My greatest strength based on what I read from my Pairin Survey results would be my ability to self assess well. I have always thought of this as a unique ability I have had. I think to my many appointments with mental health and my history with my military career to see that I was always looking at myself and my feelings in a very realistic way. This meant that I was able to see if I was handling stress well or if I was doing something in a way where i was using my talents in the most productive way. I also consider this a strong trait as in the ability to be honest about a weakness I know I have and then being willing to get help to overcome that weakness.
I would say that I work best when I feel I am solving a problem. This means I am attempting something with different approaches and then measuring the success or failure in order to formulate a new way of solving the problem. It is a very hands on way of problem solving and I would say that it serves me well. I can think of how I used this process to get me through basic training in the military and through social encounters. I also recognize that when I use this more hands on way of thinking I tend to gain passion for what I am thinking and doing therefore becoming invested in a good result as well as retaining more of the information.
I think I could improve most in my confidence in self. I have a tendency to panic when things get difficult and sometimes become so critical of myself that I give up. I know this is a flaw in that it has served me poorly in the past allowing myself to miss out on opportunities that I know I would have wanted. I think I can work on this by using my ability to examine myself and instead of looking at it as an overwhelming problem seeing it as it is, something that can be overcome. This should help boost my confidence as I acknowledge each time I am able to overcome an issue.
I think in the software development world there is a lot to be said about acknowledging when you do or do not have the knowledge to complete something. For example: I am assigned to create something I am not very versed on. I can quickly check in on my own talents and be realistic to see that I do not have all the answers. This will allow me to waist less time fumbling through mistake after mistake and instead accept that I will need to do research or ask for assistance to better complete the task. I think being able to do something like that without regret is a strong attribute of a developer.
I already touched on this in the previous answer, but to further elaborate, using the honest self look will make me more personable in that I can admit weakness in an honest way. Doing this will allow me to quickly move on to solutions that will move forward rather than struggling with the known fault. Knowing my working preference in being hands on and, as the Pairin survey put it, "with a trial and error processes," I believe I will find joy in my work as a developer. From what I have researched and heard from others, the work of a developer is putting forth a trail gaining data from failures and taking that to a new solution.
What efforts do you make to manage your learning process? Are these efforts successful? What challenges have inhibited your ability to manage your learning process effectively?
Currently I would say I manage my learning process with full immersion. I have tried looking at a task and continuing to focus on it until it is done. Through this I also check back on if I need to change tactics to move forward. I have found some success in this; however, after watching the Kathy Sierra video I believe I could add in the check in of cognitive resources and management to improve this further. I believe this has been a challenge for myself in my ability to manage my learning process and I think improving it would do wonders to my productivity in learning and retaining new skills. To implement this, I would first check if I am burning out trying to manage an entire problem and see if I can break it down to smaller pieces.
I mentioned this in the previous answer, but in regards to Sierra's material I think I was missing some key concepts that I could add into my process for learning. That would be the self awareness of cognitive resources. When it comes to Coate's material I think I already use the aspect of looking at the small improvements to benefit the outlook of an entire task. I find that seeing any progress when learning something has an immense ability to keep me going on a project as a whole. For me the internal positive reinforcement of even the smallest steps can really change my passion for learning as a whole.
What role does your emotional state of mind play in your learning? How do your successes and failures at learning affect your emotional state?
I am a very emotional person, and I understand that it can have a large role in my ability to learn new things. For me it comes down to self confidence. I see successes and failures as something that reflect on me and my skill as a person. This sometimes builds to a negative emotional state that only feeds into the negative loop of being able to learn and focus on new things. I find that if I pause and reflect on the fact that failures on attempts do not reflect on me personally but on the attempt instead, I can continue learning with a positive emotional outlook and stay driven.
I have made some changes to my learning life both physical and emotional that I believe with practice and execution will make me a very efficient student at Turing. The changes include creating a space in my home dedicated to the Turing experience. This location is without distraction but also calming and organized. Emotionally I am using techniques I have learned through mental health therapy to stay on a positive emotional state. These include making notes to myself while happy so that I can reflect on them if I get depressed. I also plan to break my work and study time up into manageable pieces to ensure that I do not burn myself out.
