Hello! 

For the grand start of my discussion of apprenticeship patterns from “Apprenticeship Patterns” by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye, I wanted to begin with the pattern Expose Your Ignorance.

Expose Your Ignorance is related to the notion that managers and team members expect you to know what you’re doing. For your position, you may know most of what is expected for your role and overall what you need to be doing. However, there are some components that you are bound to not be as familiar with, or have no experience with, like some new technology. The solution to this is that you should reassure them that you’re learning how to deliver to them what they want, and not to pretend that you know how to do it. You would be able to form a reputation of having a great learning ability rather than playing on with fake expectations of what you know.

One way to expose your ignorance is to ask questions. It may be difficult to do so at first, but eventually communicating with team members who are very knowledgeable about the topic won’t be such a tribulation. This would be helpful to give your team members a scope of what you can do and learn, and could also help them understand more about the topic as they explain things to you. The book suggests keeping a list of things you don’t understand related to your work in a place others can see.

I appreciate that this pattern addresses my concerns as someone new and heading into the workforce. I often feel pressure that there are some things that I probably should know how to do, or that I need to do something but it involves something I have not heard of before. But as discussed with the pattern, I do know a good chunk of what I need to be doing, and what I don’t know are just some gaps between them, so I don’t need to feel so pressured. This reminds me that team members I work with have been using this technology and certain methods for a while now, and I just haven’t learned them yet, so I am not too behind. 

 I’m very open to learning and I can reassure them that I’m studying and practicing what I’m learning from them and other sources. I also shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions, because asking someone for help can help put me on track faster to having a better foothold on the technique/technology I’m working on. Of course, I still try to solve things on my own for as much as I can so I won’t have to repeatedly ask for help, but I keep in mind time constraints. I definitely agree that I shouldn’t just specialize in one thing, but aim to branch out and learn more to have a better foothold in different components of technology. I don’t think I have anything I disagree with for this pattern.

From the blog CS@Worcester – CS With Sarah by Sarah T and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I read Apprenticeship Patterns as per the syllabus and I found a lot of things that resonated deeply with me. Dave talks about giving up on learning to code, or rather to program after being unable to do anything compelling or significant, and only having had mastered Perl on his third attempt. I myself have on multiple occasions traded a language for another when I stop making progress. My thinking was – “Maybe, this isn’t the one for me”. So, I hopped from Python to JS to Scala to Java to C learning only the basics and just enough to satisfy any classes that might’ve required it. I was a jack of all trade, and master of none! Only upon revisiting Python again for a summer fellowship with a professor, and working on learning more than just the syntaxes, idiosyncrasies, and fun facts about the language, was I able to move on to being somewhat competent. Dave’s story tells us how he sought out mentors, took on challenging projects, and continuously challenged himself to improve and grow as a software developer. His story serves as an illustration of the apprenticeship journey and the importance of seeking out opportunities for learning and growth in the software development field.

I also really liked the definitions and the progression in stages – an apprentice, to a journeyman, to a master. Looking at software development as a craft to be honed and mastered like an Archer, or a Swordsman was quite interesting to think about. The third chapter especially was very enlightening. For the pursuit of efficiency, or most likely in service of sloth – my favorite sin, I take shortcuts whenever possible. I have noticed in myself the tendency to bodge things to make do – like putting on a band-aid over a bullet hole, to push perfection for later, to say – “Can’t be bolloxed, this will have to do!”.  Walking the Long Road is quite a departure from that mindset, and one I hope to grow into. Ah! to be able to rip off the band-aid!

All in all, quick fun read. Not bad at all!

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I read Apprenticeship Patterns as per the syllabus and I found a lot of things that resonated deeply with me. Dave talks about giving up on learning to code, or rather to program after being unable to do anything compelling or significant, and only having had mastered Perl on his third attempt. I myself have on multiple occasions traded a language for another when I stop making progress. My thinking was – “Maybe, this isn’t the one for me”. So, I hopped from Python to JS to Scala to Java to C learning only the basics and just enough to satisfy any classes that might’ve required it. I was a jack of all trade, and master of none! Only upon revisiting Python again for a summer fellowship with a professor, and working on learning more than just the syntaxes, idiosyncrasies, and fun facts about the language, was I able to move on to being somewhat competent. Dave’s story tells us how he sought out mentors, took on challenging projects, and continuously challenged himself to improve and grow as a software developer. His story serves as an illustration of the apprenticeship journey and the importance of seeking out opportunities for learning and growth in the software development field.

I also really liked the definitions and the progression in stages – an apprentice, to a journeyman, to a master. Looking at software development as a craft to be honed and mastered like an Archer, or a Swordsman was quite interesting to think about. The third chapter especially was very enlightening. For the pursuit of efficiency, or most likely in service of sloth – my favorite sin, I take shortcuts whenever possible. I have noticed in myself the tendency to bodge things to make do – like putting on a band-aid over a bullet hole, to push perfection for later, to say – “Can’t be bolloxed, this will have to do!”.  Walking the Long Road is quite a departure from that mindset, and one I hope to grow into. Ah! to be able to rip off the band-aid!

All in all, quick fun read. Not bad at all!

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I read Apprenticeship Patterns as per the syllabus and I found a lot of things that resonated deeply with me. Dave talks about giving up on learning to code, or rather to program after being unable to do anything compelling or significant, and only having had mastered Perl on his third attempt. I myself have on multiple occasions traded a language for another when I stop making progress. My thinking was – “Maybe, this isn’t the one for me”. So, I hopped from Python to JS to Scala to Java to C learning only the basics and just enough to satisfy any classes that might’ve required it. I was a jack of all trade, and master of none! Only upon revisiting Python again for a summer fellowship with a professor, and working on learning more than just the syntaxes, idiosyncrasies, and fun facts about the language, was I able to move on to being somewhat competent. Dave’s story tells us how he sought out mentors, took on challenging projects, and continuously challenged himself to improve and grow as a software developer. His story serves as an illustration of the apprenticeship journey and the importance of seeking out opportunities for learning and growth in the software development field.

I also really liked the definitions and the progression in stages – an apprentice, to a journeyman, to a master. Looking at software development as a craft to be honed and mastered like an Archer, or a Swordsman was quite interesting to think about. The third chapter especially was very enlightening. For the pursuit of efficiency, or most likely in service of sloth – my favorite sin, I take shortcuts whenever possible. I have noticed in myself the tendency to bodge things to make do – like putting on a band-aid over a bullet hole, to push perfection for later, to say – “Can’t be bolloxed, this will have to do!”.  Walking the Long Road is quite a departure from that mindset, and one I hope to grow into. Ah! to be able to rip off the band-aid!

All in all, quick fun read. Not bad at all!

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I read Apprenticeship Patterns as per the syllabus and I found a lot of things that resonated deeply with me. Dave talks about giving up on learning to code, or rather to program after being unable to do anything compelling or significant, and only having had mastered Perl on his third attempt. I myself have on multiple occasions traded a language for another when I stop making progress. My thinking was – “Maybe, this isn’t the one for me”. So, I hopped from Python to JS to Scala to Java to C learning only the basics and just enough to satisfy any classes that might’ve required it. I was a jack of all trade, and master of none! Only upon revisiting Python again for a summer fellowship with a professor, and working on learning more than just the syntaxes, idiosyncrasies, and fun facts about the language, was I able to move on to being somewhat competent. Dave’s story tells us how he sought out mentors, took on challenging projects, and continuously challenged himself to improve and grow as a software developer. His story serves as an illustration of the apprenticeship journey and the importance of seeking out opportunities for learning and growth in the software development field.

I also really liked the definitions and the progression in stages – an apprentice, to a journeyman, to a master. Looking at software development as a craft to be honed and mastered like an Archer, or a Swordsman was quite interesting to think about. The third chapter especially was very enlightening. For the pursuit of efficiency, or most likely in service of sloth – my favorite sin, I take shortcuts whenever possible. I have noticed in myself the tendency to bodge things to make do – like putting on a band-aid over a bullet hole, to push perfection for later, to say – “Can’t be bolloxed, this will have to do!”.  Walking the Long Road is quite a departure from that mindset, and one I hope to grow into. Ah! to be able to rip off the band-aid!

All in all, quick fun read. Not bad at all!

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I read Apprenticeship Patterns as per the syllabus and I found a lot of things that resonated deeply with me. Dave talks about giving up on learning to code, or rather to program after being unable to do anything compelling or significant, and only having had mastered Perl on his third attempt. I myself have on multiple occasions traded a language for another when I stop making progress. My thinking was – “Maybe, this isn’t the one for me”. So, I hopped from Python to JS to Scala to Java to C learning only the basics and just enough to satisfy any classes that might’ve required it. I was a jack of all trade, and master of none! Only upon revisiting Python again for a summer fellowship with a professor, and working on learning more than just the syntaxes, idiosyncrasies, and fun facts about the language, was I able to move on to being somewhat competent. Dave’s story tells us how he sought out mentors, took on challenging projects, and continuously challenged himself to improve and grow as a software developer. His story serves as an illustration of the apprenticeship journey and the importance of seeking out opportunities for learning and growth in the software development field.

I also really liked the definitions and the progression in stages – an apprentice, to a journeyman, to a master. Looking at software development as a craft to be honed and mastered like an Archer, or a Swordsman was quite interesting to think about. The third chapter especially was very enlightening. For the pursuit of efficiency, or most likely in service of sloth – my favorite sin, I take shortcuts whenever possible. I have noticed in myself the tendency to bodge things to make do – like putting on a band-aid over a bullet hole, to push perfection for later, to say – “Can’t be bolloxed, this will have to do!”.  Walking the Long Road is quite a departure from that mindset, and one I hope to grow into. Ah! to be able to rip off the band-aid!

All in all, quick fun read. Not bad at all!

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I read Apprenticeship Patterns as per the syllabus and I found a lot of things that resonated deeply with me. Dave talks about giving up on learning to code, or rather to program after being unable to do anything compelling or significant, and only having had mastered Perl on his third attempt. I myself have on multiple occasions traded a language for another when I stop making progress. My thinking was – “Maybe, this isn’t the one for me”. So, I hopped from Python to JS to Scala to Java to C learning only the basics and just enough to satisfy any classes that might’ve required it. I was a jack of all trade, and master of none! Only upon revisiting Python again for a summer fellowship with a professor, and working on learning more than just the syntaxes, idiosyncrasies, and fun facts about the language, was I able to move on to being somewhat competent. Dave’s story tells us how he sought out mentors, took on challenging projects, and continuously challenged himself to improve and grow as a software developer. His story serves as an illustration of the apprenticeship journey and the importance of seeking out opportunities for learning and growth in the software development field.

I also really liked the definitions and the progression in stages – an apprentice, to a journeyman, to a master. Looking at software development as a craft to be honed and mastered like an Archer, or a Swordsman was quite interesting to think about. The third chapter especially was very enlightening. For the pursuit of efficiency, or most likely in service of sloth – my favorite sin, I take shortcuts whenever possible. I have noticed in myself the tendency to bodge things to make do – like putting on a band-aid over a bullet hole, to push perfection for later, to say – “Can’t be bolloxed, this will have to do!”.  Walking the Long Road is quite a departure from that mindset, and one I hope to grow into. Ah! to be able to rip off the band-aid!

All in all, quick fun read. Not bad at all!

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I read Apprenticeship Patterns as per the syllabus and I found a lot of things that resonated deeply with me. Dave talks about giving up on learning to code, or rather to program after being unable to do anything compelling or significant, and only having had mastered Perl on his third attempt. I myself have on multiple occasions traded a language for another when I stop making progress. My thinking was – “Maybe, this isn’t the one for me”. So, I hopped from Python to JS to Scala to Java to C learning only the basics and just enough to satisfy any classes that might’ve required it. I was a jack of all trade, and master of none! Only upon revisiting Python again for a summer fellowship with a professor, and working on learning more than just the syntaxes, idiosyncrasies, and fun facts about the language, was I able to move on to being somewhat competent. Dave’s story tells us how he sought out mentors, took on challenging projects, and continuously challenged himself to improve and grow as a software developer. His story serves as an illustration of the apprenticeship journey and the importance of seeking out opportunities for learning and growth in the software development field.

I also really liked the definitions and the progression in stages – an apprentice, to a journeyman, to a master. Looking at software development as a craft to be honed and mastered like an Archer, or a Swordsman was quite interesting to think about. The third chapter especially was very enlightening. For the pursuit of efficiency, or most likely in service of sloth – my favorite sin, I take shortcuts whenever possible. I have noticed in myself the tendency to bodge things to make do – like putting on a band-aid over a bullet hole, to push perfection for later, to say – “Can’t be bolloxed, this will have to do!”.  Walking the Long Road is quite a departure from that mindset, and one I hope to grow into. Ah! to be able to rip off the band-aid!

All in all, quick fun read. Not bad at all!

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I read Apprenticeship Patterns as per the syllabus and I found a lot of things that resonated deeply with me. Dave talks about giving up on learning to code, or rather to program after being unable to do anything compelling or significant, and only having had mastered Perl on his third attempt. I myself have on multiple occasions traded a language for another when I stop making progress. My thinking was – “Maybe, this isn’t the one for me”. So, I hopped from Python to JS to Scala to Java to C learning only the basics and just enough to satisfy any classes that might’ve required it. I was a jack of all trade, and master of none! Only upon revisiting Python again for a summer fellowship with a professor, and working on learning more than just the syntaxes, idiosyncrasies, and fun facts about the language, was I able to move on to being somewhat competent. Dave’s story tells us how he sought out mentors, took on challenging projects, and continuously challenged himself to improve and grow as a software developer. His story serves as an illustration of the apprenticeship journey and the importance of seeking out opportunities for learning and growth in the software development field.

I also really liked the definitions and the progression in stages – an apprentice, to a journeyman, to a master. Looking at software development as a craft to be honed and mastered like an Archer, or a Swordsman was quite interesting to think about. The third chapter especially was very enlightening. For the pursuit of efficiency, or most likely in service of sloth – my favorite sin, I take shortcuts whenever possible. I have noticed in myself the tendency to bodge things to make do – like putting on a band-aid over a bullet hole, to push perfection for later, to say – “Can’t be bolloxed, this will have to do!”.  Walking the Long Road is quite a departure from that mindset, and one I hope to grow into. Ah! to be able to rip off the band-aid!

All in all, quick fun read. Not bad at all!

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I read Apprenticeship Patterns as per the syllabus and I found a lot of things that resonated deeply with me. Dave talks about giving up on learning to code, or rather to program after being unable to do anything compelling or significant, and only having had mastered Perl on his third attempt. I myself have on multiple occasions traded a language for another when I stop making progress. My thinking was – “Maybe, this isn’t the one for me”. So, I hopped from Python to JS to Scala to Java to C learning only the basics and just enough to satisfy any classes that might’ve required it. I was a jack of all trade, and master of none! Only upon revisiting Python again for a summer fellowship with a professor, and working on learning more than just the syntaxes, idiosyncrasies, and fun facts about the language, was I able to move on to being somewhat competent. Dave’s story tells us how he sought out mentors, took on challenging projects, and continuously challenged himself to improve and grow as a software developer. His story serves as an illustration of the apprenticeship journey and the importance of seeking out opportunities for learning and growth in the software development field.

I also really liked the definitions and the progression in stages – an apprentice, to a journeyman, to a master. Looking at software development as a craft to be honed and mastered like an Archer, or a Swordsman was quite interesting to think about. The third chapter especially was very enlightening. For the pursuit of efficiency, or most likely in service of sloth – my favorite sin, I take shortcuts whenever possible. I have noticed in myself the tendency to bodge things to make do – like putting on a band-aid over a bullet hole, to push perfection for later, to say – “Can’t be bolloxed, this will have to do!”.  Walking the Long Road is quite a departure from that mindset, and one I hope to grow into. Ah! to be able to rip off the band-aid!

All in all, quick fun read. Not bad at all!

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.