What is your greatest strength and how do you know?
According to the survey results, my greatest strength is entrepreneurialism. I can spot potential and opportunities that can benefit me and people at large, especially when I am able to bounce ideas off of other people. Per the description, I am creative and good at forming connections, good at problem solving, and have a good degree of curiosity. This honestly surprises me, I would never have cnonsidered myself to be entrepreneurial.
How do you work best?
I work best in a collaborative, supportive environment. In addition, I am comfortable taking on a leadership role if I know other people are looking to me to do so; otherwise, I am happy to be a team player. In addition, I work hard to accomplish tasks but benefit from time away to refresh myself. While I can be self-motivated, at other times I require an external push to accomplish what I need to do.
What is your greatest area of improvement?
I have a few areas of improvement. A big one is related to problem-solving. While I am good at solving everyday problems without issue, bigger problems give me pause and can bog me down. I need to view these bigger problems as opportunities rather than hindrances. Notably, I also need to work on my self-awareness, particularly as it relates to my emotions and their effect on my work. By being more aware I can prepare for this and mitigate the effect.
How do you hope to maximize your strengths for your new career in software development?
For starters, just exploring these strengths in a completely new are and career for me. My background has been in much more rigid industries and environments, so getting to see how I'm able to work in a different area I think will help me to maximize these strengths. In addition, since I was surprised to see my biggest strength be entrepreneurial, I plan to be more attentive to and focus on how I look at opportunities and problems. I hope to continue working in a highly collaborative environment so that I can continue bouncing ideas off of other people.
How might knowing about your strengths and working preferences benefit you as a software developer?
Being aware of these strengths and working preferences I think will help in particular with problem solving and team work. For example, knowing that I work best in a collaborative environment but am also good at forming connections tells me that even if I am nervous about sharing ideas with other people, ultimately it will help me work better and with forming connections, perhaps I can explain a concept to someone in a new and different way than they have already thought about, making the collaboration a two-way street.
Submit your gist in the survey here**
Optional further reading:
How the Pairin Survey compares to other assessments How to Hire Like Google & Facebook: (5 minute read) Four Essentials of Strengths-Based Leadership: (6 minute read)