Foundations Core Reflection

What are three new things you have learnt about yourself and your ego due to the core learning?

It was interesting to discover that I struggled with the listening and looping exercises despite feeling like I am a good listener. Going through the identity and strengths exercise, there were a lot of things which weren't a surprise at all, but also a few interesting insights as well. I think this also made me realise that I have more skills to offer than I generally give myself credit for. Again, during the identity and strengths section I found it interesting how much I struggled to find good examples to answer the "describe a situation where/given an example of" questions.

What are the role of values, empathy, and self-awareness in learning and programming?

I guess first and foremost we are all humans, and when working with other people we need to be mindful of our emotions and the emotions of others if we are to be successful working together. When we are learning something new, especially if it is challenging, we need to be kind to ourselves and not listen to critical self-talk.

What has surprised you the most about the core learning?

I was surprised by the fact I was already familiar (to varying degrees) with many of the topics we covered in the core sections. I had done similar things to listening and looping, I had been introduced to the growth/fixed mindset and some ideas about neuroplasticity before.

What were the most challenging aspects of the core learning?

I found the listening and looping exercises challenging, largely because I was trying hard to retain all of the key points of what was said in the 2-minute listening phase. As mentioned above, I found the "describe a situation where/given an example of" questions in the identity and strengths section really hard to answer.

Why do you think we, a programming school, are spending so much time focusing on core learning in a web development Bootcamp course?

I think that being an effective part of a team, many of the softer skills make the difference between a high-performing team, and a dysfunctional team, between a team people love being a part of, and a team where people wish they weren't a part of. There is also the stereotype that tech people tend not to have great people skills, I'm not sure about how accurate this is (I think there is a degree of truth in it), but regardless we can all benefit by further developing these skills.

I think it is well summarised in the quote by the Dev Academy co-founder, Joshua Vial: To be a good web developer, study code. To be a great one, study people..

Does the time you spent studying core learning here feel like a waste of time? Should you have just used that time to practise programming instead? Justify your answer.

No, it does not feel like a waste of time. I have felt that the core skills have been the more difficult aspect for me, and to be honest I probably enjoy working through the coding problems more. However, I think the core skills have be worthwhile . They have helped to put us in a good mindset to tackle the technical material and to work together constructively and empathetically.