For this week’s blog post, I have decided to look at the apprenticeship pattern “Exposing your ignorance”. The idea of this chapter is that you, a software developer, are being paid to know what you are doing. The problem is that you have become unfamiliar with some of the required technologies. This starts to fill you with uncertainty that you are not the correct fit for the job. The solution to this issue is to expose your ignorance. Show the people who are depending on you that the learning process is part of delivering software. Let them see you grow. According to Dave H. Hoover & Adewale Oshineye, the authors of the book, they say on this,

“The most obvious way to expose your ignorance is to ask questions. This is easier said than done, particularly when the person you’re asking has assumed that you already know the answer. Press on! Sure, you could protect your pride and take less direct routes to obtain the required knowledge, but remember that your road to journeyman will be shortened by taking the most direct route available” (Dave H. Hoover & Adewale Oshineye pg. 26)

While this method does expose your ignorance to the other team members, this shows that you can and are willing to learn and grow. This is what make a craftsman, someone is is willing and can learn multiple things, rather than an expert who is advanced only in one aspect. This chapter was a fun one to read. I found that exposing your ignorance was an idea that I didn’t even think about. Personally, I am a person that can clam up very easy and become afraid to ask something, thinking it may sound stupid. After reading this chapter, it has shown me that I can be in a professional setting and its okay to show the team my ignorance. This will tell them that I’m trying to grow and learn more. This chapter has changed the way I think about my actions inside a job context. Now if I am in the field and feel as though I have a stupid question, I know now to ask.

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