Directions: Submit your Gear Up Pre-Work reflections on the pre-work google doc.
Our mission is to unlock human potential by training a diverse, inclusive student body to succeed in high-fulfillment technical careers.
- Interpersonal skills (including empathy) have a direct, significant impact on your professional success.
- Empathy is a foundational interpersonal skill. Other skills, such as collaboration, communication, compromise all hinge on your ability to demonstrate empathy.
- Interpersonal skills, including empathy, can be developed and improved.
- Turing's mission (cited above) demands that we support students development of technical and interpersonal skills.
Read two of the following articles/videos (we recommend all of them!) and reflect on these questions: why are we talking about empathy at a software development school? how can you develop the "skill" of empathy? and why should you care?
- "Why is Empathy Important for Design"
- "The Surprising (Nontechnical) Skill You Need to Succeed in Tech", The Muse
- "Why Aren't We More Compassionate?", TED Talk (Daniel Goleman)
- "Can you teach people to have empathy?", BBC (Jun 29, 2015)
- "Three Kinds of Empathy", Daniel Goleman
- "The Importance of Empathy in Our Services-Centric, People-Oriented Economy", Wall Street Journal Blog (Oct 9, 2015)
After reading the articles above, create a gist on Github and reflect (4-6 sentences) on the following prompts.
- What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?
- How does empathy help you build better software?
- Why is empathy important for working on a team?
- Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.
- When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?
Empathy could play a larger role in my life, and I will be the first to admit that. It is sometimes difficult for me to be as empathetic as I want to be, or think that I should be, because it can be exhausting to engage in emotional interactions. I think that I feel this way, because when I empathize with someone, I feel deeply. And it takes me time and effort to recover from this emotional state, and get back into a space where I can function without the majority of my brain being taken over by emotion. Empathy is a skill that I am still learning and developing. It is most present in my relationship with my wife. I need to show her empathy so that she understands that I 'hear' her. It helps bring understanding and compassion to our relationship when we can empathize with one another; resulting in the two of us being on the same team. You cannot be on a team with anyone but yourself if you cannot empathize with others.
It is clear why empathy would help developers build better software. With empathy developers can put themselves in the position of their end user. This allows a developer to create something that is truly useful and enriching for the life of the person using it. This is referred to as "Meeting the users where they are". If a developer cannot understand 'where' a user is, it seems impossible to make relevant software that the user will even want to use, much less need to use.
"Empathy is the pathway to better communication, and the combination of logical and emotional skills is the key to more effective environments for all."
So what does this mean? And how does it relate to working on a team? Empathy paired with active listening is addressed in one of the articles as the foundation of working on a team. It states that developers come from all different backgrounds, and the only way to be a cohesive team is to have empathy. Try to understand where the other person is from and where they are going. By stepping into someone else's shoes, you can be a better listener and participant in their life, and they in turn to you. If people feel dejected by lack of empathy, they are not likely to reach out, speak up or demonstrate their uniques skills and abilities in a group. It is for this reason that empathy is necessary in a group setting. So everyone feels like they have a voice, like they are being listened to and their skill sets demonstrated for the strength of the group.
In my previous profession, the guy that I worked directly with had two small children. As such, there were many occasions where his children took priority over the job, and he would have to leave work early. I do not have children, but with the help of empathy, I was able to understand his priority. Even when it meant that I was left with the lion's share of the work load or left to finish up his work for the day. Empathy allowed me to not hold grudges or be upset that he was leaving me with more work, because his family is important to him. And that for me is easy to understand.
I find it most difficult to have empathy in a professional setting, where I feel like I am expected to demonstrate empathy but I am not shown any in return. I am big proponent of fairness. It is hard for me to give or show someone something, when I feel like they would not do the same for me in return. To improve my skills, and my ability to show empathy even if I am not being shown it in return, I could adopt the mentality of 'treating people as you like to be treated'. This would be rather difficult for me to do, but with practice and favorable results, I could see it working over time.