams. We were able to gain some school-wide attention for our team as well, and it grew significantly after my senior year. If FIRST was a 'sport' at schools across the country, we'd be in much better shape for the next generation of engineers and scientists.
If you have the chance to join a FIRST team (as a student), you absolutely must take the opportunity--it'll pay huge dividends.
(I was on team 195, I'm now an engineer at Microsoft.)
I had FIRST on my resume through college, and that work was always the top question for interviewers. It was easy to give a really passionate response, and since rarely had they heard of it, I'd get a chance to explain how the program works and exactly what our team did. I just wish that it was more widespread, not very many schools have FIRST teams. We were able to gain some school-wide attention for our team as well, and it grew significantly after my senior year. If FIRST was a 'sport' at schools across the country, we'd be in much better shape for the next generation of engineers and scientists.
If you have the chance to join a FIRST team (as a student), you absolutely must take the opportunity--it'll pay huge dividends.
(I was on team 195, I'm now an engineer at Microsoft.)