I am a rising 12th grader who has the role of a programmer/builder in VEX Robotics. I joined late freshman year and feel as though I learned nothing. When I joined, I believed and was told that no experience was needed, but my experiences have taught me otherwise. I go to nearly every meeting and can say that all I’ve really gotten is knowledge of the names of materials, how to do basic coding, and how to notebook. I have no knowledge of building, not even being able to comprehend the complex structures my team lead builds. My notebooking is poor and disorganized, and people on the team gossip about me and how useless I am. How do I make my senior year worthwhile? I’m thinking that I’ll quit right after I submit my college application, but I want a reason to stay..
This is upsetting. Well… I can partially relate to this but the not learning part:
I also joined late this year (freshmen year) and we also have a useless teammate, he just sits around and does nothing but he fits because my team doesn’t take anything seriously and its all jokes but that does not have to do with anything.
You should involve yourself where you see best fit.
New Team Starting Resources is a great start.
But expect to hear others stories because I’m not really experienced.
I’m in IQ, but we have a teammate in a situation like yours this year. Here’s my advice
- Start learning PID or Odom(odomentry). This will help you get better at coding. Use videos or other VEX Forum posts(use search bar).
- Learn about gear ratios. In my opinion, gear ratios are really important.
- If it is possible, ask your team if they can teach you how to build.
- Create a notebook template. Using a set template will help you create an organized notebook.
- Learn about the interview process. You might as well know about how interviews work just in case your team doesn’t know about it. Here’s the link https://kb.roboticseducation.org/hc/en-us/articles/4971345633815-Judging-Resource-Team-Interview-Rubric
- READ THE NOTEBOOK JUDGING PROCESS!!! This is insanely useful if you want a good notebook. Aim for a notebook that is rated Expert in EVERY category. Here’s the link https://kb.roboticseducation.org/hc/en-us/articles/4461349729047-Judging-Resource-Engineering-Notebook-Rubric
If you want more tips, don’t be afraid to ask!
The biggest thing you can do is decide what you want to do: build/design, program (comp/skills), or notebook. Then whenever the team is working on that: be there, asking questions and participating in what you can, you will learn by doing. As this is your last year your team might expect you to do more, but they will appreciate you trying. Anything you have a question that they might not answer, ask it here, on discord, or look it up on YouTube. For those willing to out in the time your team and us are willing to help. Good luck and hope you have an awesome last season!
From years of experience - no one is useless… again, no one is useless.
I am sorry you feel this way, this is more that an issue that the team has not figured out that everyone has a super power to offer for the team and everyone should feel valued on the team in order for the team to get the best from everyone on the team.
I just realized. Dude you’re about to go to college! You should prove what you’re best at! I even had the leader/captain coming to me for help! 
Woah woah woah…
For an inexperienced robotics student, jumping into PID and Odometery before you even know the basics is one of the worst things you could do.
If you’re interested in coding, start with the basics, such as the built-in coding formats in VexCode. As you learn more functions, slowly create more advanced programs, until you’re ready to learn something more complex. At this point, try watching a tutorial on PID, and once you’re comfortable with that, try Odometery. Yes, that sounds like a lot, but you can do it all if you focus and take it slowly.
My first suggestion is to find a new team
To be successful and not feel useless you have to be in an environment where you feel you are valued- not needed, taken advantage of, or bad mouthed.
I also joined robotics late in my freshman year. At first I had no idea what I was doing and by the end of the year I had made progress on just the basics. However, during the next season my team (which was the same people) allowed me to work through the problems we had coding early season. I learned more doing hard stuff with people around me than doing easy stuff that I was expected to know. I still have trouble all the time with programming, however that trouble isn’t really an obstacle anymore with a great team of people around me.
At the end of this year I was gone for a lot of time and my teammates had to code the robot. They, just like me were beginners and I saw them struggle just as I did, but they were actually able to see people who was good at programming robots (not me) work and they quickly caught on.
Even though you are a senior I think the point still stands. Find a group of people who are willing to let you work through everything and collaborate if you have trouble.