-
Google Everything This one is very important. It sounds kind of obvious at first, but it truly is an essential skill for any job in the tech world. Specifically, learning WHAT do google is a skill that I have gotten better at, but still could get even better at. I think the key is learning to think more like a search engine, in that you become much quicker about thinking of the right phrases to google, instead of asking google a dumb question and expecting the algorithim to find the perfect answer immediately. I really like the "10 tab rule" in the article and will begin implementing it at once!
-
Understand that code is cheap Indeed, it is just pixels on a screen and the effort that goes into typing them. It's really easy to get stubborn and prideful when you can't quite seem to make any headway in a project. When you have put all this time into working on solving a problem, it can be hard to recognize you have taken a wrong turn somewhere and are just muddling things and making the problem worse. There is no shame in burning it down and starting again.
-
Always analyze the clues found in error messages Big time, and this is a much better use of one's time than screaming at your computer, which I have tried repeatedly with no success. Slow down, take a walk around the block, and come back to read the error messages. I suspect this is why TDD is very important but not given the attention it often deserves. Even using the inspector tools can tell you a lot; it will not necessarily tell you what the problem is, but it will almost always tell you WHERE the problem is for you to begin your detective work.
Listening to the interview, I found it really intriguing that someone like Atul Gawande who is a surgeon was so adamant of the importance of checklists; with surgery being so involved and complicated, relying on such a simple tool seemed strange at first, but really began to make sense. When faced with a very complicated task, it can be overwhelming and one can forget to make sure the most simple things have been taken care of first. As I often say to myself, "Works a lot better if it's plugged in, Lawson!" As I am about to embark on a very challenging seven months as a student, I think that having good organizational skills and employing a checklist will REALLY help me solve challenges that I am about to meet if I can approach things in a thoughtful and methodical way. Going on to be a professional front end developer, the strategies such as the ones above are good things to start cultivating now to ensure I will meet every challenge without making sure things are well organized and the simple things have been taken care of first. Works a lot better if it's plugged in!
Before I started reading the second article, my primary thought was, "Isn't it more practical to identify your weaknesses so you can work on improving them?" I chuckled to myself as I started reading, because that was what was addressed immediately! I think is true that the human brain has learned to look for negatives, probably as an evolutionary means for surivial. If you can spot the problems and fix them, addressing negativity might make sense at first. However, if you find a team member's passion and let them go wild with it, it makes sense that you will get better results.
I am excited to take the CSF, and am rather curious to see what it tells me about me. I would imagine that I am strong in creativity, based on my previous life. I would also think I might be a reluctant leader, as I have the skillset for it but don't like fighting to be the alpha and am just as content to be a lone wolf. That said, I am good (I think) at bringing people to together and disarming them by getting them to laugh. I guess we will see what the CSF says. I hope to cultivate these skills for my new career in development, but like the third article says, to not ignore my weaknessess which I think is probably thinking in a logical and linear fashion, not abstractly like I have been doing most of my life.