Category Archives: CS-448

Reflect As You Work

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

Reflecting on my work as I go will greatly help me as a software engineer apprentice.

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Reflect As You Work

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

Reflecting on my work as I go will greatly help me as a software engineer apprentice.

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Reflect As You Work

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

Reflecting on my work as I go will greatly help me as a software engineer apprentice.

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Blog #3

The pattern I read for this week was “Sustainable Motivations”. It was about how to keep motivated through the good and bad times of your career. It goes over multiple motivations you may have for your job whether good or bad, like money or love. I found this pattern great because motivation is extremely important when it comes to the profession you will be spending your life working to master. It is something that comes to my mind all the time when I think about the future. Without motivation, something can go from your dream job to the worst one possible. We need motivation to get up in the morning and give it 110% wherever you work.

This pattern taught me that all your motivation does not need to come from big goals. Your motivation can also come from small goals along the way as well. Ideas like company activities for the workers who perform the best throughout the day, can even motivate people through the days that feel like a slog. This pattern caused me to really think of the ways I motivate myself. I try to motivate myself through the week by setting up activities I enjoy on the weekends, and giving myself more purpose to complete my work during the weekdays, so I can be free during my days off. I think my way is a great way to motivate yourself as not only does it bring more life to work, but it brings more life to yourself outside of work during the weekends.

I do not think I disagree with anything said in the pattern. I think it correctly goes over how you need motivation to continue working at your best for as long as possible. Without motivation, productivity goes down tremendously, and it leads to a bad product, so it is essential to have. Motivation is something that can be found in anything, and everyone has something that motivates them one way or another. I think everyone should read this pattern, and really try to think about what motivates them, and what will continue to motivate them when the going gets tough.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Anesti Blog&#039;s by Anesti Lara and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Reflect As You Work

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

Reflecting on my work as I go will greatly help me as a software engineer apprentice.

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Reflect As You Work

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

Reflecting on my work as I go will greatly help me as a software engineer apprentice.

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Reflect As You Work

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

Reflecting on my work as I go will greatly help me as a software engineer apprentice.

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Reflect As You Work

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

Reflecting on my work as I go will greatly help me as a software engineer apprentice.

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Reflect As You Work

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

Reflecting on my work as I go will greatly help me as a software engineer apprentice.

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Draw your own map

As the semester comes to a close and I’m getting ever so closer to entering the workforce, the Draw Your Own Map pattern stuck out to me most. Especially since there is much unknown coming soon, and as I start my career, I am sure that I’ll encounter many situations that I would not expect or be familiar with.

Essentially, the Draw Your Own Map pattern deals with your goals and how you achieve them. Although it might be straightforward and easy to say, I want to be at XXX company in X years, or try to save YYY after Y years, it is much harder to break down the smaller short term goals, and that is what the Draw Your Own Map pattern deals with.

As important as it is to have long term goals, without the smaller steps along the way, you might find yourself lost as you pursue your dreams. Not only that, but these small steps allow you to formulate or cement your long term goals too! For example, if you find that as you work on your short term goals, you might realize that your goals in the long term actually aren’t where you want to be. It’ll allow you to pivot if you need to, and if you find that things are perfectly fine, then all the more reason to keep on striving for what you need to do!

Another important part of the pattern is that your map is connected with many other things in your life. A solid map will allow you to connect with “Kindred Spirits” or it’ll give you more “Sustainable motivations.” It’s all interconnected! A solid map will be your road map to course your journey, and though you can never plan for everything. After all, a map with some directions is better than none at all!

And finally, though I realize the importance of a map, if anyone is like me, I think it is also okay to NOT have a map. At least, right away. A map should be made soon, hopefully the earlier the better, but things are always unknown. It’s very easy to just say hey, do this, or do that, but in actuality, it is a bit more difficult. Especially when it comes to something as important as the course of your career or even your life. Instead, it’s okay to make a smaller map. Whether it be a map charting your next 100 steps, or a map for your next three, the point is to just draw a map!

From the blog CS@Worcester – Bored Coding by iisbor and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.