1.) Habits Reflection: How have you seen yourself become more aware of your habits? Have you tried implementing anything new? What have the results been?
Maintaining my exercise regime has been challenging since startging at Turing. I used to go to the gym in the evenings, but group projects and homework got in the way through most of December. With the new year underway, I'v decided to start going to the gym in the morning which is not ideal for me since I'm not really a morning person. But so far I've been maintaining this new habit successfully. I know that if I get regular exercise, other healthier habits in my life will fall into place almost automatically.
My goal habit from Week 3 was to read on a daily basis. In that endeavor I've been less successful, but I should have more of an imperative to read in the second half of the mod since my mentor gave me some books to work through.
2.) Start Where You Are (Empathize with the user -- you)
- Health: how you answer “how are you”; intersection of physical, mental, and emotional health. How would you rate your overall health on a scale of 1-5? How do you currently make time for activities associated with your health? What is a small change you could make here to readjust your health ratings?
I think I’m currently going through one of the healthiest chapters of my entire life. Physically, I haven’t been in such good shape since I was a collegiate swimmer nearly 5 years ago. I eat healthy most of the time, sleep well and get regular exercise. Mentally and emotionally, I no longer experience severe or long-lasting depression like I have at other times in my life. I mostly feel very good about myself and my life, having struggled previously with feelings of self-loathing.
- Work: what you do. Make a short list of all the ways you work right now; How much value do each of those things bring to your life? How are those activities purposeful for you?
At the moment, Turing is work. Doing chores around the apartment and managing things like banking, insurance, car maintenance are also work that I do to be a supportive partner in my marriage. With both Turing and my personal life, completing necessary tasks (even small ones) comes with a sense of accomplishment. It's easy to feel good about yourself at the end of a successfully productive day.
- Play: what brings you joy? Think about joy just for the pure sake of doing it; everyone benefits from this kind of playWhat activities do you do that bring you joy throughout an average week? In what ways could you make a small change to bring more joy into your life?
Journaling brings me a lot of joy because it gives me an opportunity to use my skill as a writer and reflect on my experiences and travels. I spend a lot of time designing my journals to include maps, illustrations etc. and I take a lot of pride in them. I also derive a lot of joy from the outdoors - hiking and camping mostly, although I haven’t been able to do too much of that this past summer because I broke my femur in June.
I find that it’s easy to achieve “total engagement” in coding. Time really flies by when I’m immersed in a project or solving a coding challenge. This reassures me that I’ve picked a good career path for myself.
- Love: sense of connection; who are the people who matter in your life and how is love flowing to and from you and them? How does love currently show up in your life? How do you show love to others right now? What adjustments would you like to make in this area?
My wife is the most important person in my life and we have a very strong relationship. We always enjoy spending time together, we communicate effectively and we never run out of things to talk about with each other. My parents are also very close to my heart. Even though they live on the other side of the world, I’ve spoken with them nearly every week since I moved to America in 2011.
Looking back at the 4 areas, do any problems emerge that you want to begin designing solutions for?
I haven't done a lot of journalling lately so I need to pick it back up. I also need to make some plans to get outside of Denver as much as I can during Turing. These aren't the only things that bring me joy, but I feel like I've been spending too much time in my apartment lately rather than out there experiencing the world and making memories.
3.) Define your needs, problem, and insights: Based on what you wrote about above and your group conversation, what problems have you identified that you'd like to design solutions for? What do you already about what you want for your career? What do you still need to find out? Who or what do you want to grow into by the end of the Turing program?
I want a career where I'm not primarily responsible for managing client relationships or engaging with the public, as those were functions at my previous jobs that I really chafed at. I enjoy working with teammates and coworkers but I do NOT want to work with customers or members of the public anymore. I also want a job with structure, where day to day operations can be defined by a series of steps and where problems can be resolved methodically (if that makes any sense). In journalism, there was no structured approach to finding and curating news stories. I like having a job where I can strategize a series of actionable steps to follow.
4.) Ideate -- challenge assumptions. When you discussed software developers with your small group on Monday, what assumptions came up about what software developers actually do? What steps could you take to challenge those assumptions and find more facts to answer the question of what developers do? In addition to what a typical software developer life could look like, what do you want yours to include?
Everyone in my group was kind of thrown off by that question, myself included. We were surprised to realize that we hadn't really considered what a job in software engineering actually involves, what the day-to-day looks like. One group member mentioned that other non-techinical co-workers often lump everyone on the technical side into one group and don't really understand the unique responsibilities or skills of each individual. Another group member mentioned that dev teams usually have one team meeting a day to make sure everyone's on the same page. I plan on discussing this with my mentor during our next meeting on Thursday. One question I've thought of: how much time do software engineers spend actually writing code? Is it primarily debugging existing code? I'm also curious about the major differences between being a student at Turing and working as a professional software developer.
6.) Prototype -- start creating solutions. What is the basic threshold that your new career must meet after Turing? What would you hope WILL NOT happen in your future after Turing? What is your absolute, no-holds-barred, ideal dream for your future after Turing?
I do not want a client-facing role, or any kind of role that involves designing and implementing marketing campaigns. I'd be happy to build the products or technologies that allow those marketing campaigns to work. I guess I really want to help build or improve a product. My ideal job is one where I can come into work, put on my headphones, and spend the whole day immersed in a project.
7.) Test –- solutions. Based on this week of reflections, write out your initial vision statement for your career:
- I want hard technical skills that are in-demand in an industry that has a robust future. I want a skillset that provides good career prospects.
- I want to significantly increase my salary. My goal is to secure a job that pays at least $60K
- I want a job that fits my personality as an introvert. I don't want to manage client relationships or serve in any kind of a client facing role.
- I want a job where I don't have to constantly do things I'm uncomfortable with, where I don't dread coming into work every day.