Overview

Welcome to the Waterloo Aerial Robotics Group! This document outlines the process of onboarding new bootcampers to the team.

To become a member of WARG, a subteam lead will confirm your completion of a bootcamp. More information and the remaining requirements to be a member of WARG can be found within Member Definition. Do not claim to be a member of WARG if you do not satisfy this definition.

Questions/Feedback

For any general questions and feedback regarding bootcamper onboarding please use #⁠⁠bootcamp-general. If the information is subteam specific please use the specific subteam bootcamp channels within our Discord.

Instructions

The below instructions will walk you through the process of bootcamper onboarding!

Read the basic information on our website’s join page ( https://www.uwarg.com/join ), as it explains what a bootcamp is and some introductory information regarding the team.
1. Join our Discord using the link on that webpage.
To verify that you are a UW student, please type: /verify or $verify in the #verification channel.
1. For more information, including manual verification, please see Discord Verification - Administration - WARG . Being verified will let you see the rest of the channels.
2. Please do not use the #discord-server-feedback channel for verification bot commands!
  1. The commands will not work if you attempt to run them in any channel outside of #verification .
3. If you are not a current UW student please see the below section regarding eligibility for participation in the team.
4. Please note if you do not see the #verification channel you are likely already verified. Please check your discord roles to confirm this, the role is “Verified” or “Verified Manual”.
5. If you are having difficulties preventing verification for technical reasons please ping @director in Discord for assistance in #verification channel.
Change your Discord server nickname to [Firstname Lastname].
1. Preferably uppercase the first letter and lower case the rest of your name as you would with any proper noun!
Decide which WARG subteam you’d like to join initially (aka do the bootcamp for)!
1. See subteam descriptions on https://www.uwarg.com/join
In ⁠#role-signup, assign yourself some discord roles
1. Please note the order in which you add roles is important due to some roles having pre-requisites
2. Add the “New Bootcamper” role
  1. This should be done automatically.
    1. If you were not automatically give this role are attempting this step and it is not working please ping a subteam lead or director in #verification and they should be able to give you this role. We have some issues with this step as of F23 term though it has been functioning seamlessly as of W24 and beyond.
    2. If your name shows up light green in discord it indicate you have the “New Bootcamper” role though you can also check your Discord roles in your server profile which will show them all clearly.
3. Add the subteam role(s) for the subteam you want to start on the bootcamp for
4. Add the subteam bootcamper role(s) for the subteam you want to start on the bootcamp for
Send a message in #⁠introductions!
1. There's a pinned message you can follow as a template.
Send a message in the subteam’s bootcamp channel so that the subteam leads know that you are going to start the bootcamp.
1. Some subteams have more specific messages they’d like you to send as well, please follow the instructions below.
Go over to Bootcamps - WARG to get started on a subteam bootcamp!
1. In discord scroll down to find the bootcamp channel in the subteam categories.
Check out the links in #information and feel free to attend meetings. The meeting schedule is available on the Google Calendar and in the Events section of the Discord server. You are absolutely welcome to attend subteam meetings and/or work sessions even before you’ve completed your bootcamp.
After completing a bootcamp, follow these instructions to get up to speed: New Member Onboarding - Administration - WARG.
Subteam leads will provide further direction specific to the subteam. and please direction questions their way!

Here's to putting something great in the sky! 🍻

Subteam Membership

Now that you’ve completed the bootcamp for a subteam, you are a member of the subteam as per Subteam Member Definition .

You are of course allowed to complete multiple bootcamps if you want to (they are good fun!) and you can do multiple bootcamps simultaneously if you want to.

To become a member of a different subteam as per Subteam Member Definition we request that you embark on that subteam’s bootcamp as well though of course you are already a member of the team as per Member Definition.

Who is eligible to join WARG?

As far as official WARG members and bootcampers you must either be a current UW student or someone with an accepted (signed) UW offer. This is a requirement for our team due to funding being supplied by the university. This is also informed by Member Definition .

Advisors are not subject to these requirements as they are not necessarily, though can be, a member of the team.

Exchange students (on exchange from another university to the university of waterloo) are considered current UW students.

Skipping a bootcamp

In rare instances, WARG will grant permission for a bootcamper to skip completion of a subteam bootcamp. If you feel that you have completed a project requiring higher skill level than the bootcamp and would like to be exempt from the bootcamp, you can contact a subteam lead to explain and show them the project you have done. It will be up to the subteam lead’s discretion whether you qualify to be exempt from the bootcamp. If the subteam lead feels that you should still complete the bootcamp, it is because they think you can learn and gain skills from its completion. They may also ask you to complete a portion of the bootcamp instead of the entire bootcamp.

Note that the bootcamp is intended to be a valuable and/or fun design & CAD exercise for students of all skill levels! It can make a great addition to a portfolio and can potentially be a project to speak about in future interviews. The bootcamp is also designed for you to get used to the subteam’s work processes. For these reasons, it is recommended that students complete the bootcamp, however, if you still would like to be exempt, that’s okay too.

The exemption policy exists to ensure that experienced individuals in a field are given a lower barrier to entry into the team as they have already proven themselves more than capable. For example, an individual with significant experience in a field they obtained from a non-WARG design team, a co-op position, or a complex person project can easily join the team.

Administration

Bootcamper Onboarding