Professional Development - 1808 - Turing

PaulVangelakos_ProfessionalDevelopment.md

1. Pick out 3 behaviors that resonate with you in the list and describe why they resonate with you in a reflection (4-6 sentences).

• Use Google Aggressively: The internet is a valuable resource for teaching and learning. Googling and using this tool resonates with me during this prework as I have often found myself needing another view of the what im learning during the last few days. During this time, I have been able to find multiple resources that I know I will be able to use throughout my path as a software engineer. These resources offer a different voice and strategy to learning different facets of what im trying to learn.

• Always use the right tool for the job: I really like this behavior because it is one of the main reasons I was originally intriqued by software engineering. The tools of coding are always changing and improvements in how code is written changes very fast. One tool may be better than the other at doing what you have been tasked for and finding that is the key to success. Acknowledging and understanding this fact will allow me to continue to improve my coding by constantly remembering that a new strategy and tool may be just around the corner.

• Move Fast and Break Things: I reasonate with this behavior because it is similar to a motto my old boss used to tell us at my previous company. This motto was, "Fail Fast". This motto was a representation of the idea that we should not be afraid to make mistakes and try new things. It also put thought into the idea that mistakes will be made and we need to be able to learn from them. Becoming a programmer is a long and tough task and the road will not be perfect so i'll continue to move fast and break things.

2. Write a reflection (4-6 sentences) on the benefits of a checklist and how an organizational system such as a checklist might help you first as a student and later as a full-time developer.

• The most beneficial factor that comes to mind of a checklist is the fact that no one can remember all the things that need to be done over time at work or at home. Additionally, creating a checklist for a large project can help make things feel broken down in to smaller or surmountable tasks. As a student, there is a lot of new information that needs to be digested in a small amount of time. Currently, I am creating a checklist of things that I did not fully understand so that I can come back to them at a later time. In the future as a full-time developer, I hope that checklists can assist me breaking down larger scoped projects and assist in dividing group work effectively.

3. After reading the three articles, answer the following questions in a reflection (4-6 sentences):What is your impression of strengths-based development? What questions do you have about this kind of development? What do you feel are your top strengths? How do you know? How do you hope to develop your strengths for your new career in software development?

• My impression of strength-based development is that it aligns those with certain strengths with positions that they will be able to succeed in. My one question with the strength based development assessment is what happens when it is wrong, and those strengths which someone thought they had do not shine in the position they are set up for? This can be a hard thing to reconcile with. I currently feel like one of my strengths is my ability to communicate and emphasize with those working below, alongside, or above me. During my last job, I was manager to 30 hourly employees and was able to communicate with them effectively having been a fellow hourly employee with them and again as their manager. I plan to develop my strengths by continuing to be open with communication of those all around me in my learning environment and work environment.