I am incredibly satisfied with team that I learned from and helped guide for more than two years. Most of us had never worked with such advanced drone hardware or software, and each day exposed to me new threads to follow and new areas to grow in. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As team lead, I would almost want to say that I had the main responsibility in designing and fabricating such an involved robot, but that wouldn't be very faithful to my actual experiences.

What I was actually responsible for—leading the team and working with people—taught me about my team: their wants, their needs, their areas for growth. I learned how to motivate when the team was struggling and mentor junior members who wanted to grow into leadership positions. And through the team, I learned about myself, my motivations, my strengths, my weaknesses, and of course, much about the technical side of aerial robotics.

Firsthand, I realized how exhilarating it is when a group of brilliant engineers (especially when you feel like you have the least knowledge of anyone) comes together to solve a challenge. I found myself learning at a prodigious rate, spurred on by intriguing ideas from the team to build and test and late team meetings where we messed around with advanced technology.

2024