Foundations Reflections

What surprised me the most about the Human Skills learning is…

That things I’ve been trying to improve in my personal life over the last two years were being parroted in these learnings. It felt good to recognize that what I had identified in myself as an area for growth, was also what Dev Academy thinks it’s students need.

What was even better is although I recognized the need for growth, my attempts at growth were scatter shot. I was doing research and making guesses about how to improve those skills, where the provided training, and especially the pre-course curriculum, I have been really pleased with.

I’ve been able to consistently adopt tiny habits thinking in sereral areas of life that previous attempts would only last for a few weeks at a time, until I had a renewed motivation spike. Also, time blocking is amazing, though I HATE strongly dislike Toggl.com I liked how keeping track of the time is helping me complete tasks, and not get lost in the details.

The most invaluable thing for me has been journalling, and meditation. These two things together have helped me keep a clear mind even when week 4 was testing me. I will say it’s an ebb and flow, but I almost daily do the four Q’s in a personal journal and find trying to recall what i learned that day as a good test of if I actually learned it, and if I haven’t but if can I still remember what the thing is called I’ll just have a quick refresh on MDN or Geek for Geek to help solidify what i learned.

I’ve also taken up the use of AnkiWeb.net, which is not explicitly recommended by Dev Academy, but I found it thanks to there recommendation to practice spaced reptition, which is the act of studying something, and slowly moving the time between studying out further and further.

Reflection

what are three new things you have learnt about yourself and your ego due to the Human Skills learning?

1. I have a growth mindset!
2. My brain is capable of reforming it’s self through the concept of neuroplasticity
3. That even with a growth mindset, I can still find myself frustrated, and moving to a non-growth mindset place, and that taking a break helps me return to the growth mindset.

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

I think they help shape who you will be a programmer, but having self-awareness can help you understand your strengths and weaknesses, and how you work with others.

What has surprised you the most about the Human Skills learning?

I guess that I would find it as valuable as I have found it

What were the most challenging aspects of the Human Skills learning?

This one is hard, I don’t really think any of it was that challenging for me.

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

I reckon it has something to do with the type of people that are attracted to a course like this, but hopefully it has more to do with Dev Academy getting feedback from industry that this is one of the most important things they look for in candidates.

Does the time you spent studing Human Skills learning here feel like a waste of time?Should you have just used that time to practise programming instead?

Definitely not for me. I found some much value from it. I think what I learned in the pre-course materials was the most valuable, and at times, the Human Skills work felt like box ticking, but that might be because I did the optional pre-course work.