Category Archives: Apprenticeship Patterns

Apprenticeship Pattern Review 2: The Deep End

“The Deep End” is another extremely useful pattern taken from Apprenticeship Patterns. This pattern is best used when you feel as though you are stuck in a rut and not much progress is being made to further your software development career. In order to save yourself from a career of mediocrity something must be done. “The Deep End” prescribes the developer to set aside fear and jump into a project greater than anything they’ve done before. While this could end in failure, even failure is a better outcome than never starting in the first place since so much knowledge will be gained in the process. More often than not, it seems as though jumping into a project that seems too complex or too large when compared to previous work tends to be the best way to supercharge your learning.

I agree with this pattern wholeheartedly. I have already acquired countless examples in my relatively short career of software development where forgoing my fears and jumping into a project that I didn’t know I could complete helped me get out of a rut. One of the hardest things for me to remember is to keep jumping into “the deep end” whenever I can instead of getting into ruts of self doubt and fear. I also agree with Hoover and Oshineye that while this notion of “the deep end” is a key to becoming a software craftsman, one can not blindly jump into a project that is way beyond their comprehension and expect to swim. It is extremely important to take into consideration the prep work and skills at your disposal when deciding if an opportunity is right for you. While I do think the idea of recording the size of projects you have worked on could help when utilizing this pattern, I don’t think its necessary. Instead of getting bogged down by wondering if the project you want to work on is bigger or more complex than the last I think the most important thing is that you take the leap and start working on the projects that can propel your career forward.

This pattern will stick with me because I’ve seen it work in my own career previously, yet I’ve never had a concrete pattern to remind me of it. It will come in handy when I’m working on my capstone project. It’s imperative that I never let fear get the best of me and I instead choose to continue working through problems that I think there’s a possibility I fail at. I will keep this pattern close at all times and whenever I feel like declining an opportunity because of fear I will remind myself of “The Deep End”.

 

From the blog CS@Worcester – Your Friendly Neighborhood Programming Blog by John Pacheco and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Apprenticeship Pattern Review 1: Expose Your Ignorance

This blog is the first in a series of posts that will be covering software craftsmanship patterns I find compelling from Apprenticeship Patterns by Oshineye, Hoover. With these posts I aim to summarize the pattern and explain its relevance to me and software development as a whole.

In short, the “Expose Your Ignorance” pattern is aimed at dealing with a fundamental issue with people living in industrialized society. Software developers are under extreme pressure from managers and team members to know how to use many technologies. Especially in the case where those relying on you are under the impression that you understand how to do something, it can be extremely hard to make it clear that you actually don’t know how to do that something yet. Acknowledging the fact that there is a push to reassure everyone that you know everything and going directly against this is essential to learning as quickly as possible. This is the gist of “exposing your ignorance”.

I constantly feel the pressure to reassure my colleagues that I understand whatever it is we are talking about. I’ve always felt like doing otherwise would make me seem incompetent when in reality it is a sign of maturity. Immediately after reading this pattern I feel as though it made a fundamental shift in my approach to problems. It makes complete sense that mastering this pattern would yield great benefits throughout my career. “The most obvious way to expose your ignorance is to ask questions”(Oshineye,Hoover). Being able to ask questions whenever I am unsure of something can greatly abridge the time it takes me to learn a given skill. Also, in a world where we have near infinite knowledge at out fingertips at all times, I feel that a desire to learn is a much greater skill to possess than “knowing” a lot.

I find it very interesting that the authors make a distinction between software craftsman and experts. I agree that not being able to ask questions can shoehorn a developer into becoming really good at one skill, yet never branching out into others. I personally feel like being an expert rather than a craftsman can make a career in software development grow stale. Being able to nurture a desire to learn is important not only in the context of a software development career, but in everyday life as well. “Expose your ignorance” truly is a pattern that I feel will improve my career as a software developer.

 

From the blog CS@Worcester – Your Friendly Neighborhood Programming Blog by John Pacheco and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Apprenticeship Patterns Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman Reaction

summary

what was interesting

what was the most useful

what changed my opinion

what do i disagree with

what chapter was the most relevent

overall thoughts

From the blog CS@Worcester – Tim's WebSite by therbsty and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Apprenticeship Patterns Introductions

After reading the Apprenticeship Patterns book introductions and a few of the patterns, I have to say they are very straightforward, which the book itself admits. The utility in reading them is that is is very easy to forget these ideas, or never apply them to your work.

I was ready to condemn the book from the beginning, as it introduced the idea of apprenticeships in medieval through industrial revolution times. I thought to myself how naive it is to write a book about such bad situations, and that the authors must be romanticizing this time. This thought was immediately shut down as I read the line, “we believe it is possible to reject the romantic fantasy”, in favor of something better. This served to drive further points home, as I had just fallen victim to some of the behaviors it warns against.

This book describes patterns that “are tools that solve one set of problems and create new ones.” And it says that “the trick is to use your judgment to choose the problems you prefer.” I love this idea because it illustrates the fact that one doesn’t need to be able to solve every problem if you can figure out how to solve it with the tools already at your disposal.

At the same time, it provides a framework for learning more tools. The idea of “exposing your ignorance” stands out most, because most of us want so badly to be intelligent and competent. Having spent some time in the workforce without a degree, I have become sensitive to this: trying hard to prove that I’m not “dumb”. Maybe it was actually that, that had slowed me down.

On “Emptying the Cup”

It’s always a good reminder that you might not know as much as you think. Or if you do, that you might be biased and closed to new ideas. I am very proud of some of my work, having had moments where I feel like a programming God, and in the face of a new technology, I am always humbled. But I feel that I run the risk of using my past professional and education experiences get in the way of new methods.

On “Accurate Self-Assessment”

I had to read some of these patterns, because I tend to self-assess in the negative direction. I already usually assume I’m “the worst”, or that my work isn’t good enough, and seek improvements. Still, the patterns themselves are useful, describing how to solve this problem. I tend to spend too much time assessing. I need to consciously tell myself to move on to new things, rather than dwelling on what has been done and how it can be done better.

…And Onward

My capstone team has been discussing learning some new technologies, and these introductions have lessened the fear of diving in and trying them. At the end of my college career, I have been reflecting on what I could have done differently, or how I could have done it faster, so this book comes at the perfect time.

Haven’t we all sometimes wanted a chance to start over again? How exciting to have a chance to be at the beginning of something.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Inquiries and Queries by James Young and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Draw Your Own Map || S.S. 9

csseries281829For my second-to-last individual apprenticeship pattern, I have decided to go with something a little more relevant to my current situation–relating to starting my career post-graduation.

The Draw Your Own Map pattern caught my attention right away with “we might come across situations or colleagues or people in the society who will try to prove that programming will become an unsustainable activity as time passes by.” Throughout my job search process, I asked questions and requested advice from all different kinds of people across different fields (and especially within computer science) on how they knew what job they wanted to start with when given opportunities.

In the end, I must choose what I think is best for me in terms of what I’m looking for. I’ve finally came up with a list and that includes:

  • Having solid mentorship
  • Proper training (no room for imposter syndrome)
  • A company that tries to stay on top of new technology
  • Work-life balance that allows me to continue doing all the things I love to do outside of work and travel often

The Draw Your Own map pattern is very encouraging, reminding us that we have options elsewhere if we feel that our current company is hindering our learning and personal growth. I found that this pattern was interesting because I part of my decision-making process was “what if I am ____ amount of time into my first career and realize that I do not like what I am doing?” How would I move on out of that role to figure out what I may like better in terms of my day-to-day tasks?

The activity to list three jobs that I could do following my next was was really helpful to visualize future career possibilities. I know that we can always learn on the job and at new jobs but it is also important to build up your skills that can be transferred in the first place.

The pattern has helped me feel more confident in the decision I made to start out in software engineering. I will build up my skills starting here and then more onward from there!

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

Craft Over Art || S.S. 8

Sams Ships (10)As we have a few weeks left in the semester, I wanted to discuss the more creative apprenticeship patterns. This time I’m going to describe Craft Over Art, which is basically when a solution to a client’s problem can be solved with something that could work…or we could take it and go above and beyond. It’s being more innovative than just settling for a solution just to have something.

I found that the pattern is interesting because it emphasized the importance of how the things built for customers can still be beautiful but must always be useful. If it strays away from being useful, then it no longer counts as the craft.

I also found it to be thought-provoking because it brought up how people are truly in charge of how a problem gets solved. No one can force you to code something a certain way if they do not know a way to solve it on their own, which is why your role exists in the first place.

The pattern has caused me to change the way I think about my intended profession because your work can still reflect you in terms of creativity. As a person, I think I am more on the creative side and incorporating more ideas into creating something for people sounds pretty cool. If I had to follow a super rigorous structure, I may feel limited in what I can do to produce work that makes me happier.

The one thing I have to disagree with in the pattern is the part where it mentions that someone is suddenly no longer “part of the craft” if they deviate a little further. Who sets these boundaries? I do not want people to feel like they are not “enough” to be considered a real craftsman or whichever term it is referred it as just because they were being extra.

Overall, I appreciated the action section which encouraged people to reflect on what projects they worked on or situations they may have found themselves in where they chose creativity over usefulness. At the moments where I have personally done so, I had felt more proud of my work, because I knew it was uniquely mine.

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

Sustainable Motivations || S.S. 7

Sams Ships (9)From recent conversations with friends and professionals I’ve had genuine one-on-one discussions with, a common concern people have is whether they will continue to actually enjoy what they do. Today I’m going to discuss the Sustainable Motivations apprenticeship pattern. This pattern pretty much goes over scenarios people may run into throughout their careers in technology. There will be great days where people may be amazed that they are getting paid to create things and there will be rough days where people may be doubting if it is the right profession for them at all.

The points brought up remind me of a recent article from the New York Times titled Wealthy, Successful, and Miserable. What happens when the new-ness of what started as an exciting role to join in a company wears off and you are left off with unsettled feelings? It is up to individuals to keep going until they find what they love again or shift what they are doing a little to stimulate something new.

I like how the pattern encourages people to come up with a list of things that motivate them. It then tells them to reflect on what those things means or if there is a noticeable pattern from the things they have chosen. Having a list like this around to remind people of what they are working for is a reassuring way to keep them going. It reminds me of a post on LinkedIn I saw where someone kept a sticky note on their monitor screen that just had a number like “-$237.25” because it was to remind them of how much they had in their bank account when they started their job.

The pattern has caused me to think about the way I intend to work as someone who constantly likes to change things up or is not afraid of change. I do not disagree with anything in the patterns as it tells us to keep pushing and persevering by thinking about The Long Road, which is another apprenticeship pattern.

Overall, I think people interested in this pattern should read the NYT article I linked as well because it gives insight on the difference it makes when people do something that makes their work feel more meaningful.

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

Breakable Toys || S.S. 6

Sams Ships (7)Recently, I have been seeing plenty of messages along the lines of “We learn from failure, not from success.” As someone who used to regularly watch all of Casey Neistat’s vlogs from the beginning days, it is something that has been ingrained in me to take risks and know that if I fail, then at least I did not give up and allowed myself to try.

When I saw the Breakable Toys apprenticeship pattern, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to discuss trying things! This pattern is basically trying to explain to us that you need a safe space to learn something even if you work in an environment that may not allow for failure. It encourages us to seek our own way to sharpen our skills and take initiative, which would increase our confidence.

I found that this pattern is thought-provoking because where would you be if you did not take all the risks or new experiences beforehand to get to where you are today? I used to study biology and chemistry until I gave computer science a real chance. It was a little daunting at first to catch up but I made it (so far). If I did not take on leadership opportunities when given the chance, would I have the observation skills I have today when it comes to being involved on a team? Probably not!

If you do not allow yourself to try something out or practice something, I think you would feel a lot more pressure. It was reassuring to hear that someone like Steve Baker also experienced something like that, which makes it a lot more normalized.

As kids, we started learning how to interact with the world by playing with toys and developing our own sense of physics. Through that, we took risks like throwing things, sliding things down places, and etc., until we figured things like “oh, maybe I should not have accidentally thrown that ball too high and it went to the neighbors yard!” But at the same time, you’re a little proud that you’ve gotten better at throwing the ball harder.

That’s the same thing with developing yourself in your professional career. I will allow myself some time and space to learn something without that pressure and it may surprise me, once again, how far I may go.

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

Concrete Skills|| S.S. 4

Sams Ships (4)On this weekly individual apprenticeship pattern post, I’m going to discuss Concrete Skills. This pattern is pretty much explained with someone wanting to be a part of a good development team but they have not yet built up their development experience. My reaction to this pattern is that this would be a comforting one for students in college or upcoming graduates (and even entry-level developers) to feel a little less pressure on bridging the gap between starting fresh and being an experienced developer.

Concrete skills are interesting to me because you can have all the knowledge and information but being able to take what you know and apply it to something is different. The main takeaway I got from this pattern is to learn things that you will be able to apply even when you are still in the on-boarding phase. This has caused my to change the way I think about my intended profession because of course I want to get started and involved in projects right away. I like the feeling of being able to help people out when I have down time at my current opportunity just because I get to sharpen up a skill in one area instead of just sitting there.

A good question proposed in the pattern stood out to me, “If we hire you today, what can you do on Monday morning that will benefit us?” It’s interesting to imagine yourself in the role of a hiring manager; they have to hope to understand you well enough so that they can trust that you will be able to do your job and have an impact on the company. This thought makes me want to continue what I’ve been doing in terms of pursuing different learning experiences that will help me become a stronger developer not only knowledge-wise but skills-wise.

I do not disagree with something in the patterns as it gave me something new to think about and look forward to using in my future. I found it useful to hear their advice on considering looking at other CVs as references of what we would like to put on our potential list of skills.

 

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

The Deep End || Sam’s Ships S.S.3

Sams Ships (2)On today’s installment of the individual apprenticeship patterns series, we’re going to discuss The Deep End. The main takeaway of The Deep End is that you should throw yourself into an opportunity even if you are hesitating or unsure. Of course, it is not necessarily telling you to be reckless, it also emphasizes how it is your responsibility to offset the risks of your approach.

I found that this pattern was interesting because as a person, I continuously try to say yes to trying new things or taking on new roles when the opportunity arises. The Deep End is basically the pattern that represents that mindset and reinforces how important trying something you might think is “risky” turns into being one of the best choices you ever made.

The pattern has caused me to change the way I think about software development/engineering based on the “action” it tells us to consider; which is learning to see what choices are affecting where our career is heading and eventually learn how to make choices based on it. I will try to focus on not only reflecting and reviewing what has happened but I will also move forward by actively making decisions based on experiences.

I do not disagree with something in this pattern so far as the “risks” I have taken so far have always turned out bettering me as a person or helped me achieve something greater. Things like taking on new roles within Enactus when I was unsure about how much time it would take on top of my already busy schedule to how to actually do things were part of my worries. In the end, it turned out alright because I was able to work things around my schedule and people who knew what the role(s) consisted of were there for me as a resource or form of support.

Overall, I am pretty content with the things I have jumped into because like Enrique from the Jumping in With Both Feet story, I eventually felt “like a fish in water.” I liked being able to read about someone’s success story of an instance where they went after something and thought “hey, the worst thing that could happen is I don’t like it and I fly back.”

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