##Developing Empathetic Programmers ###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?
Empathy has played an important role in my previous career as a firefighter and paramedic. As a firefighter, while we did work as a team in stressful situations, we also lived together for 24 hour shifts in the firehouse. Listening to my coworkers and having empathy for them on tough days made it a better place to work. I think that I feel better about my actions when I act with empathy in mind.
-How does empathy help you build better software?
If I have empathy when investigating the problem we are trying to solve, I will be more likely to find a better solution. For example, by listening to the customer, we can find out what problem they are really trying to solve, sometimes the real problem can be lost in the product development process. We might learn something that will change the project entirely. For example, the problem may first be identified as "we don't like our textbooks". But the real problem is that the book is too large and heavy to bring to class, the information contained in the text was excellent.
-Why is empathy important for working on a team?
If you have empathy while working on a team, you will understand your coworkers better and have less conflicts. Your interactions will be more pleasant and productive because you won't be wondering why someone did a certain action, you will be able to talk to them about the project and the directions they are taking to solve the problems. If everyone on a team is acting with empathy, there will be better comunication and therefore better team performance.
-Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.
As a paramedic, I have used empathy to find out important information, that is embarassing to talk about, from a medical patient that is critical to their treatment. On another note, I used empathy while interacting with other employees at REI. There was an employee that was upsetting one of the people that I was working with directly, let's call him Jack. I listened to Sue's complaints about Jack and agreed that Jack was acting in an annoying manner. I then tried to help Sue see that Jack probably wasn't being annoying on purpose. She agreed, and seemed to have more empathy for his situation.
-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 think it is difficult to be empathetic in professional settings when the people that I am working with show no empathy. I think I can improve my skills in this area by continuing to be empathetic and not getting frustrated by someone elses behavior.