Gear Up

Gear_Up.md

Gear Up assignment

1. What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?

   • Empathy has been a strong trait for me since being very young. It allows me to learn from others and the world much more effectively and kindly. Also when your mind is used to trying to see what it's like to be in someone else's shoes it makes it easier to approach non-human problems. This is because you get used to taking different perspectives. So training your mind to constantly take the perspectives of others trains your brain to do the same when tackling non-human problems like coding.

2. How does empathy help you build better software?

   • When we build software we are building it for others to use. To make our software appealing and functional we need to look at it from the users point of view. We also have to imagine all the different people who may use our software. People around the world have different learning styles, cultures, and different levels of computer knowledge. All this needs to be taken into account when making software in order to make it the best it can be.

3. Why is empathy important for working on a team?

   • In order to best receive information from others we have to be able to fully listen to them. The same goes for sharing ideas/info. When being empathetic, it can help when others are having trouble expressing what they are thinking. Relating to the feelings they are having allows us to get past the inhibitory feelings we all have and get to the communication of the information at hand. We are more than the sum of our parts when we work as a true team.

4. Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.

   • When in some of our breakout groups during Mod0 people often, myself included, were somewhat afraid to ask questions or "pilot" in a demo. My ability to see that they were nervous like I was helped me to encourage them to talk. When feeling more confident people talked through the problems more, allowing all of us to benefit. Then after this everyone was more willing to dive in. I became more willing to volunteer once I saw that the feelings I was having were not completely unique within the group.

5. When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?

   • I find my empathy is hindered when I am feeling down or negative about myself. The nature of those thoughts mean that I am in my own head too much. This makes it hard to read, collaborate, and think with others because I get caught up in my own anxieties or negativity. I also think that the nature of virtual meetings and school can make empathy harder. Being in different rooms and only seeing each other through a screen makes empathy more difficult, but not impossible. I will really be working on my communication and empathic skills while in a virtual setting. I can improve my skills be being persistant and being extra kind to myself and others.

6. Who is the Developer you want to be?

• I want to be the developer who can be counted on not only in technical terms but also in human terms. I want to make the team a better place to be and the work enviriment to be left for the better once I am involved. I want to be one who thinks of all the people in the chain from my workplace to collaborators to the end users to society. I also want to not feeel like I'm working because the project at hand has meaning. Enjoying coding because it is meaningful, fulfillling and impacting the world in a positive way is my goal.