Category Archives: Week 11

Apprenticeship Pattern: Breakable Toys

With the breakable toys pattern, the learner conducts experiments and observes the work of others to improve their own understanding of how to build complex systems. Apprenticeship Patterns suggests a few ways to go about this. You might build a simplification of an existing problem that you’re already facing. By reducing uncontrollable variables or emulating a single possible case, you can come to understand one key interaction, tool, or data flow at a time until you become capable of composing a solution to a broader problem.

Another possibility is building your own projects that are not focused on understanding one specific issue you are already facing. Doing so can build a familiarity with your tools, and can lead to unexpected creativity or interest in learning how others achieved problems you might never have otherwise encountered.

The third variant of this pattern is the analysis of external source code. The abundance of open-source projects provides an effectively infinite learning resource for studying how others design systems and resolve issues.

I think that this pattern is a very important part of long-term learning. It can be easy to build habits when programming: you can usually come to a desirable result either by brute-force trial and error from the bottom up, or by drawn-out requirements planning that gets done before any prototype is built. But I’ve found myself spending far more time invested in one of these two methods than I should have, when remaining flexible and incorporating aspects of the other would have led me to a better solution faster.

In general, I think it’s a shame how often the daily work of software development can feel detached from the playful curiosity of the scientific method. Much of the most rewarding learning happens as a result of developing a question and finding a finding out how you can reach a confident answer to it. Considering we’re working in the one field where rapid iteration and near-zero cost to entry makes the scientific method universally accessible, I’d like to hope I’d take advantage of that by putting myself in many situations that generate spontaneous curiosity.

That’s what I like about making a breakable toy. It’s usually more fun to play with than the projects that we have real responsibility for, and that fun makes us want to understand everything about the toy and how the toy could grow into something else.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Tasteful Glues by tastefulglues and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Expose Your Ignorance

Greetings! I recently stumbled upon an intriguing concept called “Expose Your Ignorance,” which originates from the book “Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman” by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye. This pattern advocates for individuals to openly acknowledge and address their knowledge gaps by seeking assistance from mentors, peers, or experts. Personally, I found this pattern to be quite relevant and valuable, as I frequently encounter scenarios where I need to acquire new knowledge. I appreciated how this pattern emphasized the importance of seeking feedback and assistance to cultivate both personal and professional development.

What I found intriguing about this pattern is its emphasis on recognizing the strength in admitting ignorance or not knowing something. In the past, I have been guilty of feigning knowledge to avoid appearing foolish or incompetent. However, this pattern advocates for the opposite approach, highlighting the benefits of being forthright about one’s limitations. By doing so, individuals can receive constructive feedback and foster personal growth. Furthermore, this pattern places significant importance on seeking guidance from others, which can be a daunting task, particularly for those who are just starting out. Nevertheless, reaching out for help is a crucial step towards expediting the learning process and avoiding potential mistakes. The pattern emphasizes that seeking assistance should not be viewed as a weakness, but rather as a strength. By doing so, individuals demonstrate their eagerness to learn and advance. I believe that the Expose Your Ignorance pattern offers significant advantages for personal and professional development. It encourages individuals to be transparent about their knowledge gaps and seek assistance, leading to more rapid growth and learning. This pattern has significantly impacted my outlook on my profession, as it has taught me to embrace my limitations and seek help when necessary. I believe that anyone looking to enhance their skills would benefit from adopting this pattern.

In summary, I strongly suggest reading the book “Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman” and implementing the Expose Your Ignorance pattern. This approach can help expedite your progress and advancement, whether you’re a software developer or working in any other field. By acknowledging your limitations and seeking help, you can foster personal and professional growth.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Mausam Mishra's Blog by mousammishra21 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

The Deep End

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 2 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Emptying The Cup” and took interest in the apprenticeship pattern called “The Deep End.” This pattern is about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and taking on challenging tasks that are outside of your current skill set. The best way to learn is by doing, and that taking on tasks that are beyond your current abilities can help you grow and develop new skills. The pattern advises that when you are in the “deep end,” it’s important to ask questions and seek help from more experienced colleagues. It’s also important to break down your tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces and to focus on making small incremental progress over time. The benefits of taking on tasks in the “deep end” include accelerated learning, increased confidence, and the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities and potential to your colleagues and mentors.

As a computer science apprentice, it can be scary to go into the “deep end” since you may think you would be a totally lost person working with experienced people. But I have experienced the deep end myself many times in my everyday hobby, video games. This seems to happen the most especially in competitive video games, when you play with people who are more skilled than you, you start to pick up on the many small helpful habits highly skilled players tend to do. The skilled players don’t need to think about the small habits because they have already mastered them and do them out of muscle memory. The same can be said for computer science apprentices. For a scenario, think about working on a difficult project with more experienced people in the field. You may look like a small fry with not that much experience compared to the others, but this is actually a fantastic opportunity to observe your team members and pay attention to small things and habits like their thought process for example. As you focus on the small habits, you also start to copy those habits and incorporate them into your work as well. This would also be a great opportunity to ask questions if you are confused about anything. I will for sure start diving into the deep end if I find any opportunities to since it will strengthen my skills as a computer science major.

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

The Deep End

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 2 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Emptying The Cup” and took interest in the apprenticeship pattern called “The Deep End.” This pattern is about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and taking on challenging tasks that are outside of your current skill set. The best way to learn is by doing, and that taking on tasks that are beyond your current abilities can help you grow and develop new skills. The pattern advises that when you are in the “deep end,” it’s important to ask questions and seek help from more experienced colleagues. It’s also important to break down your tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces and to focus on making small incremental progress over time. The benefits of taking on tasks in the “deep end” include accelerated learning, increased confidence, and the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities and potential to your colleagues and mentors.

As a computer science apprentice, it can be scary to go into the “deep end” since you may think you would be a totally lost person working with experienced people. But I have experienced the deep end myself many times in my everyday hobby, video games. This seems to happen the most especially in competitive video games, when you play with people who are more skilled than you, you start to pick up on the many small helpful habits highly skilled players tend to do. The skilled players don’t need to think about the small habits because they have already mastered them and do them out of muscle memory. The same can be said for computer science apprentices. For a scenario, think about working on a difficult project with more experienced people in the field. You may look like a small fry with not that much experience compared to the others, but this is actually a fantastic opportunity to observe your team members and pay attention to small things and habits like their thought process for example. As you focus on the small habits, you also start to copy those habits and incorporate them into your work as well. This would also be a great opportunity to ask questions if you are confused about anything. I will for sure start diving into the deep end if I find any opportunities to since it will strengthen my skills as a computer science major.

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

The Deep End

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 2 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Emptying The Cup” and took interest in the apprenticeship pattern called “The Deep End.” This pattern is about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and taking on challenging tasks that are outside of your current skill set. The best way to learn is by doing, and that taking on tasks that are beyond your current abilities can help you grow and develop new skills. The pattern advises that when you are in the “deep end,” it’s important to ask questions and seek help from more experienced colleagues. It’s also important to break down your tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces and to focus on making small incremental progress over time. The benefits of taking on tasks in the “deep end” include accelerated learning, increased confidence, and the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities and potential to your colleagues and mentors.

As a computer science apprentice, it can be scary to go into the “deep end” since you may think you would be a totally lost person working with experienced people. But I have experienced the deep end myself many times in my everyday hobby, video games. This seems to happen the most especially in competitive video games, when you play with people who are more skilled than you, you start to pick up on the many small helpful habits highly skilled players tend to do. The skilled players don’t need to think about the small habits because they have already mastered them and do them out of muscle memory. The same can be said for computer science apprentices. For a scenario, think about working on a difficult project with more experienced people in the field. You may look like a small fry with not that much experience compared to the others, but this is actually a fantastic opportunity to observe your team members and pay attention to small things and habits like their thought process for example. As you focus on the small habits, you also start to copy those habits and incorporate them into your work as well. This would also be a great opportunity to ask questions if you are confused about anything. I will for sure start diving into the deep end if I find any opportunities to since it will strengthen my skills as a computer science major.

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

The Deep End

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 2 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Emptying The Cup” and took interest in the apprenticeship pattern called “The Deep End.” This pattern is about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and taking on challenging tasks that are outside of your current skill set. The best way to learn is by doing, and that taking on tasks that are beyond your current abilities can help you grow and develop new skills. The pattern advises that when you are in the “deep end,” it’s important to ask questions and seek help from more experienced colleagues. It’s also important to break down your tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces and to focus on making small incremental progress over time. The benefits of taking on tasks in the “deep end” include accelerated learning, increased confidence, and the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities and potential to your colleagues and mentors.

As a computer science apprentice, it can be scary to go into the “deep end” since you may think you would be a totally lost person working with experienced people. But I have experienced the deep end myself many times in my everyday hobby, video games. This seems to happen the most especially in competitive video games, when you play with people who are more skilled than you, you start to pick up on the many small helpful habits highly skilled players tend to do. The skilled players don’t need to think about the small habits because they have already mastered them and do them out of muscle memory. The same can be said for computer science apprentices. For a scenario, think about working on a difficult project with more experienced people in the field. You may look like a small fry with not that much experience compared to the others, but this is actually a fantastic opportunity to observe your team members and pay attention to small things and habits like their thought process for example. As you focus on the small habits, you also start to copy those habits and incorporate them into your work as well. This would also be a great opportunity to ask questions if you are confused about anything. I will for sure start diving into the deep end if I find any opportunities to since it will strengthen my skills as a computer science major.

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

The Deep End

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 2 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Emptying The Cup” and took interest in the apprenticeship pattern called “The Deep End.” This pattern is about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and taking on challenging tasks that are outside of your current skill set. The best way to learn is by doing, and that taking on tasks that are beyond your current abilities can help you grow and develop new skills. The pattern advises that when you are in the “deep end,” it’s important to ask questions and seek help from more experienced colleagues. It’s also important to break down your tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces and to focus on making small incremental progress over time. The benefits of taking on tasks in the “deep end” include accelerated learning, increased confidence, and the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities and potential to your colleagues and mentors.

As a computer science apprentice, it can be scary to go into the “deep end” since you may think you would be a totally lost person working with experienced people. But I have experienced the deep end myself many times in my everyday hobby, video games. This seems to happen the most especially in competitive video games, when you play with people who are more skilled than you, you start to pick up on the many small helpful habits highly skilled players tend to do. The skilled players don’t need to think about the small habits because they have already mastered them and do them out of muscle memory. The same can be said for computer science apprentices. For a scenario, think about working on a difficult project with more experienced people in the field. You may look like a small fry with not that much experience compared to the others, but this is actually a fantastic opportunity to observe your team members and pay attention to small things and habits like their thought process for example. As you focus on the small habits, you also start to copy those habits and incorporate them into your work as well. This would also be a great opportunity to ask questions if you are confused about anything. I will for sure start diving into the deep end if I find any opportunities to since it will strengthen my skills as a computer science major.

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

The Deep End

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 2 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Emptying The Cup” and took interest in the apprenticeship pattern called “The Deep End.” This pattern is about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and taking on challenging tasks that are outside of your current skill set. The best way to learn is by doing, and that taking on tasks that are beyond your current abilities can help you grow and develop new skills. The pattern advises that when you are in the “deep end,” it’s important to ask questions and seek help from more experienced colleagues. It’s also important to break down your tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces and to focus on making small incremental progress over time. The benefits of taking on tasks in the “deep end” include accelerated learning, increased confidence, and the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities and potential to your colleagues and mentors.

As a computer science apprentice, it can be scary to go into the “deep end” since you may think you would be a totally lost person working with experienced people. But I have experienced the deep end myself many times in my everyday hobby, video games. This seems to happen the most especially in competitive video games, when you play with people who are more skilled than you, you start to pick up on the many small helpful habits highly skilled players tend to do. The skilled players don’t need to think about the small habits because they have already mastered them and do them out of muscle memory. The same can be said for computer science apprentices. For a scenario, think about working on a difficult project with more experienced people in the field. You may look like a small fry with not that much experience compared to the others, but this is actually a fantastic opportunity to observe your team members and pay attention to small things and habits like their thought process for example. As you focus on the small habits, you also start to copy those habits and incorporate them into your work as well. This would also be a great opportunity to ask questions if you are confused about anything. I will for sure start diving into the deep end if I find any opportunities to since it will strengthen my skills as a computer science major.

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

The Deep End

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 2 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Emptying The Cup” and took interest in the apprenticeship pattern called “The Deep End.” This pattern is about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and taking on challenging tasks that are outside of your current skill set. The best way to learn is by doing, and that taking on tasks that are beyond your current abilities can help you grow and develop new skills. The pattern advises that when you are in the “deep end,” it’s important to ask questions and seek help from more experienced colleagues. It’s also important to break down your tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces and to focus on making small incremental progress over time. The benefits of taking on tasks in the “deep end” include accelerated learning, increased confidence, and the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities and potential to your colleagues and mentors.

As a computer science apprentice, it can be scary to go into the “deep end” since you may think you would be a totally lost person working with experienced people. But I have experienced the deep end myself many times in my everyday hobby, video games. This seems to happen the most especially in competitive video games, when you play with people who are more skilled than you, you start to pick up on the many small helpful habits highly skilled players tend to do. The skilled players don’t need to think about the small habits because they have already mastered them and do them out of muscle memory. The same can be said for computer science apprentices. For a scenario, think about working on a difficult project with more experienced people in the field. You may look like a small fry with not that much experience compared to the others, but this is actually a fantastic opportunity to observe your team members and pay attention to small things and habits like their thought process for example. As you focus on the small habits, you also start to copy those habits and incorporate them into your work as well. This would also be a great opportunity to ask questions if you are confused about anything. I will for sure start diving into the deep end if I find any opportunities to since it will strengthen my skills as a computer science major.

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

The Deep End

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 2 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Emptying The Cup” and took interest in the apprenticeship pattern called “The Deep End.” This pattern is about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and taking on challenging tasks that are outside of your current skill set. The best way to learn is by doing, and that taking on tasks that are beyond your current abilities can help you grow and develop new skills. The pattern advises that when you are in the “deep end,” it’s important to ask questions and seek help from more experienced colleagues. It’s also important to break down your tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces and to focus on making small incremental progress over time. The benefits of taking on tasks in the “deep end” include accelerated learning, increased confidence, and the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities and potential to your colleagues and mentors.

As a computer science apprentice, it can be scary to go into the “deep end” since you may think you would be a totally lost person working with experienced people. But I have experienced the deep end myself many times in my everyday hobby, video games. This seems to happen the most especially in competitive video games, when you play with people who are more skilled than you, you start to pick up on the many small helpful habits highly skilled players tend to do. The skilled players don’t need to think about the small habits because they have already mastered them and do them out of muscle memory. The same can be said for computer science apprentices. For a scenario, think about working on a difficult project with more experienced people in the field. You may look like a small fry with not that much experience compared to the others, but this is actually a fantastic opportunity to observe your team members and pay attention to small things and habits like their thought process for example. As you focus on the small habits, you also start to copy those habits and incorporate them into your work as well. This would also be a great opportunity to ask questions if you are confused about anything. I will for sure start diving into the deep end if I find any opportunities to since it will strengthen my skills as a computer science major.

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