For this week’s apprenticeship pattern, I did a reading on “The Long Road”. The Long Road pattern is about your future. In this pattern it talks about trying to imagine yourself 10 years, 20 years, or even 40 years from now. They want you to think about that and possibly write down a summary of your profession. By doing this, it will enable you to think how you would want your professional path to be like and allows you to plan how things could go. The problem in this pattern is that you want to become an expert in what you want to do however, things may get in the way like that such as promotions and just always picking the highest paying job and by doing this, it takes away the goal you had originally which is to do something that you enjoy doing but instead doing jobs that in reality sucks.

My initial reaction to this, is that it is an interesting pattern to read about. It is interesting because I never thought to look past 5 years into the future and just thinking about the future and where I want to be in general. Obviously, everyone wants to make six figures, but the main goal is to make that much by doing something you love or enjoy doing. After reading this pattern I did take a moment to think about where I would like to be down the road and it made me realize what I really wanted to do with my future. Of course things happen, and the future isn’t exactly set, but it gives me a good idea of what I need to do and what I have to do to accomplish it.

The pattern has changed the way I view my profession because I never thought about needing to take a step back and think about the distance future of where I would like to be. Do I still want to be programming all my life or would I like to do something different by the age of 40? It was an eye opener to me because it really allowed me to set goals that I want to achieve by a certain age. Sure, programming is fun and all but there’s much more to life than sitting around a desk and creating programs and such. I want to create memories that will last a lifetime and explore the world.  If I can find a career that would enable me to do that then that would be the ideal job.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Michael's Developer Blog by michaelchaau and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For this week’s apprenticeship pattern, I did a reading on “Retreat into Competence”. Retreat into Competence pattern about feeling overwhelmed, realizing how little you know about or taking on a big project and things may not be working so well for you. In this pattern it talks about how you should “pull back and then launch forward like a stone from a catapult”. What this means it to retreat to a zone where you’re comfortable with and once you feel ready, you’ll be able to launch yourself even further than before you might have felt ‘stuck’. An example I found from this pattern is pick something that can be self-contained that you know really well and stick with it, by doing this, opportunities will emerge, and it will allow you to capitalize on those opportunities and you will end with great gains.

Unlike my other blog posts, my initial reaction is not quite the same since I have yet to experience this. The closest time I ever felt overwhelmed is just the pressure of trying to find a job by graduation. Its not exactly related to what this pattern talks about but the same concept. For me, it was a matter of constantly getting rejection emails from companies, so I took a step back to look at what I may be missing. Once I was able to go over my resume and qualifications, I started to reapply and now I am starting to receive multiple invitations to take coding assessments and scheduling interview dates. This pattern goes hand to hand with ‘Expose Your Ignorance’ and ‘Confront Your Ignorance’.

The pattern has changed the way I view my profession because I never thought about needing to take a step back in programming. Maybe because I never ran into a situation where I needed to? However, after reading about this pattern I started to reflect on the things I’ve done so far and what else could I do to improve my programming skills and knowledge. I am also trying to figure out what I am really good at so I can focus a little bit more on that skill and work around it so when the time comes and an opportunity presents itself, I will be able to capitalize on it.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Michael's Developer Blog by michaelchaau and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For this week’s apprenticeship pattern, I did a reading on “The Deep End”. The Deep End is all about growing your skills, confidence, and your portfolio. At times you may feel as if you need to challenge yourself with bigger things such as projects or complex tasks, etc. This pattern tells you to literally jump in the deep end. For example, if you were offered a high profile job, then grasp it with both hands and take it on a ride. However, this does impose some risks because you could fail. Even if failing does happen, and be prepared if it does, recovering from a failure will opens many doors that those who are scared to take risks will never see.

My initial reaction after reading this pattern is that I can relate a lot with what this pattern has to say. I am constantly applying to jobs and some of them have requirements that seem to be out of reach with my portfolio that I have built up. Some descriptions of the jobs I see to me, makes me feel like I would have no idea what I would be doing, however I still apply to those jobs because I know I am more than capable of learning and implementing what I learn quickly and with accuracy. The reading was quite interesting and very useful. It is useful because it allows me to feel like I am not alone in these types of situations and its interesting because it talks about the many ways of how to get through it. It ties with other patterns I have talked about and mentions finding a mentor and just being brave and confidence.

The pattern has not changed the way how I view my profession because I know that many job postings will always have some sort of description to make the job sound harder than it is, and even if the job is hard, you can always learn and ask questions. I know that if I fail to get an offer, that means that I am lacking something, and it allows me to know what I need to work on. I am constantly practicing my skills and working on side projects to help myself get a good grip on how each technology work to ensure that I have the proper skill sets to tackle these types of problems when I eventually start my professional career.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Michael's Developer Blog by michaelchaau and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For this week’s apprenticeship pattern, I did a reading on “Confront Your Ignorance”. Confront Your Ignorance is about how to start the process. What I mean by this is to pick a tool, skill, or technique and use it to fill in the gaps of your knowledge about it. Confront Your Ignorance is overcoming your lack of knowledge in an area and doing your best to learn more about it to become knowledgeable about it. This pattern ties close together with Expose Your Ignorance pattern. However, implementing this pattern is a bit more doable since it is less of a challenge on your pride since it can be done privately. Other solutions besides learning on your own would be to ask your mentors or anyone that you know that may already have the skill and is willing to share what they know.

My initial reaction after reading this pattern is that it is a reflection of what I am currently experiencing. I have mentioned before that I have limited experience in the professional field of software engineering, I am constantly trying to fill in any gaps of knowledge to make me more of an ideal candidate to companies compared to those who have multiple internships under their belt. The reading was quite interesting and very useful. Interesting because I can relate to what it is talking about and useful because it helps me with my current job hunt and figuring out ways to tackle this issue. Even before reading this pattern, I’ve been trying to find ways of attaining skills and knowledge that I haven’t gained before.

The pattern has not changed the way how I view my profession because I know going that transferring from school life to being a professional Software Engineer, there will be a gap of knowledge I won’t have. I know that I am going to be required to research and learn new things in my career. Therefore, I am constantly practicing my skills and working on side projects to help myself get a good grip on how each technology works and how to incorporate it in what I want to do with my professional career.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Michael's Developer Blog by michaelchaau and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For this week’s apprenticeship pattern, I did a reading on “Expose Your Ignorance”. A summary of “Expose Your Ignorance” is simply about how you may be unfamiliar with some technologies that are required to do a job and your manager and team members are looking to you to complete the job. At this point you already landed the position at the company but now, you’re required to do a task that requires certain technology like a specific language you’re not proficient in. To counter this, you must show them that learning new technology or anything is part of the process of getting a job done. In this pattern it mentions about how you should be honest and speak the truth to your clients and team members. This would allow them to be reassured even if you do not know the technology right away. If you’re able to show them that you’re learning and progressing, it will build trust and your reputation will be built upon that. Not only that but ask questions. Even though there’s already a presumption that you already know certain things since you’ve been hired, it will never hurt to ask since this is the most direct way in getting a task done and learning. The whole point to this is, to not be afraid of learning and let your team know that you’re learning.

My initial reaction to this pattern is similar to those of the other patterns where I can relate to it. In my capstone class, I am constantly being exposed to new stuff that I haven’t touched or barely learned from the other semesters, and I find myself always asking questions or looking things up on how to do a specific thing. What’s thought provoking in this pattern is how it mentions to not pretend what you know what you’re doing. I believe this is something a lot of people do, and it will negatively impact you more than anything. If you are honest with your manager and team members, they will get a better understanding about where things stand but will more than likely give you a chance to prove that you’re able to learn and do the work. Then if you were to pretend to know what you’re doing and give a horrible product. After reading this pattern, I felt more reassured that it was okay to ask questions and that it was okay if I didn’t know exactly everything. As long as I’m able to show I can learn and do the tasks properly and on a timely manner, I will be okay going into the professional world.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Michael's Developer Blog by michaelchaau and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For this week’s apprenticeship pattern, I did a reading on “Concrete Skills”. Concrete skills are a pattern that I feel like I am currently experiencing. Concrete skills is about acquiring and maintaining skills that enables you to be ‘trusted’ by companies so they’re more likely to hire you. Concrete skills are supposed to reassure future team members that you are capable of doing the tasks that would be assigned by you and wouldn’t need to be babysat during the process. These types of skills are considered to be the basic of any programing language or knowledge. These are usually tested when you are being interviewed by current software engineers at a company that are simply just testing your knowledge. A great solution to anyone who has this problem is to work on side projects and casually review how basic functions work in your chosen language.

My initial reaction after reading this pattern is that it is a reflection of what I am currently experiencing. Since I have limited experience in the professional field of software engineering, I am currently requiring hiring managers “to take a leap of faith” in choosing me to work at their company, as the book says. The reading was quite interesting and very useful. Interesting because I can relate to what it is talking about and useful because it helps me with my current job hunt and figuring out ways to tackle this issue. Even before reading this pattern, I’ve been trying to practice more concrete skills and building side projects that will help me with the journey of becoming a software engineer.

The pattern has not changed the way how I view my profession because I already had an idea of how HR and the process works. The hard part of any job is getting selected for the interview process and for me, since I have no real type of internships, it is much harder. I do however have that I’ve worked in companies with good positions but they’re not entirely “software engineering” related. Therefore, I am constantly practicing my skills and working on side projects that I can showcase on my resume and be able to answer questions that are thrown at me if I were to get selected for an interview.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Michael's Developer Blog by michaelchaau and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This week I decided to read about the apprenticeship pattern ‘Unleash Your Enthusiasm’. The meaning behind unleashing your enthusiasm is that there may be something that is holding you back. Just like the pattern says, you have so much enthusiasm that’s ready to be release. The example that the book uses, is that software developers, you will more than likely be working as part of a team. Usually when working in groups, there is something called a norm which is what everyone follows. No one tries to stand out or if they did, they would find themselves in an uncomfortable position.

My initial reaction to this pattern is that it can relate to more than just software development. It can be compared to the outside world. For example, who you choose to have as your friends. In my instance, I used to have a circle of friends I used to ‘confine my enthusiasm’. Eventually I learned that they were holding me back from furthering my life from being greater. Once I started being myself, things naturally got better for me. My life got overall got better ever since I hold myself back. Just like how some new software engineers that start their first professional jobs confine with the norms. They become held back because they don’t want to speak up and voice their own opinions which then results in them becoming an ordinary worker who doesn’t stand out.

After reading the pattern, it has definitely made an impact to how I view myself working in a professional environment. I tend to be a quiet person when working in teams but lately have been more active and more vocal in the teams I am in at school. By doing this, I believe it will help me get out of my comfort zone and allow myself to ‘unleash my enthusiasm’.

This pattern can be applied to not only for software developers, but to their personal lives as well. I would agree with what have been said in this pattern because the meaning behind it, is to just let loose your ambitions. In order to grow and further your career, you can’t become a person who holds themselves back. There are times when staying in the norm is okay, but overall, it’s better to stand out because that is how you will get recognized.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Michael's Developer Blog by michaelchaau and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.