In this post, I will be writing about the “Rubbing Elbows” apprenticeship pattern from the book Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman by Adewale Oshineye and Dave Hoover, 2009. This pattern is for people who typically work alone when it comes to developing software and feel as if they had reached a plateau, not learning superior techniques and approaches.
The Rubbing Elbows apprenticeship pattern suggests that in order to cure this, you should work side-by-side with another software developer to complete hands on tasks. This can help you learn things that cannot be taught in a classroom or online. This is because you will pick up on certain micro-techniques that you can only really obtain through experience or being around/working with another developer. These techniques can add up, providing a significant increase to your skill. An example of this pattern given in this book is pair programming. When used correctly, it can be one of the best ways to learn. Pair programming (especially with a mentor) can help you pick up other skilled developers’ habits and lets you observe how they polish those habits to improve their own skill.
If you do not have this opportunity at your workplace, the book suggests that you find someone who is interested in contributing to open source projects. It suggests you should take one night a week to work with this individual on the project in a sort of pair programming manner, learning from each other as well as motivating each other.
I completely agree with what this pattern says. Working together with someone on a project or tasks, side-by-side, especially with someone with greater skill can greatly boost your skill, and exposes you to certain things that you cannot be taught directly. Not only with coding, but with other hobbies in my life, being around others really helped me pick up on things quicker. For example, I started snowboarding last year. I had three friends who I would primarily ride with, two extraordinarily better, and one the same skill level. I had been motivated by the one the same skill level, and learned from him by observing certain techniques and habits that helped him improve. I had also picked up certain styles, techniques and habits of the ones already at a high skill level, boosting my knowledge and understanding. Now a year after starting this new hobby, I am more skillful than 70% of people on the mountain(not to be smug). This is greatly because of going with my peers.
Hoover, D. H., & Oshineye, A. (2010). Apprenticeship patterns: Guidance for the aspiring software craftsman. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly.
From the blog CS@Worcester – Austins CS Site by Austin Engel and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.