Task C Reflections

Task C.md

1. Empathy has played a significant role in my work and interpersonal relationships. In my current career as a sole proprietor in tech service, it's incredibly important to understand the needs of your clients. I must put myself in the clients shoes to be able to adequately fix the problem not just technically, but so that the solution remains usable in whatever their capacity of utilizing tech is (quite a range). In my life, I have friends from all different professions, skills, and temperments. To be able to really connect with people, one must empathize with a myriad of different situations to be the best and most supportive friend one can be.

2. Empathy helps one build better software by creating products FOR the people. When one empathizes with their target market (anywhere from a single person to millions), the product that is produced is more easily utilized and can contain features specifically designed for users that might be overlooked in less-empathetic programming. While marginal, niche improvement may be trivialized from a business standpoint, taking an empathetic approach to ones programming will produce real-world value for those utilizing it. If you can help people more by creating a product tightly dialed to their need (within real-world constraints ie. time and capital) why wouldn't you?

3. Empathy is important for working on a team because every person is different. In a random sample of 100, 100 of those people are going to be different...every time. It's so easy to get caught up in first impressions or to be so focused on the goal that one drops humanity in favor of a more robot-like approach. What makes us different is what also makes teams great. I don't want 4 Ryans working in a project, I want a plethora of ideas and approaches that can only be obtained within a group. To take full advantage of that, however, the group members must empathize with each other. It's imperative to see from every persons view and not discount anyone, lest the group not truly produce at its full potential.

4. There have been too many situations [in my life] in which empathy has been a major factor to just choose one. Empathy is a base-type characteristic that I have to use in my work and with a significant other (in a totally separate profession) in order to be successful. In my work, I'm praised for my customer service, attention to the customers problems, and problem solving to find out the true root of their problems. In my relationship, my fiance and I are completely different emotionally. Without putting myself in her shoes, there's no way I could understand her problems and thought processes. I figured out a long time ago that focusing on how to better connect with one another rather than that which differentiates us produces enormous, unparalleled tangible and intangible benefits in interacting with others. I work every day to try and be a better person...it's tough process of self-awareness and willingness to implement those changes, but the benefits are too great to let slide.

5. This is a fantastic question. First, I found it much harder to be empathetic in my accounting profession. It's a results-first driven profession and your success frequently comes at the eventual failure of your peers. Furthermore, there are occasionally (but not insignificantly) peers that feel threatened and put effort into seeing you fail. In this situation, it's ashamedly hard to empathize with your peers. In terms of dealing with clients, let's take an audit for an example. My goal is to root out every problem that the owners/previous accountant/book keeper made. My signature that goes on an audit is my bond that there are no material errors in the financial statements I've gone through. Interactions with the client are cordial, but there is a professional disconnect between the two parties as you work to expose their errors. I like aspects of accounting, especially the puzzles. I left because I felt that I wasn't helping anyone... I didn't look at myself and say "I'm proud of what I've done". Fast-track in that profession is a meat grinder, constantly turning over employees for fresh recruits. Empathy between coworkers is much more prevalent in non-corporate accounting positions, but in fast-paced employment paying well takes its place.