Look at your initial StrengthsFinder reflection that you completed in week 1 -- how have your perceptions of the top 5 themes changed?
At first, I was skeptical about these themes. I was specially not happy about the significance theme. I didn’t like the explanation, specially that I “Want to be very important in the eyes of others. They are independent and want to be recognized.” Significance was my fourth theme, and I thought that it wasn’t part of my personality. However, after analyzing, and reading more about it, turns out that I felt more and more identified by it. This impacted my whole experience at Turing and life in a positive way. Now, I consider this as my top theme, and I am pursing to developed more. I enjoy the exposure and independence, and feel motivated to stand out in a group. My life is now driven by this theme, and because of that I was able to set goals and persevere to accomplish them.
How are you different today than when you first started at Turing? Where are you stronger now than on day 1?
In the technical part: I feel that my JavaScript skills improved significantly. I started to learn JS about two months before coming to Turing. However, I didn’t understand many of the concepts and ideas of the language. One day during this mod, everything clicked in my brain, and my understanding improved significantly. I feel very confident with my thought process, and believe that this will help me in future mods and career.
In the professional development part: One of my goals at Turing was to get better at networking, public speaking, and socializing. I consider myself more introvert than extrovert, and I wanted to learn more about how to become more extrovert. There is nothing wrong about being an introvert, however is very important to be good at meeting people, and have great communication skills. I love that Turing push us to get more comfortable in these areas. I feel stronger in these areas now than on my first day, and I will push myself to get better at them each day.
Considering how you describe these themes, how do you want others to see you as you continue to progress through Turing?
I want to be perceived as a developer, a collaborator, a leader, a motivator, and a creator. To accomplish this I am adapting some of the actions described in the strength finder explanations to my life in Turing and in the tech industry. Some of them are described at the end of this document.
How might these themes play a role in describing your Turing story?
All the themes fit perfectly in my role as a developer. As a learner, I will always feel motivated to expand my knowledge, specially in tech topics. Ideation, futuristic, and restorative will help me to create new projects, and bring my ideas to life. One of my personal goals is create something that could bring a positive change to the world. These themes will help me put me in the right path to reach this goal. Finally, with significance, I will always feel motivated to stand out, and this way I am able to push myself to get better at learning, creating, and solving problems.
Even though your Turing story isn't finished yet, what do you envision for your development in future mods? How will this story end?
I am going to work each mod in one or two themes to develop them as strengths. This mod was all about learning. I was focused on learning the fundamentals of front end technologies, and enjoyed every minute of it. I am going to continue learning to strengthen my knowledge in coding. This recess I am planning to start a project in React to get a better understanding, and to prepare myself for mod 2. On future mods, I wish to accomplish all the following actions:
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Do at least two lightning talks in class and volunteer to do one in wrap up: I want to get better at public speaking (specially in English) and this is the perfect opportunity for me to practice and get better at this skill. Also, public speaking frightens me, and this way I can overcome this fear.
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Start a blog of my story and tips/tricks to get better at coding. This way I can have more visibility and credibility, which will strengthen my significance theme. It is also a good practice to start writing about technical topics.
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Do a side project with one of my classmates. I want to develop my ideation theme, and this way I am able to create new ideas, and also get better at collaboration. Also, two heads are better than one.