Empathetic Programmers

* What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?
    * Empathy has been one of the largest impacting emotions in my life, without it I would never have been able to integrate 
    with my hundreds of teammates throughout the years. Sports teams are some of the most diverse groups, every year I had a 
    new to team that would need to come together for a common goal no matter what walk of life or current situation one was 
    dealing with.

* How does empathy help you build better software?
    *  Empathy helps me build better software by allowing my to create a less self centered product. Empathy allows me to also
    be a more well rounded developer, by recognizing others needs and feelings I am capable of creating something I may not have
    ever thought of. Mathieu Turpault’s post from the bresselgroup.com really nailed this use of empathy on the head when he 
    was talking about the use of the magnifier app and the User Lucy.

* Why is empathy important for working on a team? Empathy is the glue for teamwork. Empathy builds respect and trust between 
individuals and betwixt groups of people. To get a group of people to work together there needs to be discussion on how they 
will execute a plan to get to the agreed end goal. if one does not understand another teammate they will never be able to 
clearly define the same goal. This lack of communication will also hinder any chance of collaboration between the two, thus 
causing even more delay. If one does not feel respected, he/she is more likely to become defensive whenever criticism is given.


* Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful. When I transferred from 
Arizona to Oregon i had a difficult transition to my new team. One  new teammate came to me after a week and introduced 
himself to me. he was very polite and genuinely listened to me after he asked how the transition was going. I remember how 
much more confidence I had in workouts after such a small gesture. When I was a senior we had a sophomore transfer, knowing 
he most likely had a similar feeling I had when I transferred, I was able to talk to him on a level he wouldn’t open up to 
others. Also i knew his path was different than mine so he could tell I was sincere when asking how the transfer was going.

* When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced 
with these scenarios? For me and most likely most of others, it is very hard to be empathetic when taking criticism! it is so 
difficult separating helpful criticism from personal attacks. the best way i deal with this is by removing my thoughts from 
the equation. by this i mean, I envision the same conversation happening from the same individual but to another teammate. 
This third party viewing allows me to take the personal sting out of the advice, normally you are your own worst enemy!