Category Archives: CS-448

Apprenticeship Pattern Reflection

After reading Apprenticeship Patterns, I was left perplexed over some of the topics this book covered. To preface, I think that the authors, Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye, did a great job addressing how Software Development demands that individuals retain a ‘growth mindset’ throughout their studies and practice. My largest gripe is with how they frame individual progression. Hoover and Oshineye use an apprenticeship model to describe one’s progression. For starters, I believe that mastery does not exist and conflicts with the content covered in Chapter 2. The authors define mastery as “performing all the roles of an apprentice or a journeyman as well as focusing on moving the industry forward.”. Fundamentally this would be a fitting definition, as apprentices focus on learning, and journeymen focus on applying their knowledge. In practice, it can be difficult to find a balance between these two roles. Furthermore, masters are ‘pillars of knowledge’ as apprentices and journeymen refer to them for their experience. In this scenario, if the master has not found a balance between learning and practicing, then they may give ineffective or incorrect information. My solution to this dilemma is the erasure of mastery. In a field such as Software Development that is ever-changing mastery is nigh impossible to achieve. Hence, we must all dedicate ourselves to improving and finding balance between apprentice and journeyman responsibilities.

Despite having personal issues with their framework, as the content they covered in later chapters resonated with me. Chapters 3 and 4, Walking the Long Road and Accurate Self-Assessment respectively, shared ideas I agreed with the most. Chapter 3’s driving point is that we are all on the same path and that skills you see in others can be eventually learned by you. A year ago I found myself in a group of students learning Software Development. We were learning how to write tests in Java, which I had experience with from another course. In this group, we all knew the fundamentals of testing, but each of us had different skills outside of testing that we indirectly taught each other over the semester. Naturally, I was intimidated by the amount of knowledge my group members had that at the time I lacked. As the semester came to a close, that knowledge gap slowly closed as I found myself learning from seeing how they approached these problems. Chapter 4’s driving point is to not settle with your inadequacies, but to grow because of it. In this chapter, the authors suggest surrounding yourself with people who understand the material you’re trying to learn. Linux commands and Docker are some of my least knowledgeable subjects, but I chose them as my focus for this project to further develop my knowledge. Fortunately, I have been placed in a team where we all have varying degrees of skill with these subjects. I have been taking tasks involving team organization and documentation, as through writing these instructions and understanding our workflow have slowly begun to fill gaps in my knowledge.

-AG

From the blog CS@Worcester – Computer Science Progression by ageorge4756 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Apprenticeship Patterns Chapter 1 and Chapter 2-6 Introductions

Beginning the reading of Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye, I can say that I was expecting this book to be a lot more technical. However, the entirety of this reading was very thought-provoking. The idea of apprenticeship has always been interesting to me, and applying those principles in the modern era workforce of software development makes complete sense. Striving to continuously learn, receive guidance from your seniors, and actively indulge yourself in new technologies, will allow someone just starting their career to surely become the biggest fish in their pond, and ultimately cycle through the process of starting as the smallest fish and yet again becoming the biggest. This metaphor from the reading offers a vivid illustration of the importance of not becoming too complacent with your work and learning. Being the biggest fish in a small pond will not grant you any opportunity or growth, you have to surround yourself with individuals who are able to teach you something. Many people, including myself, have been led to believe that you should accept the highest paying job and quickly pursue roles in management. In reality the most meaningful aspect of the job is what you can learn from it, prioritizing this will pay off far greater than the short-term satisfaction of the high-paying job. The reading shifted my perspective from this cash grab mindset to a “knowledge grab” mindset. In regards to workflow on the job, the reading showcases the importance of utilizing your team to achieve a greater sense of productivity and insight into how methodologies and systems really work. Software development is a field of collaboration where everyone should be contributing to the pursuit of knowledge. There’s nothing in the reading that can really be disagreed with unless you are not truly meant for, or passionate, about the field of software development. The idea of creating your own curriculum might frustrate some people as it alludes to bringing your work home with you, however, in an ever-changing field such as this, self study is completely necessary. This is probably the most important chapter because it points to the idea that if you do not possess the inner motivation to study new material on your own terms, you may not be cut out for the job.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Shawn In Tech by Shawn Budzinski and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

The beginning of a Journey of a Software Craftsman: Reflections on Chapter 1 of Apprenticeship Patterns

The path to becoming a skilled software developer is not just about learning programming languages or mastering frameworks—it’s about embracing a mindset of continuous learning, humility, and craftsmanship. Chapter 1 of Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye sets the foundation for this philosophy, introducing readers to the idea of software development as a lifelong journey of growth.

One of the most compelling aspects of this chapter is its focus on the concept of apprenticeship in software development. Unlike traditional education or even structured corporate training, an apprenticeship mindset encourages developers to seek knowledge actively, engage with mentors, and build real-world experience through deliberate practice. The book compares software craftsmanship to traditional guilds, where newcomers learn by doing, gradually refining their skills under the guidance of experienced practitioners.

The emphasis on deliberate practice particularly resonated with me. It’s easy to fall into the trap of writing code every day and assuming that practice alone leads to mastery. However, the book suggests that true improvement comes from purposeful and reflective practice—analyzing mistakes, challenging oneself, and continuously pushing the boundaries of one’s abilities. This idea shifted my perspective on how I approach learning new technologies and refining my existing skills.

Before reading this chapter, I viewed my professional growth in software development as something that happens naturally over time—an accumulation of experience gained from projects and exposure to different technologies. However, Apprenticeship Patterns made me realize that growth must be intentional. It’s not enough to just work on projects; I need to actively seek out challenges, solicit feedback, and set concrete learning goals to accelerate my progress.

Another takeaway that impacted my mindset is the importance of humility. The book stresses that being a software craftsman requires accepting that there will always be more to learn. I found this particularly valuable because it aligns with the idea of the beginner’s mind—approaching every problem, regardless of experience, with curiosity and openness rather than arrogance.

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While I found the chapter insightful, one point that I questioned was the romanticization of apprenticeship as a primary learning model. While mentorship and hands-on learning are invaluable, not everyone has access to experienced developers willing to guide them. In today’s fast-paced software industry, many developers are self-taught through online courses, coding boot camps, and open-source contributions. While the book acknowledges that different learning paths exist, I think it could have placed more emphasis on alternative ways to develop craftsmanship outside of the traditional mentor-apprentice model.

Which Chapters Seem Most Relevant?

From a quick glance at the table of contents, the chapters that seem most relevan that caught me:

  • This seems crucial for maintaining motivation and engagement in the field. Passion is what drives deep learning.
  • I’m interested in how the book suggests balancing learning new, complex topics while also reinforcing foundational skills.
  • This chapter likely discusses the tension between personal growth as a developer versus career advancement, a topic that resonates deeply with me as I navigate my own path.

Chapter 1 of Apprenticeship Patterns offers an inspiring and thought-provoking perspective on how to approach software development as a lifelong craft. It reinforced my belief that learning should be intentional and reflective, and it pushed me to think about how I can structure my growth more effectively. While I don’t entirely agree with every aspect of the apprenticeship model, I appreciate the book’s emphasis on continuous improvement, humility, and the importance of deliberate practice.

For aspiring and experienced developers alike, this book serves as a guide to not just writing better code, but becoming a better craftsman in the art of software development.

From the blog Discoveries in CS world by mgl1990 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Apprenticeship Patterns

I am honestly not the biggest reader; it is something that I have not tried to develop as a hobby. Although there were a couple of books throughout my life that caught my attention deeply, I never developed reading as a hobby. Chapter One of Apprenticeship Patterns lit a spark of curiosity in me. And I believe the reason this event happened was the following statement:

“A willingness to experiment and be proven wrong. This means we try stuff. We fail. Then we use the lessons from that failure in the next experiment.”

The statement that I mentioned reflects and describes deeply how I feel about software development in general. This section has brought me back to what made me fall in love with coding in the first place.

Most of the time, we see people choosing the path of Computer Science as a way to make money. And there is definitely nothing wrong with it, although for me, it is not about that. I truly feel like an apprentice, with an aspiration to be a journeyman. Learning new skills and techniques each and every day intrigues me. It is, in my opinion, the broadest subject there is. The text has enlightened me towards a greater understanding of how my journey could be. I understand that this journey is not short by any means, but it will be a long one. And honestly, I would go even further—I believe it may never end. We are always learning, improving, becoming better. Better than our colleagues? No, better than ourselves. This should be our goal: to become a better software developer than we were yesterday.

There was only one chapter that changed my opinion on a topic. Chapter 6, Construct Your Curriculum, showed and answered a question that I have had for a long time. Being part of a new generation that has access to basically any information, I have sometimes struggled to grasp the deep reasoning behind why certain things in Software Development were done in such a way.

Books, books, books—these are the key to understanding the deep meanings behind how everything was built.

My reading of the introduction portions of the book became a journey itself. I started my reading with an idea and ended it with a completely different one. Not being the biggest reader and having never developed the habit in my life, I now find myself more willing to read. To understand and be willing to start a new routine of reading more books.

From the blog CS@Worcester – CS Today by Guilherme Salazar Almeida Nazareth and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Thea’s Food Pantry

In my final semester of university, I am taking the Software Development capstone course, where we will work directly with Thea’s food pantry, creating and deploying a system that allows the pantry to keep track of how much food there is, who is getting it, etc. I thought that would be it. However, after looking at LibreFoodPantry, I was surprised by how much they actually worked with not just food security, but with software and technology as well. I thought we were just helping because we can, but this is actually something that has a focus in software and software development, which allows for some real world experience. 

After going through the gitlab of Thea’s Pantry, it looks very similar to what I worked with last semester in my software architecture course, but with some added repos and documentation. The thing I liked about this was the amount of documentation there was. I like this because it allows me to refer back to something while I am working to make sure I am doing exactly what needs to be done and how it should be done. Other than that, it was very similar to what I did in class last semester. Hopefully, with the documentation and teams, we will be able to get things done.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Cao's Thoughts by antcao and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

The Food Pantry Semester

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

Discovering LFP and Thea’s Pantry

The LibreFoodPantry (LFP) website and Thea’s Pantry GitLab Group are full of knowledge about the open-source project itself and related information to support the users and developers. After reading through these resources, I felt I gained a more thorough understanding of the purpose of this software and it’s potential trajectory. Specifically relating to the LFP website – I found the Values section extremely useful, as it provides clear expectations for all community members with links to further understand the Code of Conduct and to learn more about Agile values and FOSSisms. Regarding the information about Thea’s Pantry in GitLab, there are many useful subsections within this group, but I was particularly impressed by the Architecture section as it presents the microservices architecture clearly through diagrams with clear systems, features, and components. An additional useful link relating to Thea’s Pantry GitLab Group is User Stories. After reading through the different situations expressing the intended use of the software, I had a better understanding of the role that this project plays throughout every step of this process on both, the staff side and the guest side. I was surprised reading the User Story titled “A Pantry Administrator Requests a Monthly Report for the Worcester County Food Bank” as I was unaware of the link between the two systems. Overall, these webpages provide a simple and clear interface to learn about the project’s values and community expectations, as well as, technical details.

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

Exploring LibreFoodPantry and Thea’s Food Pantry

After reading about LibreFoodPantry, I found the 16 FOSSisms on the Values page quite useful. A few of them stood out to me, such as “Ask Forgiveness, Not Permission”, which helps encourage students to make changes even if they might be incorrect. These changes, along with their feedback, can provide valuable lessons and experience to the students, and any mistakes can be easily undone. Another FOSS value that stood out was “Begin with the Finishing Touches”, which essentially means that students should start their contributions off with small bug fixes and the like to give them a sense of productive contribution. If they start off too grand, then they might become discouraged and unlikely to be productive. I chose to write about these FOSSisms because they’re helpful and encouraging “rules” for a open-source newcomer to follow, as it can help introduce someone to the space and give them an idea on how to navigate the ethics of open-source.

One thing from Thea’s Pantry I found very useful was the User Stories in the Documentation. These are stories of how the user would interact with the software, which gives a guide to how the software might be designed. I chose to write about this because having step-by-step instructions on how a user or administrator would interact with the software makes it less complicated for developers to understand how the software should work. Figuring out the user interface and design flow first is much easier than trying to code and create the design flow as you go.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Josh's Coding Journey by joshuafife and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Learning With LibreFoodPantry

LibreFoodPantry provides a very useful and helpful tool for students not only to practice with software development (and understanding Open-Source work), but also to provide a helpful service to local communities. The project provides a food pantry to local communities that use it to teach their students about Free and Open-Source Code. The most useful portion of their site is their values section. This section highlights their values and how they teach their students. They focus on Agile development, Free and Open-Source Code, as well as their Code of Conduct.

I thought this section was most interesting because I found the values enriching to refresh my memory on. I also thought it was very fitting and useful for the site’s mission and methods. It accurately conveyed exactly what they try to do and how they do it in a small section.

Thea’s Pantry is Worcester State’s branch of LibreFoodPantry. I learned with it throughout my time at the University. I found the GuestInfoSystem most interesting, as it was what I worked with in most of my classes, and I got a good grip of it. I found the experiments section interesting, as it showed me what was being worked on and tested currently for the system.

From the blog CS@Worcester – WSU CS Blog: Ben Gelineau by Ben Gelineau and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Set-up Task #5

One useful aspect I found on the LibreFoodPantry website was on the Organization page, which detailed the layout and relationships between development teams and the Coordinating Committee. The diagram provided information regarding teams receiving guidance from their shop manager, in addition to the committee. Before working on a FOSS project, it’s crucial to know who will handle project direction and issues, as well as how these decisions are handled at the top. Additionally, LFP links to the Agile Development Manifesto, which highlights the twelve Agile Development Principles. Ensuring the every developer that works on the open source project reads the manifesto, will guarantee team collaboration and smooth development progression. Having a Agile as the backbone will also ensure that teams receive a balanced input from both the customer and the shop manager

The User-Stories documentation page will be crucial to development teams because it will provide a rough sketch for how the food pantry is designed to operate. Having this information readily available to the development team will make decision-making and discussion easier because each team member can ensure that everyone is on the same page in regards to an “end product”. The documentation also provides how the program will operate differently, based on whether or not the student/guest has accessed the food pantry before.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Computer Science Through a Senior by Winston Luu and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.