I was a member of the organizing team for our department's technical club, and I'd like to share my thoughts on such clubs and events. My name is Adarsh Dubey, and I'm a second-year undergraduate student studying Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at the K. K. Wagh Institute of Engineering Education and Research.

Past mindset

I have been a member of various global communities and have served as a core team member as well. Currently, I work as a web developer for the WeMakeDevs community and lead the BiOS Community. While I haven't had any prior experience with college clubs, I have been part of discussions in online communities through Discord servers or chats. Unfortunately, I have heard about 'politics,' 'biases,' and other negative aspects associated with college clubs. As a result of these discussions, I strongly disliked the idea of joining such clubs and never wanted to be part of them.

My personal experience

A few months ago, I gave an interview to join my department's club, Phoenix, which had started recruiting second-year students. Initially, I wasn't sure why I wanted to be a part of it, but after attending a few meetings, I began to enjoy it. Last week, my college had an "events" week, during which every club organized its events, and students could participate. Four different clubs from three departments, namely Computer Science Engineering, Computer Science and Design, and Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, joined hands to host a mega event called "Equinox." My club was organizing two different events, and I was given the opportunity to lead one of them.

I learned a lot during that time, though I cannot list all my learnings. Here are a few things I learned:

• How college hierarchy and clubs work. What is the general procedure? Moreover, it was more about learning why that procedure was established in the first place and why do people generally dislike it.

• What is the difference in mindset between students who participate in college clubs versus those who are part of online global communities? I have to admit that being involved in online communities made me feel superior to other college students. However, I later realized that everyone is just as capable as I am, they may just need a bit more guidance.

• How to distribute work in a team so that everyone carries a fair share of the load while feeling a sense of responsibility. Creating a feeling of responsibility is the secret to holding a successful event.

Should you join such clubs?

The short answer is 'yes'! If you have never been a part of any college club, then you should definitely try it out. You will certainly learn a lot of things and be a part of a community that can potentially help you grow. There are many possibilities to explore, and if you don't take the chance, you might miss out on something amazing. Especially if, like me, you decided not to join college communities because of what others said, I encourage you to go ahead and give it a try.

Conclusion

If you have the time and energy to participate in a college club, I strongly encourage you to do so. I know this blog post may seem obvious and different from my usual technical content, but I wanted to write it for those who may feel like college clubs are not worth the effort - a feeling that I used to have myself.

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