Group projects can be so frustrating

[PrinceofWands]

Group work in capstone projects can be dreary, but they do reflect what you'll see once you get a real job. You are going to most likely work in a group setting with others, and the group interaction is an important learning experience. You're going to run into people you don't want to work with etc. That's what its all about.

Only in certain jobs/majors. There are TONS of jobs out there where you'll never work with another person, but we still get stuck doing the same bs group work in school. Not only is not always reflective of the jobs you'll hold, many people don't learn well in such environments and so inhibits the education process (which may be why some are there in the first place, instead of career goals).

 

[PieIsAwesome]

People like that are a blessing in disguise, they make you look 100x better.

 

[DrPizza]

Group work in capstone projects can be dreary, but they do reflect what you'll see once you get a real job. You are going to most likely work in a group setting with others, and the group interaction is an important learning experience. You're going to run into people you don't want to work with etc. That's what its all about.

People not pulling their weight in the real world can & do get fired. People not pulling their weight on group projects at college get the same grade as those who did all the work.

 

[duragezic]

Wow that is an interesting line of code. D:

One thing good to come out of this is you can thoroughly explain the project during for example an interview. And along those lines, just think about an employer interviewing your group and realize you're a lot more likely to get hired than most peers.

I had an interview a month or two ago (for an entry level software position, I have like 18 months exp) and asked a number of questions about software dev as well as C. Some of them were challenging but some of them damn easy like "explain difference between a structure and an array in C". Honestly I think the reason they ask candidates questions that seem so simple like that is because a lot of peers (college grad with 0-2 years exp) don't know jack shit. I'm no expert but sheesh, I've seen quite a bit of fail.

My senior design project was a software project as well with 3 others. Only one of the guys I really had an issue with. His code was written like shit, his oral communication was squirrely as shit, and his written was just plain bad. I would rewrite the majority of it.

 

[Skillet49]

Group projects blow. I had to explain to a group member in a project this semester the importance of citing sources even when paraphrasing and the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarizing. Keep in mind this was a graduate level class. I'm not sure how he graduated from undergrad.

Also, had a group project in my undergrad where one person failed to show up for the presentation and I had to rewrite her entire part of the paper because the grammar sucked so bad.

 

[lxskllr]

Luckily I've never worked in a group larger than 4, and when I have, there's been a clear hierarchy. I've either been a leader, or a follower, I haven't had to deal with an alleged peer.

 

[Leros]

People not pulling their weight in the real world can & do get fired. People not pulling their weight on group projects at college get the same grade as those who did all the work.

And they lower the grade on the project. The smart hardworking person (who deserves an A) gets a B and the lazy dumb person (who deserves a C or D) also gets a B.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

I had an interview a month or two ago (for an entry level software position, I have like 18 months exp) and asked a number of questions about software dev as well as C. Some of them were challenging but some of them damn easy like "explain difference between a structure and an array in C". Honestly I think the reason they ask candidates questions that seem so simple like that is because a lot of peers (college grad with 0-2 years exp) don't know jack shit. I'm no expert but sheesh, I've seen quite a bit of fail.

This doesn't surprise me. Nothing surprises me about CompSci graduates after reading Jeff Atwood's Why Can't Programmers... Program? post. People scare me.

 

[alfa147x]

People not pulling their weight in the real world can & do get fired. People not pulling their weight on group projects at college get the same grade as those who did all the work.

I'v heard of some good professors that make the project so everyone get an individual grade. Can't think of an example, will post if it comes to mind...

But we need more professors like that

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

I'v heard of some good professors that make the project so everyone get an individual grade. Can't think of an example, will post if it comes to mind...

But we need more professors like that

Thankfully this is the case for me. We are asked to rate (privately) our team mates' work and contributions at the end of the year. We also keep comprehensive logs of our own work and the profs and tutors will sift through this data at the end of the year and assign each person an individual grade. The product itself also gets graded.

 

[alfa147x]

Thankfully this is the case for me. We are asked to rate (privately) our team mates' work and contributions at the end of the year. We also keep comprehensive logs of our own work and the profs and tutors will sift through this data at the end of the year and assign each person an individual grade. The product itself also gets graded.

Ah that's good, I had a high school teacher who would do this. She was awesome, she would take the ratings then create groups on your work ethic. Slackers had their own group!

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Unfortunately I'm the slacker in groups that every one hates, I always had trouble finding something I didn't suck at, dating back since grade school... I'm definitely a far better worker than a student though!
I have gotten alot better at that since I began school though. After I turned 21, I was partying all the time I'd pretty much be like, "Iight, y'all have fun with that! I'ma go home and get drunk. Peace!" Then come back to class and do presentation hung over, when classmates hadn't gotten any sleep over finishing the project... I have felt bad about being a slacker, or not being able to be as good as it would be if the group duty was left to someone else. Eventually I felt I owed them favors so I'd look for any opportunity to get em back for picking up my slack. Since I generally stayed working with the same group of people we eventually had the time to bond, I was able to figure out things in projects I could do that I wouldn't suck at.
Sometimes I'd get grouped with people who were generally hard working students, then get around to finding out they hadn't done anything, and got back at me by making ME doing the entire project at last minute, that was hectic and stressful, but uhm, kind of fun.
I began hanging out with the smarter/harder working students than me, feeling that in a way, if it were possible, I could learn from them and there "smartness" or whatever could rub off on me, and I could become a better student.
Since then I feel I've been able to repay the favors to most people that were able to put up with my shit, and remain cool at the same time. I hooked up one guy with a job when we were understaffed during a project, may have not been able to buy him a beer, or help out on school assignments, but I was able to put money in his pocket so he could go buy a new car. Another classmate called me up one day to ask me to help him in moving. I do kind of feel like I was able to balance that out, or something along those lines, and feel a little better about it all.
In the past year all of my teachers, and classmates that have been dealing with me since I began, always remind me on how much I've changed and not the same person I used to be and shit, so that's kind of cool. I'm glad I'm not that person I was years ago.

 

[nageov3t]

I had this one awesome group project my junior year of college for Sociology 412... I missed the first group meeting because it was on the last day before thanksgiving break and I didn't have any classes, so I had left to go back home 2 days earlier. instead of just sending me an email with what part they wanted me to take care of, they just wrote me out of the group.

when faced with the prospect of doing an entire project on my own, I decided to just say fuck it. I could take a 0 on the term paper and still pass the class with a high C/low B. so I never did anything.

the professor, however, assumed that my name was left off their group project accidentally because why wouldn't a group include the guy with the highest gpa in the class? so I did nothing and still walked out of the class with an A.

 

[slayer202]

the other people in the group are probably pissed at you for being that guy who forcefully takes control of the group and tries to get everyone to do the work your way

 

[OverVolt]

God damn I HATE group work. Like you I usually end up being the one to do most of the work. Not trying to brag here, in these group projects there's inevitably always someone who does like 80% of the work and the rest just ride their coat tails. Course my hatred of groups could have something to do with my social phobia as well.

That's what happens in groups without a leader. If your so good then lead the group if you could get it done yourself you'd know how to break it into group work.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

the other people in the group are probably pissed at you for being that guy who forcefully takes control of the group and tries to get everyone to do the work your way

The alternative is to get fuck all done. I make no apologies for trying to push shit through the pipeline.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

That's what happens in groups without a leader. If your so good then lead the group if you could get it done yourself you'd know how to break it into group work.

I've taken the leadership role in my group. Apart from one other group member, every time I delegate work out it simply never gets done. On the rare occasion it does get done without my intervention it is either late, wrong or both.

 

[Skeeedunt]

Welcome to the rest of your life forever.

Pro tip: You'll be tempted to seek out a work environment devoid of these incompetent morons. Resist this urge. You'll only end up working 10x harder for barely more money.

 

[duragezic]

The alternative is to get fuck all done. I make no apologies for trying to push shit through the pipeline.

Yeah I ended up being the leader for our senior design project. Not that I'm a big leader but everyone sort of sat there not very excited to do it, so I did it (and I only had like 6 credits so I wanted more responsibility).

I always tried not to just delegate everything out and still do work myself, but at times they both piled on (admin/project work as well as coding). And I revised a lot of writing, because people in technical areas generally think it doesn't matter if their sentences barely make sense or their grammar is garbage, but one girl was great. But for the most part people got what I asked done thankfully and it worked out.

 

[DrPizza]

In the past, I enjoyed seeing a group member make an absolute idiot of himself. At the conclusion of about 6 weeks of work, every member of the group had to participate in a presentation. He read his 3 minutes worth - the lazy ass hadn't even pre-read it. It looks really funny to see someone who can't even pronounce the words in "his" presentation. Quick aside to the professor: "please grade the rest of our group on the content of his speech - not his pronunciation - we were able to do all the work for him since he refused to help in any way - but we couldn't force him to practice reading it."

 

[MrPickins]

People not pulling their weight in the real world can & do get fired. People not pulling their weight on group projects at college get the same grade as those who did all the work.

Luckily all 3 of the group projects I have right now in my CS classes require a group evaluation at the end.

And, all of my professors have encouraged us to throw non-participating members under the bus when it comes to the evaluation. :thumbsup: