#Turing Culture: Developing Empathetic Programmers
###What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?
Empathy is the ability to "understand and share the feelings of others" (Google Dictionary). It is one of the many traits we've evolved to possess. Based on that and since design (as in "empathic design") is not largely relevant in my life quite yet, my response is from a purely definition based standpoint. I believe the greatest role empathy has played in my life thus far has stemmed from dealing with familial conflict. This has taught be to be better at conflict resolution, as I can "put myself in their shoes" so to speak when quelling conflict.
###How does empathy help you build better software?
As The Muse put it, empathy allows one to identify their inner critic. The article goes on to explain the process of self awareness and how utilizing one's inner critic and ability to give and receieve feedback (read: among others listed in the article). In a software context this is all about learning to utilize your different emotions to create a more positive working mindset, whether that be accepting advice from someone about a certain block of code or debugging a certain piece of buggy software.
###Why is empathy important for working on a team?
It allows one to work with others in a more positive manner, specifically when giving / recieving feedback.
###Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.
Context: Several months ago I worked part time at a daycay center at my local gym. For several reasons only female employees are given the responsibility of changing diapers. As one can imagine, this is not very fun. Grabbing some baby wipes and towells for them when they ran out is the least I could do given the nature of the task.
###When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?
I find it most difficult when somebody else fails to see my point of view. The "learning to give feedback" notion of empathic design comes into play here.