Hi dear readers. Welcome back to my blog. From now on I will be writing for different Apprenticeship Patterns that I will find interesting in the book to share with you.

I started computer science with 0 knowledge in coding, programming languages or anything else related to this world that I find beautiful nowadays. My very first programming language was the famous Java and not because it was my choice but because my first contact with coding was in Intro to Programming (CS-140) and the teacher had chosen Java as a language. Now that I think back three years ago, I am happy that I started my software craftsmanship with Java.

A summary of ‘Your First Language’ Apprenticeship Pattern would be that if you start your journey different from me (in the meaning that you can choose your first language), the book recommends you to research about it and try to figure out what is the most suitable language from you. It doesn’t have to be one of the most popular language but as every language has its own characteristics you got to pick the one you find more easy (or hard, if you like to challenge yourself). If you don’t trust your research skills than you can ask your friends who are familiar with programming languages and they will  be able to tell you the differences between a few languages and why they like what they like. Learning the language is not the only step of the process as you will be using this language forever to solve different problems you might come across. Remember, switching is always an option..

Most of my friends had started programming with Python which I have heard is a very easy language to learn and use. I remember when I started to learn Java I used to try and solve other problems (as much as I could) so I would get practice and in my first problems I was not using any other libraries. Practice is the key, believe me! A language is easy to learn but it has a lot of volume. Once my boss said: “Its not the language we should memorize, its the data structure” and I totally agree as in your journey you will work in different companies that will use different languages.

I really like that this is the first pattern included in the book as the first language is the first contact you have with coding. And don’t forget..Practice

From the blog CS@Worcester – Danja's Blog by danja9 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hi everybody and welcome to another blog post for CS 448 Individual Apprenticeship Patterns. Today topic is going to be about one of the patterns in Individual apprenticeship patterns which is your first language. I learned a lot from this pattern like obtaining my first job will depend on my proficiency in a specific programming language. I started after reading this pattern to focus on one specific programming language which is swift. I chose this language because I been reading other articles and pattern that say to work on something, I going to be passionate about which is creating a fun application. The pattern advised me to become fluent in it, so I been coding problems and reading more about the language daily. I also feel more comfortable after reading this pattern when asking for help. I have always been too embarrassed in the past to ask for help because I felt like I should know how to solve the problem but now I will try to be more open with some of my programming errors but only if I desperately need it. The pattern talks about playing around in an environment with topics that I’m unfamiliar with which I totally agree with. XCode has an IDE call playground where I been just messing around with unfamiliar features and language. I have also been reading more about a testing framework after reading this pattern. I found this pattern helpful because I realize that there are many ways, I can improve in my programming skills. I learned that my first language is very important as a beginner programmer because the first language is going to be my building block for my career and foundation for future language that I will soon be learning. I think after reading this pattern your first language I really change the way I work and code. I have been more motivated to get a strong understand of the language I decided to invest in the most. I found this pattern interesting and I never knew the importance of the first language before because I been using every language and wasn’t focusing on a specific language which causes me to be decent in all of them instead of being proficient in one. All in all, this pattern was very inspiring.

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

For the second week of reading, I chose to read the pattern, A Different Road. This is a continuation off of Draw Your Own Map and discusses an issue. The issue is when you have followed your own path as a software developer and hit a road block. This road block is not about whether or not you could become better and rather that of a change in interest. It details the possible outcome of leaving the industry to pursue another interest and what could happen upon returning. There is a chance that the gap from working in different industries could work against you in the end. It is said that some organizations will deem the inactivity from the field as suspicious and will question your return. The risk is big, but it is still important to follow your road map where ever it leads.

What I found useful about this pattern is that it encourages others to follow their hearts or road map that led them up to the decision where they might be leaving the profession. Everyone only has one life, and usually the saying is to do what makes yourself happy. Sometimes, people need a change of pace and it’s important to recognize that. However, I am not surprised that some organizations will question your absence from the profession if you chose to leave for a while. I’m sure many of us who chose to study computer science has realized the type of field we are going to throw ourselves into. Another interesting part of this pattern is about the work experience between two different jobs can sometimes be used effectively. Depending on the context of course, one experience in a separate field may be used to fix or provide a solution to a problem in a different field. This also goes back to the organizations who might disregard any experiences that an individual has that isn’t related to the experience needed to fill the desired position. I feel that the only choice after leaving the long road for a while is to work twice as hard to get back in. Lastly, I do believe there are probably plenty of ways to accomplish that and it’s not a lost cause overall.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Progression through Computer Science and Beyond… by Johnny To and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I have a bad case of impostor syndrome and oftentimes get discouraged when comparing myself and my work to more experienced developers. This week’s apprenticeship pattern helped me understand that being farther behind on a stronger development team with intent to catch up (a small fish in a big pond) can be more beneficial than being more of an outgrown member of a team that doesn’t challenge me as much (a big fish in a small pond).

“Be the Worst” describes the problem of plateauing in new knowledge, as the apprentice continues to work in a team that doesn’t push them to challenge themselves. As a result, the apprentice may start to grow out of the team. The solution is simply for the apprentice to look for opportunities in stronger teams. By establishing themselves in such a group, the apprentice should be more motivated to work harder to catch up to the level of their teammates. While this poses a risk of potentially falling even farther behind, it has the immense reward of learning more, at a faster rate.

This section definitely reassured me that even if I am farther behind than my team members, it just means that I have more room to improve, as long as my teammates are supportive of my growth, in spite of me not being as strong of a team member (yet). I’m sure that initially, I will have difficulty removing the feelings of intimidation of working in a more challenging group. One of the additional risks of joining this kind of group is the possibility of feeling incapable or under-performing. However, as the section explains, I would be able to recognize how much I have truly advanced in skill when self-assessing.

This section also changed my thinking regarding comparing myself to other developers. With my current mindset of impostor syndrome, it may not be best for me to compare to those who are more experienced than me. But, as my attitude towards my own skill improves, it’s not a bad thing to look up to those people as an example of what I can also achieve. By seeking out more challenging opportunities, this comparison to other developers is also necessary.

Thanks for reading!

From the blog CS@Worcester – Hi, I'm Kat. by Kat Law and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

To start off with Apprenticeship Patterns, I’m going to look at Expose Your Ignorance from Chapter 2. This pattern jumped out at me largely because of something I brought up in my introduction post regarding “putting on airs” in order to appear more qualified than you currently are.

The problem that this pattern is looking to solve is for when external pressures are demanding that you deliver high quality software. This often becomes an issue when you’re unfamiliar with a required technology. Sometimes you’re brought onto a team for a particular skill and you haven’t expanded your skillset to encompass all of the team’s work. Or, perhaps, you’re the only one that they could find to do the job, even though you may not be as qualified to do it as they’d prefer. Those around you are relying on your ability to perform in the face of inexperience.

The solution that is offered is to approach the situation humbly. Accept your inexperience and seek the answers. “Putting on airs”, as I said before, will only make your job harder. If you convince those around you that you’re more experienced than you are and you end up delivering a subpar product, your inexperience will be exposed. On top of this, you will have inadvertently rejected learning opportunities to maintain your image of expertise. Instead of this, aim to be open about your lack of knowledge in this area. This will allow you to perform better than you would otherwise, as you get to genuinely learn the technology on your path towards development. It shows those relying on you that you’re capable of learning and doing sufficient work (or better) in a pinch — and it’ll strengthen your bonds with them as well. We want to work with people who are capable, and including your peers on your journey in self development will show them exactly that. Not only this, but as the book says, rejecting this opportunity to grow can cause people to get settled into one particular niche and become experts in their area. That’s never a bad thing, the industry needs experts. However, an expert is not the same thing as a craftsman. A craftsman is flexible and always searching for the chance to learn and grow as opposed to locking themselves into one discipline and learning it through and through.

What action can an aspiring craftsman take to usher themselves towards the solution for this problem? Make visible your ignorance to your coworkers — the book suggests a list with 5 items on it that is in a visible place. Maintain that list well, update it and refresh it as you expand your skillset. It’s important to show others that you are constantly seeking growth in your craft.

From the blog CS@Worcester – James Blash by jwblash and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

            The “Concrete Skills” pattern is described as a way be able solidify and maintain skills that would be helpful in a work environment. The book explains that many teams don’t really want to hire someone who won’t be able to help with the workload. There are too many situations where you would be a detriment with the lack of experience and skills. The books then goes on to talk about the possible solutions, one being to gain the ability to learn quickly. This can help show the team that you can be put to use in a working environment and not need to be supervised. It can also build a better relationship with the team by reassuring them that their efforts and time are not being wasted. Another strategy that is important is a great understanding of your first language since it can help you create a starting point within your first job. The book explains that communication and professionalism can be a strong driving force that accent your skills within your first language to better show off what you learned to employers.

            I found this pattern to be interesting in the sense that it relates to many new software developers looking for jobs. The through-provoking idea of being thrown into a software dev team that took a chance with a new developer is daunting to me. I find that if I was in that situation, I would need to work twice as hard to prove that I’m worth keeping on the team and that I have skills that can benefit everyone. This pattern shows me that concentrating on my programming skills and knowledge will be useful, but I will also need to have good communication skills as well to make sure that the team understands my viewpoints. I haven’t really thought about how important these communication skills and professional attitudes interlock with each other, but this pattern has shown me the importance of both. I agree with this pattern for the most part, however I found that it didn’t seem to give enough information about how someone could find their concrete skills in a team setting where many team members are already much better than you at your own language. Overall, I found this pattern interesting and very insightful.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Student To Scholar by kumarcomputerscience and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.