For this week’s blog post, I have decided to talk about the chapter “The Deep End”.  The idea with this chapter is that you a software developer, feel as though you have hit a rut with your learning. To be able to feel confident you need to grow your skills, your confidence, and your portfolio of successful work. You feel the need to challenge yourself with bigger things. This may involve bigger projects, larger teams, more complex tasks, new and business domains, or new places. The solution to this problem is to jump into the deep end. The longer you wait and stir with the idea that you are in a rut the longer you will be in that rut. If an opportunity comes up when you can take a challenging job you should take it, most people learn by taking difficult jobs and expand their knowledge from the research it provides. According to Dave H. Hoover & Adewale Oshineye, the authors of the book, they say on this,

“Even though we advocate seeking out the most challenging tasks you are capable of, you still need to remember that if the water level is above your head it means you’re drowning. Even in Enrique’s example, where he was changing his life in a big way, he was still moving to a country where he knew at least one person and could speak the national language. It’s your responsibility to offset the risks of this approach by Finding Mentors and Kindred Spirits who can provide help when you need it” (Dave H. Hoover & Adewale Oshineye)

This means that if a job is too over your head, don’t take it just to prove yourself. If you need try to find a mentor that will help expand your knowledge. I found this chapter to be very interesting. I like how it talked about how if you feel as though you have reached the end, try to grab a more challenging project to expand your knowledge. I liked this because it reminds of being in school and being assigned project that I knew nothing about. By working on them and doing research I found those project to be the most fun to work on. This chapter will definitely be applied while I am out in the field as I will remember that enjoyment from school.

From the blog CS@worcester – Michale Friedrich by mikefriedrich1 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

You should plan for the long run and not focus on short-term goals. The further out you plan for yourself the better you will be prepared for unexpected challenges. If you want to program for a very long time, then you’ll be more skilled than people who are newly coming into the field and this will benefit you. It is important that being a master at the craft is the goal and not wealth or another position. It is important to stay motivated to program and not be distracted by nonessential things.

I find it interesting that it’s possible to get distracted over time while you’re at your job. I think it makes sense that over time you lose focus of the goal. It’s easy to be tempted by money to find a different job and stop programming. I think it was a good reminder to stay focused on your passion for becoming a master of the craft. Mastering the Long Road means balancing your work life and goals to meet a long-term desire for programming.

This pattern will help me focus on keeping my motivation for programming. It’s important to have an outlook of what you want in the future rather than just focusing day-to-day. Focusing on becoming a master at programming will also make money. But if you just focus on making money then you might not become a master. Someone motivated by money is not going to have the desire to learn to program. I personally have encountered this with friends who have software engineering jobs. They dislike their job and are only there for the money. They’re always looking for different opportunities and never spend time learning to program, they spend time trying to figure out how to get a different job.

I do not have any disagreement about what is discussed in this pattern. I think it is essential to stay motivated on the task of learning programming and not be distracted by other less important motivations. I think it is possible to have the motivation to become a project manager or a CIO while also maintaining your passion for programming. However, I think this pattern is correct in that the ultimate motivation should be about programming and nothing else.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Jared's Development Blog by Jared Moore and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

It is important to create things beyond that what is expected. You should go above and beyond the specifications of the application and create something that will wow the product owner.

I think it’s interesting to look at software development as craftsmanship and what you create as art. I do think that programming is a form of art because you have to use your creativity to make anything that you produce. Being artistic is a good way to look at creating an application, especially one with a user interface because it is what people will be looking at whenever they interact with the software. You want something to look beautiful and appealing just like a piece of artwork. In my opinion, someone would be more likely to use attractive-looking software than one that is unappealing to the eyes. It’s also important to make something that’s easy to navigate because that enhances the user experience.

I typically try to go above and beyond in the project that I’m working on. It is good for personal growth and reflects well on my portfolio. It is nice to be able to show a future client past work and be proud of the artistic design element of what I created. I prefer working on the backend, but I do enjoy creating a nice UI that users enjoy interacting with.

I think it is important to put extra time and effort into the products that you are creating for your clients. However, I think it’s important to not get lost in the details of creating something more than they asked for. Sometimes it’s possible to add features and create things that the client might not want and then you are forced to remove them. There are other times where you might put in extra work, and you were taking time away from yourself for other projects that need attention. Even though it’s good to have just to have the learning experience, I think it’s also important to make sure that projects for clients, that you put in extra effort into, should get some form of acknowledgment.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Jared's Development Blog by Jared Moore and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For this week’s other blog post, I have decided to look at the chapter “Confront your ignorance”. This is somewhat a continuation of the previous chapter “Expose your ignorance”. The idea of this chapter is that you, a software developer, have found gaps in your skillset, gaps that are relevant to your daily work. These gaps include tools and techniques that you need to learn. However, you don’t know where to begin and it is already expected that you know these things. Unlike “exposing your ignorance”, the solution here is to not start asking questions to try and close this gap. The idea of this chapter is to divide and conquer what you need to learn by picking one skill, tool, or technique and activity fill those gaps. However, like the other chapter, can you actively close this gap by finding a mentor in the workplace who will teach you this. According to Dave H. Hoover & Adewale Oshineye, the authors of the book, they say on this,

“This pattern is closely tied to Expose Your Ignorance, but implementing it is less of a challenge to your pride because it can be done in private, without anyone else ever finding out the things you did not know. However, as an apprentice with aspirations to mastery, you need to be willing to Expose Your Ignorance as well. Using this pattern in isolation (that is, confronting your ignorance without exposing it) runs the risk of encouraging a culture where failure and learning are unacceptable because everybody does their learning in secret.” (Dave H. Hoover & Adewale Oshineye Pg. 29)

After reading this chapter, it has changed slightly the way I will think in a work environment. I liked how this chapter coupled ideas from the previous chapter giving me a more deeper understanding about learning and growing in the workplace. I though it was cool how ideas were continued in this chapter with a different meaning. Now when presented with the issue of my own ignorance, I know now the way to think if this should be something I’m asking question about or learning on my own.

From the blog CS@worcester – Michale Friedrich by mikefriedrich1 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In approximately 6 weeks, I will become a new graduate student, and as I have not yet found an entry position for any company, it seems like I have no choice but to take any opportunity which comes first. Looking for a company makes me doubt that I am not good enough to qualify for any position and the waiting period is a bit frustrating and annoying.

An infamous reason that I heard from my friends is because I needed employers to sponsor me working authorization due to my international status. I was told that if employers see that option is on, the candidate’s document will immediately be excluded. Somewhat unfair but I will have a chance to verify it myself after earning myself working authorization and now I can be treated fairly by the applicant tracking system.

Besides, I think I made some mistakes in creating my resume initially that I did not include enough ability to show I am a good fit for the position. It is understandable that companies will not risk hiring someone who may not be able to directly contribute to the team’s workloads, even automate some simple manual tasks. Since my resume back then was poorly written, I failed to advertise myself to get the hiring manager’s intention.

Luckily, my action over the problem was kind of similar to what I read from the book, by collecting CVs from different people from the Internet and by hearing some tips and tricks from my friends on how to make my CVs better, I was able to rewrite my resume and checked it with different trusted ATS sites. Furthermore, my understanding on the subject improved considerably since then, so I can add more properties to the CVs. Comparing my initial CVs with my current one, it seems like I am now ready to reapply for every suitable position.

In conclusion, it could be tough getting to my first job, but as I started to be hired, it will be easier by then. Besides, I learned that I should put more preparation in my CVs, make a section to list every concrete skill that I have and related to the specified projects in the CVs.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Vien's Blog by Vien Hua and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.