Adaptability is my greatest strength because it has led to significant personal and professional growth for me. In a professional setting, my adaptability has enabled me to work effectively and successfully with different people and in varied environments, where every day presents a new challenge. This strength was critical to my success as an executive assistant where priorities were ever changing. On a personal level, my adaptability has enabled me to have significant personal growth by having the willingness, and flexibility, to want to try new things and having the mindset that I can adapt to tackle whatever life throws at me.
I work best in a supportive and engaging environment where my work has a clear purpose. I like to feel challenged in my work as it's a source of motivation for me, and pushes me to be the best I can be be (as long as it's not too extreme where I feel constantly underwater). I like to work independently, but as part of a team who I can collaborate with at a higher level. Depending on my mood, or what I'm working on, my preferred environment will change. Sometimes I like it to be quiet, and other times I need music and chatter.
I need to get better at asking for help. I get embarrassed if I'm having a hard time understanding something and then I waste a ridiculous amount of time trying to work it out by myself. While it's good to be resourceful and to try to work it out by myself, I need to admit to myself when I actually need help. I need to let go of the fear of judgment, and recognize that I'm in a supportive environment and learning will be a journey, and it's one I should be proud of.
My strengths will be invaluable in adjusting to life as a full-time student again and learning new skills. My adaptability will certainly help me navigate these huge changes. I think that every day will be a challenge at Turing, and the learning process will be uncomfortable with the amount of new information I’ll be taking in. But with the challenge and discomfort comes growth, and I hope to maximize my strengths by continually developing them through experiences, learning and reflection. Throughout the Turing course, I will ‘check-in’ with myself to ensure I'm challenging myself to grow so my confidence as a software developer will continue to develop.
Knowing and understanding what my strengths are will be incredibly useful for me. Especially in building my confidence in my new career by playing to my strengths. It will also help me to change my mindset to focus on the positives, if I start feeling frustrated with my progress (or anything). I’ll also be able to use my strengths to make a more meaningful contribution to peer/team work. Understanding my working preferences will help me to put myself in the best position to be successful and to recognize when I might need to change something with my working environment (where possible).
What efforts do you make to manage your learning process? Are these efforts successful? What challenges have inhibited your ability to manage your learning process effectively?
To manage my learning process I make an effort to be well organized, break new skills and concepts into smaller parts that are easier to understand (where possible). I also utilize a range of resources (YouTube, websites, books, forums etc) to find different examples and explanations of concepts to ensure I gain full understanding of what I’m learning. I try to get lots of hands-on practice on my computer, and I also use pen and paper to write by hand and play around with different ideas to help commit things to memory.
For the most part this learning process is successful for me, however sometimes I think I overwhelm myself with too much information at the start, when it might be more helpful to master the basic skills/concepts and then gradually build on it. It can also be challenging to stay on task when I'm searching for resources as it can take a while to find what I'm looking for. When this happens I need to refer back to my to-do list to reset and be more systematic with my learning.
In Sierra’s presentation she spoke about how if we expose our brains to hundreds of high-quality samples/examples for whatever we’re trying to learn in a short period of time, then the brain will learn to automatically recognize patterns. On a much smaller scale, I have found this approach very useful. Although I might not be looking at enough examples for my brain to recognise patterns (hundreds), just by looking at as many examples as I can, has helped me to develop a better understanding of new concepts. In my current learning process I also split challenging skills into smaller subskills that I’ll be able to learn easier.
The concept of depleting cognitive resources relates to my current process for learning, but not in a positive way. I’ve realized that I allow too many distractions while I’m trying to learn and this depletes my cognitive resources and lessens my ability to focus.
I definitely resonate with Coate’s experience in that my learning process has had huge emotional highs and lows and it’s a journey. Sometimes I get to a point where I feel I understand something, and then I see it in a different context and it looks foreign again. It’s a reality check that the learning process will be ongoing.
What role does your emotional state of mind play in your learning? How do your successes and failures at learning affect your emotional state?
My emotional state plays a huge role in my learning. When I struggle to understand something, it's defeating, and the voice at the back of my head makes me question if I’m good enough to be a software engineer. My successes on the other hand reassure me that I am good enough and anything is possible, I just need to keep practicing. While the failures might make me pause for a second, I’m very in tune with my emotions and I’m good at recognizing when I need to take action to reset my mindset. I also get a huge amount of satisfaction when my persistence pays off. It’s a source of motivation to conquer something I’ve been struggling with.
I will set myself up for success by being organized, allocating time for practice, and minimizing distractions that will deplete my cognitive resources. I’ll make a conscious effort to be more strategic when learning new skills and concepts. I.e. look for more examples or samples, and not try to learn too much at once. I will also work on strategies to employ when I need to reset emotionally if I’ve hit a hard bump in my learning. To build up my confidence in my learning ability, I need to continue to do as much practice in my own time as possible.