If you want to reassure them, it should also be through your ability to learn, not by pretending to know what you don’t. In this way, your reputation will be based on your ability to learn, not on what you already know. The easiest way to expose ignorance is to ask questions.

People often disguise their ignorance by pretending to know a great deal about their field. But they forget that knowledge is acquired by knowing one’s own ignorance. Knowing your ignorance, and then study hard to improve your knowledge reserve, is a craftsman needs to have and cultivate the basic quality. Because no one can know all the knowledge in their field, it is through their own ignorance and facing their own ignorance that you can truly achieve the omniscience you need to achieve. It takes a certain amount of courage to recognize and face your ignorance correctly. But in the show you will find that often standing on top of the people they will be very open to accepting their own ignorance, and open to learning. Often it is the people who are afraid to face their ignorance that have little knowledge of their own territory.

Pick a skill, tool, or technique and actively fill in the knowledge gaps associated with it. Do it in the way that works best for you. For some, the best approach may be to read all the literature and FAQs available to get an overview. Others may feel that building a “crunchy toy” is the most effective way to understand something. Whichever method works for you, don’t forget to ask around with your “peers” and mentors to see if anyone has already mastered the skill and is willing to share what they’ve learned. Sometimes others may be learning the skill, and you’ll progress faster by working with them. At some point, you will have reached a satisfactory level of competence in this new area, and you can decide whether it is more productive to dig deeper or to turn your attention to other skill gaps. With only 24 hours in a day, you can’t grind every skill to a very high level, so you have to learn to make the necessary tradeoffs between them.

It’s not just about conquering previously unknown peaks, it’s about carving out a new path, step by step.

From the blog haorusong by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For this week’s blog post, one pattern that stood out to me the most was “Your First Language” I believe that the first language will be the most important one for our careers because for the next few years this will be the main language, we use to solve problems or practice to improve.  My first language technically was HTML that I learned back in a web design class at High School, but my first official language is Java from our CS 140 class. From that class and onward I have been using java for almost everything even for personal projects or in other classes.

As I was reading the rest of the article, I came across a sentence how the author states, “For several years, your first language will be the framework against which you learn other languages. The better you know your first language, the easier it will be to learn your next language.” I believe this is very true, your first language will be the foundation for the rest of the languages you will be learning. I remember when we had the CS 282 class in which we learned the C language, it was much easier for me to learn the concepts faster because I had a good understanding of the first language. Another concept that I thought was interesting is about how your first language can prevent you from learning and using other languages, the author states that “One danger of digging deep into your first language is getting stuck. It likely will remain with you throughout your career as your native tongue.” I agree with this statement, having good proficiency in one language can indeed prevent you from learning and using other languages. However, it is good to have a diverse knowledge of languages, especially in software development as each language provides an opportunity to solve problems using different paradigms.

I agree with all the statements about this pattern, it is important to look back and see that starting from “your first language” now we are all learning and getting used to different languages. Especially for me, I have been trying to learn Python since most of the companies use it nowadays and, R to analyze different types of data which I find quite interesting.

From the blog Derin's CS Journey by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Despite your inexperience and precisely because of your inexperience, you bring some unique qualities to the team, including infectious passion. Don’t let anyone dampen your excitement about software craftsmanship, it’s a valuable asset that will accelerate your learning. As a software developer, you will inevitably be part of a team and work on that basis. In any organizational structure, there is a tendency to conform to norms, especially for new people. Most teams don’t have an overheated passion for technology. To be sure, they are all focused on delivering the next project or improving some aspect of the software development cycle that is giving them headaches. As a result, passionate apprentices often succumb to outside pressure to keep a low profile. They either repress their passion entirely or let it manifest itself only in the absence of routine work. Unleashing passion in a relatively well-established team is, of course, risky. If morale is low or the team doesn’t welcome new people, you may get a dirty look behind your back. For those who believe that competence is more important than the ability to learn, there is no doubt that you will leave a bad impression, especially if you expose your ignorance. Like any model, this one should not be applied blindly. Team dynamics are always a consideration. If you find yourself in a group that doesn’t embrace your passion, then you’ll need to do something to nurture it.

Diversity of ideas should be seen as a key element of collective intelligence. An intriguing study of the collective psychology of aircraft carrier fleets shows that newcomers play an important role in the complex, coordinated operations required to safely maneuver a giant ship from which fighters constantly take off and land. The researchers found that a team made up of people with different levels of experience was healthier. When different levels of experience are correlating, for example, when novices with nothing “taken for granted” interact more frequently with old-timers who think they’ve seen the whole picture, everyone’s understanding of the problem deepens. It is true that in a healthy community it is good to be polymorphic.

As you transition into the role of a journeyman, you will become less dependent on those skills and gradually others will start hiring you based on your reputation, the projects you’ve worked on before, and the deeper qualities you bring to the team.

Expertise is a byproduct of the long journey we have taken, but not a destination.

Pursue excellence and success will find you. — Three Idiots

From the blog haorusong by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I always feel that if you are better at the first language, the easier it is to learn the next one.

I learned Java in my sophomore year, and then I went to learn C, which felt easy. Because the logic of computer language is interchangeable. For example, if you learn English well, you will find some similarities between French and Spanish. Although French and Spanish maybe your second language, you will learn them much faster than non-proficient English learners. I think this applies to computer language learning as well.

Each language gives you the opportunity to use different patterns to solve problems. In the process of moving beyond your first language, you should look for opportunities to learn languages that approach problems in very different ways. Apprentices who are comfortable with object-oriented languages should explore Functional’s programming language. Students of dynamic typing should delve into static typing. Apprentices comfortable with server-side programming should take a look at user interface design.

You should not be “married” to any particular technology but should have a broad enough technical background and experience base to be able to choose the right solution for a particular situation.

Many people say Java is good because it is suitable for many kinds of software programming. Some people also say that C++ is good because its language is more advanced than Java; there are also people who have learned that learning C++ to learn Java or very simple. I personally hate to talk about what language is best, every use situation has a language that works best for it. Or if you have learned your first language well, mastering it is also a good option. But there are certain situations where C really has the best solution than Java, so we write our software in C. At this point, there is no need to stubbornly think that I am good at Java and I have to use the language I am good at to solve this problem. 

The spirit of craftsmanship is that you strive for the best in what you are good at, but in certain situations, we can’t stick to the rules. Modern society is a utilitarian society, we need to maintain the spirit of artisans while learning to adapt to the society.

From the blog haorusong by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Software Craftsmanship raises some of the thorniest and most sensitive questions about software development and comes to the controversial conclusion of finding answers in a system that has thrived for hundreds of years: technology. Software Technology is a systematic expression of the author’s ideas and attempts to answer the difficult questions that have been plaguing the software industry. How should we restructure the process of building software, such as we want it to be effective?

 

The author of Software Craftsmanship has been emphasizing the role of the craftsman in the project. Craftsmen sounds is a very old word, the craftsman in other industries is a what kind of person I want to say, must be done in the field of a good man, I explain the below mentioned software process artisans do what kind of person, craftsman is mentioned there is a very rich in the process of software development experience, after years of development, products are well received by customers, has a certain reputation, they can submit a robust, high quality of the user application. A good craftsman can make or break a project. This shows that the human factor plays a very important role in the development of the project. Someone I have been thinking without learning software engineering in software development has a very important role in understanding of software engineering make me realize software can also like assembly line engineering, development mode, people do not development process, mainly the development process of software engineering control, a relatively fixed process, as long as people do some mechanical work can complete this project. In the current environment, software engineering ideas are still dominant, but software technology ideas also have their base of support, such as workers in the open-source community.

 

Software technology of the main pressure is a very important role in the whole project, software process is very strict requirements of the team, the team first small number, no more than 15 people, the general team is three people, but for the team of personal ability request, the other teams also are in high demand of health, a more stable team, team members can develop the tacit understanding.

 

The book Software Craftsmanship gives us a good development model, but many projects in the current environment are developed using software engineering ideas. Why is this? In my analysis, the main reason is that software technology requires too much of the team, and there are too few excellent craftsmen, so it is difficult for many companies to organize such an efficient team. Right now, the idea of software craftsmanship can only be seen in the open-source community, where many of the true craftsmen are gathered.

From the blog haorusong by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

We are at the point of life that in a few years we all be fully working adults. It is crazy to think that 4 years of college just flew by so fast. This semester the software capstone class will be the most interesting and challenging I believe. When it comes to reading a book, I have no patience at all, but after reading the introduction, something about this book: Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman is making me want to read it appropriately. It is possible to be that I can relate to this book on so many levels and it is relevant to me. After just reading the introduction I feel like it changed the way I think and view my profession.

All the patterns in the book are interesting and powerful in a way that we can adapt and combine these patterns in many ways and situations. One of the patterns that stood out to me the most was “Be the worst” from chapter four. The author has explained the concept very well in which it states that “Surround yourself with developers who are better than you. Find a stronger team where you are the weakest member and have room to grow” This statement Is very interesting and when I think deep into it, I believe that being worst in a team at least for me is a motivation to work hard and grow to improve. The goal is not to stay the weakest but instead work my way from the bottom to the top.

The author also talked about the risk factor that associates with being worst in the team including dragging the team down, good teams do not tolerate you, and the risk of being fired. Although I do agree that in situations all these scenarios could be possible but on the positive side this can motivate a person to improve and build a mindset that helps the individual. I do not think I disagree with any aspects of the pattern but, these patterns and the whole book have certainly changed the way I think about a certain aspect of software development. I realized that I need to work even harder and push myself to the limits for me to get where I want in life.

From the blog Derin's CS Journey by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.