Strengths & Storytelling Reflection Guidelines Build on your professional story by thinking about how you're progressing at Turing. Answer the questions below in your own gist to use your StrengthsFinder themes to add to your story:
Write 1-2 paragraphs about your StrengthsFinder themes: How have you seen yourself using these strengths at Turing? Has your understanding of these strengths changed since you first reflected on them? If so, how?
"To be honest, I haven’t thought much about the strengthsFinder themes since we got them all those weeks ago. I think they are accurate—I don’t disagree with any of the insights there. However, I also feel like I know myself well enough to know when I need to sit back and think through a problem (Intellection/Analytical), when I need to do more research (Input), and when I need to be patient and go with the flow (Deliberative/Adaptability).
"I can see, in hind sight, how these strengths have helped me through some difficult days at Turing, but I would be lying if I ever said that I used something like, “I’m Analytical, I can get through this,” to get through a tough time. "
Write a story about your Turing experience so far: When have you struggled? How have you dealt with struggle? When have you succeeded at Turing? How did you accomplish those successes?
"For me, the first two weeks were the worst at Turing. We seemed to spend countless hours talking about how difficult the program is, how much and how well we need to take care of ourselves, and how much we need to lean on each other. On the other hand, however, when we ask about specifics, we would often get, “You’ll see in Week X.”
"Then, the real work poured on and it was hard not to feel like we had not been properly prepared for the onslaught. It was hard not to climb into ourselves and try to keep our failures to ourselves. We forget everything we’ve been told.
"The moment when I seemed to overcome my own panic was when I contacted my instructors for the first time to let them know that I was struggling. I thought, “They keep saying they are here if we are feeling over our heads—let’s see how that works.” So I did, and it was immediately a load off of my shoulders. There wasn’t a huge discussion or much further talk about how I was coming apart. Instead, there was just a little conversation about how to keep myself together going forward. The rest of Module 1 has been a joy, and I’m looking forward to what the next Mod will bring."
Answer the question: how does your Turing story end? Create a vision for your future and your career transition into being a junior developer. "I will be in a place of stability in my life. i will have a job that is both challenging and creative and also some place that i don't mind going to in the morning. i will have time for my family and time for my passions while making a decent living for my loved ones. "
"Hopefully, my Turing story doesn’t end—at least, not for a long time. I will consider that story over when I am no longer a developer. Whether for old age or maybe I get that big break and get to be a full time writer, but either way, I have some time before this story ends.
"For me, I just want to find this “work/life” balance that I hear people talk about. For me, that means a certain amount of financial stability—i’m so tired of scraping by bill to bill. I’d like to have a savings account that I can contribute to, and that we can tap into every couple of years or so to take my family on vacation.
"Work/life balance would also mean getting to go home at night and cook dinner for my family, getting to experiment with food stuff on the weekends, or maybe even starting a food blog like I’ve been wanting to do (that I could code myself!) Some of my friends already have ideas of projects that we could work on together with my newly acquired skills. If I could have the freedom to do some of that, then I would be a much happier person."
After you practice storytelling in the session, answer this question: What was particularly easy or difficult about telling your story? What are 1-2 steps that you can take to continue to improve your abilities to tell your story, talk about yourself with ease, and examine your strengths
Talking about where I want to be is possibly the hardest part of this exercise. I came here with little more than a notion of what to to expect from the program itself, much less after. The goal, obviously, has always been to get a job, but without much base knowledge in the industry, it’s hard to say what shape or color that will take.
I think that the best way to get better about telling one’s story is just to keep doing it. Practice, get feedback if possible, tell it again, repeat, etc. After a while it’s no longer embarrassing or humiliating—it’s just another story. "