Ive grown to have struggled with my communication skills. I would propose that it comes from feelings of inadequacy. Growing up I spoke solely Khmer at home and going into school there was a short time of transition from one language to another. Fast-forward a decade or two the tides have turned, and I now struggle with Khmer.  What I recognize is the common factor within developing language and communication is one’s ability to write in each language. For one key factor as introduced in the Record What You Learn pattern, it says “You should not also underestimate the power of writing itself….You can lose your larger sense of purpose. But writing lets you step back and think through a problem. Even the angriest rant forces the writer to achieve a degree of thoughtfulness.” During my earlier stages of life, I don’t think I would ever have been able to understand this idea so much so that it would have led me to loathe writing in its entirety.

Though, as a graduating student, like many things, I have learned to love and develop a healthier relationship with things that may feel adverse. Like an opposing force school has been, I have learned to pull rather push against such a struggle. As I begin to make a shift, I wish to utilize writing more in any way that would serve me. As of now I see writing as a way to develop my language skills both natural language and coding/computer language, continue to use it as a way to develop ideas, and have it be part of my lifelong existence.

More specifically writing such as the writing in this blog has been an empowering way to process thinking and how to think. Of the many ideas that this blog has helped me develop, with the subject matter being the patterns in the reading, I’m learning to reflect on myself and record those reflections in way that crafts my “larger sense of purpose”. For example, recognizing that I like talking up all these ideas but never act on them, and starting to transition into learning how to take action and start making these ideas come true. The role in which writing has played has served as an oath to grow to my higher self, a mastered self. If I am true to myself these writings must be treated as a nursery to my ideas and the visions of the future that I have.

It is not only myself that I serve, but also for those that may have struggled as I did.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Sovibol's Glass Case by Sovibol Keo and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In this penultimate blog post for school, I’d like to revisit the construct your curriculum chapter and talk more about a specific pattern in the chapter and further develop thoughts on it as I realize it was only briefly mentioned in said blog post. The specific pattern I would like to develop some of my thoughts on is the familiar tools pattern.

During this period of time, it seems to be quite advantageous to familiarize myself with the tools that I have been given, especially having a bit of an understanding of the job market, some foresight on my own abilities, and my general outlook on life and the world. Through a formal education I have been given more tools than I know what to do with; spending some time to clarify what those tools are, recognizing which tools may be most valuable to me, and gaining some practice with said tools, may support me in a way that is confidence inspiring and overall fulfilling.

When asked by those closest to me what was next for me after graduating college, despite some fears of rejection and judgement, I would respond with “I would like to spend some time getting my bearings”. Getting my bearings in a way that propels my career development and transitions me into a journeyman by utilizing my own reflections and acting upon them to eventually becoming masterful.

Setting Sights on Being a Journeyman

By no means do I see myself in the position to appoint myself to a journeyman, but I think it’s important to set a goal early on so that you have a clear vision of what you may be working towards. I wanted to revisit the intro as this is where journeyman is discussed.

Like my blog discussing the introduction I think that this is a fitting time to be considering such ideas. In the same way as the topics discussed in said blogpost, I believe that this not only applied to CS but can be applied broadly to life and career goals outside of CS. This idea is supported by the existence of apprenticeships in many other fields and careers.

There are two quotes from the journeyman paragraph in the intro in which I would like to explore more personally “This new focus is on the connections between practitioners, the communication channels within and outside the team.” And ends with a snippet on “Some of the patterns we will discuss are not appropriate for a journeyman, precisely because he has a greater responsibility to others who may see him as a mentor.” Seems crucial to keep this in mind and leads me into my next post.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Sovibol's Glass Case by Sovibol Keo and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For this blog post I will be discussing the Practice, Practice, Practice pattern. This pattern essentially says that you should practice, obviously. The goal is to get better and better and to build concrete skills in new areas. Looking back on all that I have learned I noticed that there was one thing that I nearly could have always done more of and that was practice. The initial blurb in this pattern says ” The people we know as masters don’t devote themselves to their particular skill just to get better at it. The truth is, they love to practice—and because of this they do get better. And then to complete the circle, the better they get the more they enjoy performing the basic moves over and over again.”(Apprenticeship Patterns) From this valuable quote I have learned that those that are truly skilled have put in a lot of time devoted to practicing. Within this year if I want to do anything, that is practice everything that I have learned at WSU. From basic java skills to git workflows. I see that with open-source software this may be a good opportunity to do such things. WSU has provided the resources and has made becoming a master in computers that much more of a reality and a valuable one at that. By practicing on my own I can learn from my mistakes and give myself the comfort to save space and observe my own mistakes. Then, by looking to the provided resources I can look where to emulate a more masterful understanding of computers in whatever specific area that I may wish to practice in. I can even look back on where I can specifically improve based on grades and the hindsight of completing a course. In the context of this specific course, it is working on a large scale project that are maintained by large groups of people. I understand that the traditional way of getting a position at some type software developer job is a good way to get in that practice but with where I am at now and where I want to be I don’t think that would be an optimal environment for me, at least not yet. If I have learned anything, its that I can get by on a set structure that school provides, but where I find the most growth and improvement is in the setting in which I put myself in.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Sovibol's Glass Case by Sovibol Keo and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Since I am reading the way that I am while reading, I find myself not knowing what chapter I’m on unless I actively decide to take a look. After finally looking there was an entire chapter dedicated to an accurate self-assessment, the chapter with the pattern entitled “Be the Worst”. The pattern describes surrounding yourself with people who are much better than you are in efforts to improve one’s own abilities. Eventually you end up progressing to a point where you end up as equals with your team. I was then led to consider the team in which I would “take” on this adventure and my role in a team setting. I feel like this chapter allows for a good moment to reflect on your own career in relationship to others. You can’t accurately assess yourself without assessing how you are around other people. Each person on a team provides their own level of experience that can be brought to the table to progress not only the work but the team as well. 

The problem that this pattern resolves is the problem that your “rate of learning has leveled off”.  Knowing this I wish that I had recognized that this might be a problem that I was facing sooner. I think I had come to a point where I could have only taught myself so much that I needed to look to others in a way that would allow me to improve myself in the same way that I described previously. As much as I am often aggravated by cultural norms, I should see that I too am influenced by them. The cultural norm at play is the encouragement of attaining a position of superiority as fast as you can. It has influenced in a way that may have stunted my growth a bit and could have potentially led me towards something a bit more selfish instead of a more noble pursuit such as mastery.

After learning of this pattern, I think I will work in a more self-aware way. Perhaps in a way that is not so clouded by ego but more so driven by the pursuit of mastery that many others alike are also on.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Sovibol's Glass Case by Sovibol Keo and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

There is currently nothing that reigns truer than the “Learn How You Fail” pattern in the Apprenticeship Patterns. Essentially this chapter identifies the role in which failure plays in your career development. I have often heard that failure is not something to be feared but instead embraced and this chapter mirrors that same sentiment. It offers the idea that if someone has not failed then they have actually “avoided pushing the boundaries of their abilities”.

I think this idea heavily resonates with me. I’ve learned that I need to look upon what I am doing with a realistic lens and to be able to recognize the truth in my actions and decisions. The more objectively I can view things the greater the ceiling for growth and further expand the boundaries of my abilities. The chapter puts it as “the goal is to gain self-knowledge about the patterns, conditions, habits, and behaviors that lead you to failure”.

I think that one of the major things that is hampering my success is procrastination.

For a long time, I have been “wallowing in self-pity” from the consequences of my procrastination. There has been a bit of a perspective change as of late that allows me to recognize my strengths through an accurate self-assessment all in an effort to remove the focus on the self-pity and shift it to self-improvement.

I find that from my procrastination I’ve learned how to handle my own self sabotaging self. I have seen that it is something I can improve on as I find myself having instances of being proactive, so I know that it is something that I am capable of overcoming. With consistent effort I can see myself overcoming this barrier to achieve whatever it is I want to achieve. From all my criticization of the education system it wouldn’t be without this system that has allowed me to recognize my strengths and abilities and has enabled me to look upon my weaknesses not as an impossible barrier but as something that I can overcome and climb. On the other hand, even though I can recognize this pattern within myself I learned that nothing is going to be accomplished without a disproportionate amount of time, so that is why it’s going to take consistent effort and not all be accomplished within a day. This kind of self-assessment seems very valuable and is something I actively believe I can improve on and may even somehow adopt as a core value.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Sovibol's Glass Case by Sovibol Keo and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.