Hello,

My name is Matthew DePalo and this is my first blog post for my Capstone class this year!

From the blog CS@Worcester – Matt's Blog by mattyd99 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

The book Apprenticeship Patterns by Adewale Oshineye and Dave Hoover is written for software apprentices who have experience in developing software and want to take it to the next level but need some guidance. The concept of the book is based on the medieval craft model where there are apprentices who are inexperienced/beginners who help the journeymen and the masters do their work.

After reading the first few paragraphs of the introduction chapter, I thought to myself, this system of apprenticeship is similar to what we have right now. You have the apprentices interns/new hires, the journeymen or the people that are already working are experienced, then the master or the manager but in a different way. Since now, you do not have to go through years and years of training to be able to do what someone in a higher position is doing. Sometimes people are hired as a manager right away.

I really like the part where they talk about what they meant by software craftsmanship cause they talked about the different core values not just in software development but also in life. They said that it is a “community of practice united and defined by overlapping values”.  One of the values that they talked about was a need to always be adapting and changing. This applies to everything. The world is constantly changing and we need to adapt to it or else we would be left behind. They also talked about the belief that it is better to share what we know. This is really important in the software industry. You can see how most Open Source Softwares are successful because it is made for the community so there are more people who are willing to work on it. These are just some of the values that were listed in the book.

The introduction in each chapter of the book was also enjoyable and insightful. It was full of philosophical stories. The first one was about “emptying your cup”. It talks about how you should open up yourself to the different approaches of a more experienced colleague. It is often hard to get rid of our habits. I think that even though we think we know what we are doing, it is important that we respect and acknowledge that others are more experienced than us and that we should be open to new things.

The introduction of Chapter 3 was the most relevant to me. They talked about how if you think you are good at doing something, there is always someone better than you. In high school, since I did not know much English and the school system here in America, they put me in classes that were easy. After a few months, I lost interest in school and studying. I was not learning anything. This puts me in a state of mind where I think I am better than my classmates and that I do not have to go to school. But then, the year after, they put me on more advanced classes and I was challenged but, at the same time happy to know that there are way more people who are better than me.

I really enjoyed reading the introductions to each chapter. It seems to prepare us and set our mindset in the right direction before we learn the different patterns that are in the book.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Computer Science by csrenz and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

          The Apprenticeship Patterns book explains how to understand the ideas of modern software development by using a simple vocabulary and a relatable lens. The first chapter goes through the importance of understanding how Software Craftsmanship is defined through the experience of real developers. The ideas of trying new things and experimenting were constantly brought up as well to enforce the mindset of individual growth. It explains that through various interviews and personal experience, they were able to understand the individual growth of various software developers and share their experiences through their years for a better understanding of the industry of today. The book delves into these ideas further by saying that the reader’s mind should be fresh and patient when learning. Many developers stick to certain practices once they learn master a specific language that they carry over which hurts their learning ability in the future. This comes into play with the self-assessment portion of the book where it explains that risks and learning curves are to be expected when tackling difficult languages but understanding personal strengths and weaknesses are key. These ideas help keep the idea of perpetual learning fresh and easier to tackle which can greatly affect how someone learns information on their own. The book continues to talk about the abundance of information through the internet and books that allow anyone access to information if they truly need it. It further pushes the idea of self-learning by talking about how many developers started by teaching themselves through constant reading and media platforms while also applying these skills into their daily software development lives.

          I found the reading to be very interesting through the use of personal experience from other developers as they went through their own hardships of learning how to compete in the industry. I specifically found the analogy of emptying the cup to be thought-provoking and useful as it seemed very relatable to me. Understanding and master a programming language feels incredible and makes the user want to apply what they learned to various other languages in hopes of learning them faster using the first language as a basis of knowledge. This can work sometimes however; many languages have their own twists which can be aggravating to learn due to the fact that it seems more complex than the first language that you originally learned. The idea of “emptying” the cup makes much more sense here to make sure that there is frustration when moving from one language to another. I found the analogy of not being able to “drink” from the cup if it’s full to be insightful because it points out the importance of letting go of some knowledge from other subjects to retain focus on the current learning objective on hand. The reading has caused me to understand how to learn from my mistakes and failures much better after reading how other developers also struggled with difficult programming terms. It’s changed my opinion of learning other skills for software development and how I would have originally tackled it which I now completely agree with. This ties into Chapter 6 which talked about constructing your own curriculum which resonated with me much more than the other chapters. As I empty my cup, I realize that my limits lie within how I intake my information and how I organize this intake to make it as easy and smooth as possible.

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

For this post, my assignment was to read chapter 1 as well as the introductions for chapters 2-6 of Apprenticeship Patterns by Adewale Oshineye and Dave Hoover. We weren’t required to read anything in addition, but I was interested, so I read the first model from each chapter as well.

This book models a framework for someone to master the discipline. Mastering something can be challenging, and it is easy to give up when faced with some obstacles. Fortunately, this book looks like it will provide a good framework for someone like me.

I liked all the values presented in the introduction. These are a few of my favorites. (1) “Having a growth mindset.” Like many things I can glean from this book, this is a good quality to adopt for all of life when faced with any obstacle. (2) “Share what we know.” I believe that we are stronger when we work together over getting ahead by trampling others to get ahead.

(3) “Willingness to experiment and be proven wrong.” This perhaps was the most important thing that I learned working in groups last semester. Invariably I would go into a project with a range of quality of ideas. Some were good, but many were not. I had to have the humility to admit when an idea I was defending was not a good one. I grew as a person because of that.

For the “emptying the cup” metaphor, I related to the young philosopher quite a bit. I try hard not to be this way, but I find I can have the tendency to give my two cents when in the presence of someone who knows a lot more than me. I should be a lot more willing to listen and learn over speaking what I know. Usually what I have to say is nothing compared to what I can learn.

The advice to “be the worst” made me feel more at ease at the prospect of getting an internship or a job. I am overcoming a fear of being the worst developer at a company. This advice makes me think of it in another way, which is that I will grow so much more as a developer if I surround myself with people that are better than me

I appreciated the C.S. Lewis quote about seeking knowledge “while conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come.” This struck very close to home for me, coming from a vacation where I had set maybe a dozen goals for myself. I ended the vacation only finishing a couple of them. I should have forced myself to set aside the time before the fall semester was over to start to accomplish these goals. If I had excuses during the semester, I should have foreseen that I would have excuses over the break.

I am excited to read more about each section. These topics that we will explore truly seem like they will be enjoyable to learn.

From the blog Sam Bryan by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.