Michael Kinnunen and Steve Wirt share how they each got started with Drupal through higher-ed jobs and stayed for the communit. They compare those community values to FIRST Robotics, explaining FIRST's K–12 programs (FRC, FTC, and FIRST LEGO League), kickoff-style challenges, and the "coopertition" culture where teams help competitors with parts and repairs. Both mentor highschool robotics teams in the US.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/cafe019

Topics

Cafe Catch Up
Drupal Origin Stories
Why Drupal Community
What Is FIRST
Mentoring Journeys
Team Names Numbers
Kickoff Build Sprint
Coopertition In Action
Awards And Impact
Drupal for Team Ops
Trying Recipes and Canvas
Time Investment and Module Fixes
Getting Students into Drupal
Mentor Load and Teaching Java
Student Run Team Culture
Robot Ecosystem and Everybot
Team Roles and Onboarding
Adversity and Grit Lessons
FIRST Programs and How to Join
Wrap Up and Good Luck

Steve Wirt

Drupal Developer for CivicActions by day, FIRST Robotics mentor by night Steve has been a Drupal Developer for 19 years and helps government agencies build tools that help improve their mission. He is founding mentor of FRC team Compass Robotics.

Michael Kinnunen

Backend Engineer for CivicActions Michael has been working with Drupal for about a decade, starting with Drupal 7 in 2016 as a Web Developer at Northern Michigan University. He has also spent the past six years as a mentor for the Negaunee Minerbotics FRC team, where he has helped students build technical skills in programming and engineering.

Guests

Steve Wirt - swirt

Michael Kinnunen - mkinnune

Resources

FIRST Robotics Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition Michael's team

Steve's team - Compass Robotics