One thing I have learned about myself, is that I tend to consider myself having a fixed mindset a lot of the
time. Some projects I take on I don’t feel like this but I believe with programming I have struggled to pick up
on a lot of the basics and it has caused me to feel a lot of frustration, and therefore causing myself to feel
unsure a lot.
I’ve also learned that I believe my emotional intelligence is actually quite high, and that comes from previous
jobs and just my personality in general. This actually puts my mind at ease quite a bit as I know that this is
such an important factor when it comes to working and looking for jobs that this is one of the key points
employers look for.
And a third thing would be that I know my strengths and weaknesses well, and I’m willing to work on them. I know
that I’m not the best at picking up things like this but I am great at talking and working with others, so I
have no fear of asking for help and admitting that I’m struggling. It has saved me a lot in foundations, and I’m
sure it will throughout the rest of my journey in programming.
They are all about how you are as a team player. You need to be able to have the skills to work well with people, and to be somebody that is easy and enjoyable to work with. Empathy will give you the ability to understand how others are feeling, and react appropriately to ensure the work is still able to be done without any unnecessary dramas. Self-awareness allows you to be aware of where you currently at in both your head and in your skills, and to be able to admit if you need help. Values is all about what you care about in a working environment. Do you like a happy team? Do you care more about quality or quantity? When it comes to learning and programming, it’s all about how you are willing to apply yourself and how willing you are to work as a great team member.
A lot of this learning has surprised me, but I’d say the biggest one was the whole fixed vs growth mindset study. It made me realise that there has been a lot of situations where I’ve gone to learn a new skill and given up earlier than I should have because I was so focused on believing I couldn’t do it. I’ve felt the same a few times during this foundations course but now I’m just so much more determined to stick to it (I mean I would have anyway) and prove that I can actually get something I find very difficult if I stick to it. It’s also made me more determined to continue working on other skills I have interest in like learning another language or playing the piano.
A lot of this was new territory for me. I’ve never really spent much time focusing on how the mind works, how we can improve our learning, or about the way we learn in general. So, spending a lot of time focusing on this was quite challenging for me, and a big part of that is because I would sometimes feel like I should spend more time practicing coding and improving my programming skills. Sometimes it felt like a distraction which was good, as it was a nice way to take a break from coding every now and then. But when the big core learning exercises took over it felt like I wasn’t using my time as well as I should be.
I reckon it’s because when it comes to getting into programming, it can be really tough for a lot of people. It’s a pretty complicated skill to take on, and having the ability to shape your mind to assist you in any way you can is such a crucial benefit. And it also falls down to understanding the mind, both yours and others. If you can accurately read other people, you can work better with them and for them. The soft skills are just as, if not more important when it comes to being employed, as technical skills can be taught to anybody, but being somebody who is great to work with is a finite skill not everybody knows how to do.
Funnily enough I spoke about this in a previous answer. While I do kind of wish I could have focused more on
programming, I don’t think it was a waste of time. I mainly think that because I struggled quite a bit with the
programming side of things so I would have liked to have spent more time on improving my skills there, but the
core section of foundations has been really interesting and has actually shaped my mind differently.
I’ve learnt a lot about how to think when times get tough, and how I can better a better employee in the eyes of
employers, solely because of thinking about my behaviour, and the way I think. Plus it’s only the beginning now
but these skills will become a lot more apparent as time goes on.
My pathway involves wanting to eventually move overseas and work in somewhere like Europe with my partner. I believe that having the skills I learn from Dev Academy will give me perfect opportunity to be able to find work anywhere in the world once I’m confident enough (Germany is a place we have in mind currently). I love the idea of working on websites and creating things that are pleasing for a user to use, so I definitely have interest in front-end development at the moment, but I will continue to keep all options open.
I think my initial thoughts from sprint two are pretty similar to what they are now. My main concern is that I haven’t picked up as many skills so far as I hoped I would. I want to be the best I can be coming in to bootcamp, so I need to put in a lot of extra miles when the time comes. I haven’t felt as many satisfying moments of completing challenges as I’d hoped because I had to ask for help a lot more often than I would have liked. In saying that, my strengths are still there because I still have the drive to do well, I just need to apply myself and not let myself or anybody else down.
In all honesty I don’t feel like I will have any major non-technical challenges at bootcamp. If I had to pick something though I would say time management might be a slight concern. My commute will take up two hours of each day, and then I want to try and fit in a gym session during the lunch break as well if possible, so it’s just about finding the balance of getting the necessary work in, but also giving myself time to have a mental break from all the stress.
I’ve always said that I would like to develop some leadership skills over this course. Mostly now more than ever because my confidence is lacking a bit after my experience in foundations. But also because I’ve never really worked a job or been in a role that required many leadership qualities so it’s something I don’t have much experience in. I’m pretty confident in my ability to work in a team in general but taking charge especially in something that’s still pretty foreign to me will be pretty interesting.
I expect myself to take full advantage of the people around me. By having a room full of peers and staff around me all the time I want to never have a moment where I choose to not take advantage of learning from other people as much as teaching myself. I want to try and stay on campus as much as possible and make the most of my time, and to gain confidence to admit when I’m feeling really down. I also hope to act professional under the right circumstances. I come from working in radio where I could pretty much act like I was at home each day, so I expect myself to take this seriously when the time comes.