This pattern is one among the entire patterns that I am not surprise of the ideas discussed in it even though I might not have thought of them as something important if I had not read this pattern. It is quite obvious that as a newcomer to an industry with more experience craftsmen, I will be thinking of how to contribute to my team and also to get the trust of my employer. It won’t be surprising that my employer or team members are wondering how I would fit in the team and be productive to them; but with the ideas from this pattern, that is the least to think of. For instance, there are so many ways that as a newcomer, I can contribute to my team. As the writer rightly said, volunteering for simple and smaller task within the team will enable me to grow with confidence and self respect. With the ideas of this pattern at the back of my mind, I would be coming forward to volunteer for tasks that looks small and could be achieve with or without little effort. I believed this would help deepen my knowledge as I go as well as help me built a reputation for myself. I also think as a newcomer, even if you have the experience that is required to do major tasks, you would still need to humbly start from sweeping the floor whiles trying to tackle the bigger ones. My reason for saying this is that, team members might think you want to show off and you might end up losing the needed support from them.

The pattern also discussed the issues of being condemned to do the minor tasks but I wouldn’t see this as a condemnation provided they are not too much for me to handle; what I would need to is to keep a close eye on what the team is doing regarding the major works making sure I understands what they does and if there are unclear stuffs, then I would ask questions. Also, I won’t be intimidated to sweeping just the floor but would be taking challenging task as well. In fact, I would try to make time to sweep the floor which would serve as something that interest me in the team just to have the passion for it.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Computer Science Exploration by ioplay and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This week, I read the apprenticeship pattern “Read Constantly”. Out of all the patterns that I’ve read so far, this is the one that will be most difficult for me to implement. Although this pattern will not be the easiest to implement, I think that I will be worth all of the effort because how much it will really increase your market value. The industry is always changing, and it is essentially impossible to keep up with all of it. There are new technologies coming up, old technologies changing and other technologies becoming obsolete, the most valuable engineer is the one who is aware of most of these changes.

Constantly reading has both immediate and long term impacts on your career. In the short-term you can choose to read material pertinent to you current line of work. This might involve deepening your knowledge of a concept that you’re somewhat familiar with. This reading if done consistently can lead to one becoming knowledgeable of how multiple components come together and interact. If the reading you choose to do is focused on the short term, you may find yourself being recognized by your team as the “go to” guy for a wide variety of question and once that occurs, your value as an employee has rocketed. In the long term, constantly reading makes you extremely marketable. This pattern applied with even a tiny bit of consistency will lead you to having a great understanding of the ENTIRE industry as a whole. Having this general knowledge is already a leg up on the competition, but if you choose to apply and experiment with what you’ve read, you may find yourself comfortable with many different programming languages, frameworks, operating systems, etc. Armed with this acquired knowledge and skill, you now have a solid foundation that can be build on going forward in your career.

The value that this pattern has is evident, there really are no drawbacks to this one at all. The one difficulty with this pattern may be time. It is possible that you find yourself having barely enough time to handle the work that you have, never mind having time to do some extra reading. Even with the time constraint, I still intend to apply this even if I am not reading “constantly’.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Site Title by lphilippeau and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This week, I will be writing a reflection on the “Your First Language” pattern.  This pattern addresses those are seeking a job in software development but obtaining said job requires a proficiency in a specific language and/or developers who feel comfortable in one or two languages but are expected to maintain the same standard of quality as their teammates/coworkers.  I chose to reflect on this pattern because I am currently trying to obtain a software development internship and most, if not all, of them require proficiency in at least one or two languages.  I do feel as though I am proficient in Java and C, but I am unsure how my skills compare to those that I might work with in one of the internships I am applying for.  I found this pattern particularly helpful in my current situation.

To deal with this problem, Oshineye and Hoover recommend picking one language and becoming a master of it.  They advise developers to spend a few years solving problems in a single language while honing their abilities.  I found this to be useful because I have had the idea, for the past few years, that employers would look for a diverse skillset in novice developers, but Oshineye and Hoover believe that being a master of one language is more useful than being sufficient in many.

To help improve your experience while learning your first language, Oshineye and Hoover believe that it is incredibly helpful to have an actual problem to solve.  I was at this point last year, which is when I decided to join a website that offers free coding challenges that deal with both real world issues and the type of work you might do in school like programming functions in a specific data structure.  They go on to suggest that, in addition to spending a lot of your own time practicing a language, novice developers should find also experienced mentors to aid in their learning.

Oshineye and Hoover conclude the pattern by describing ways to create short feedback loops and use testing frameworks so that novice software developers can easily track their progress as they learn a language.  This pattern has inspired me to ‘master’ a language, find a mentor, and begin creating feedback loops (such as testing) to track my progress.  I think all of these things will give me a sturdier foundation when I enter the field.

From the blog CS@Worcester – by Ryan Marcelonis and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.