Onboarding

Welcome! This page gives a quick overview on the on-boarding process. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact your subteam lead or email [e-mail]

Summary

A suggested order of steps to follow. See sections below for details.

1. Join Discord and become familiar with the team

2. Look at Intro Projects

3. Download software used by your subteam (SolidWorks, GrabCAD, KiCAD, OpenRocket, etc)

4. Complete an Intro Project

5. Join GitBook and get editing permissions

6. Join Trello and Drive

7. Follow Membership Requirements

Discord

We recommend attending an info session or talking to a subteam lead to get a Discord invite, so we can get to know you a little better and help you figure out where you will fit in the best. That being said, you're always welcome to shoot us a short email at [e-mail] and we'll be happy to set you up with a link.

• All team members must join Discord and install the Discord app on their phones. This is necessary because we frequently need to contact each other during the day (and night) when we are away from a computer. Please turn mobile push notifications on to get the most up-to-date info; you'll by default only get push notifications when you are mentioned, and we try not to spam you.

  • Get a join link from a lead or during an info session, General Meeting, etc.

  • Set Notification settings:

By default, you will receive notifications only when you are directly mentioned by username or a roles you are part of is mentioned (e.g. @everyone, @prospectives). Don't feel compelled to read every channel that has an unread indicator; although you're welcome to, most active members only regularly read channels they're involved in.

You can mute specific channels (suppress unread indicators) in the desktop application by right-clicking on them, or enable notifications for every message in a channel by going to Notification Settings and adding a Notification Override

Complete an Intro Project

To join a subteam (Airframe, Avionics, Operations, Payload, Propulsion, Marketing & Outreach, Recovery, Media, or Safety) you must complete the respective intro project. Intro projects vary significantly in length and difficulty, but they should all be manageable with the necessary time investment. Don't be afraid to ask for help! The easiest way to do this is to send a message on Discord (see below) in the relevant channel.

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Version Control Software

• Most technical subteam members (at least Airframe, Payload, Propulsion, Recovery) must install SolidWorks 2019-2020 for mechanical CAD. Talk to subteam leads if you don't know whether you'll need it; Avionics does not.

  • Instructions here: SolidWorks

• Avionics members must install KiCad and join GitHub.

  • Instructions here: KiCad, GitHub

    • The STAR GitHub is public at https://github.com/calstar/, but to contribute you'll need to be added by the Avionics or Operations lead. This can happen after completion of the intro project.

  • You should also familiarize yourself with our CADLAB, a way to view schematics and layout for electronics hardware: https://cadlab.io/star

  • While not required for the intro project, you will likely eventually want to install the Mbed CLI tools. You may need to ask questions during the install process, so don't worry if you can't do it right now.

• All technical subteam members must join GrabCAD for CAD file sharing. Avionics members can skip the desktop client, but should register/join to view CAD through the web interface.

  • Instructions here: Getting Started With GrabCAD Workbench

• Airframe and Systems members should download OpenRocket.

  • Instructions here: OpenRocket

GitBook

• All team members must join the GitBook to access project-specific documentation. Prospective members only really need to do this after finishing an intro project, but are welcome to at any time.

  • Instructions here: How to use GitBook

Trello and Drive

The team uses Trello for project management. Join Trello with a join link provided by your subteam lead or at a General Meeting / announcement.

The team uses Google Drive for file hosting. Join the STAR Drive with a link provided by your subteam lead or at a General Meeting / announcement.

Recap

To become a member, you should have done the following things:

• Joined Discord

• Joined GitBook

• Completed an Intro Project

• Joined Trello and Drive

• Installed Relevant Subteam Software

To remain a member, you must also keep up with the Membership Requirements:

pageMembership Requirements