- I know one of my greatest strengths is my empathy. I have been told so all my life, and having a background in theatre has only increased my levels of understanding and the ability to look at circumstances and cultures from varying points of view. In theatre you have to put yourself in multiple other peoples shoes to make the story as compelling as possible with what information you have been given. Designers have to do endless research to make sure their choices add to the setting/character and not detract, or not make sense. What social class is this person in? How does that affect where they live and what they own? Would this person have multiple pairs of shoes, or one they wear every day? Would this person care about their appearance? Is someone in particular making them feel a certain way, and how does that change the way they present themselves? Would this person have a garment or trinket from a loved one that is always on their person? Etc.
- I work best when I am not at home, I am not surrounded by chatty people, and do not have TV or music with lyrics on. I have to be somewhat uncomfortable to be productive. I frequent coffee shops, and previously when I was in school, I would rotate buildings on campus that I would study in so the environment would not become super comfortable and decrease my productivity. I have always struggled to be productive at home in regards to homework, and I think some of that is due to an inadequate desk/study set up. However, I think some of it ultimately is because I have gotten used to home being the place where I relax, and I haven't ever had a dedicated home 'work space'. I did recently acquire a much better office chair which has made a difference, but I think it is more of a subconscious shift than anything.
- I need to work on my confidence and how critical I am of myself. Pushing myself to be better is a good thing, but I know I can be my own worst critic and bully. Coming into this program and working on my page for show and tell has made me aware of how hard on myself I can be because I set my expectations and standards high. I have to remind myself frequently that I am new here, and it will take time and practice for me to become better at everything; I can't be instantly good at things, otherwise there wouldn't be a point to me attending Turing.
- Alongside empathy increasing my ability to create user profile scenarios and think outside of my own life box, I think my attention to detail will be extremely beneficial. I have always been pretty diligent in terms of making everything consistent even down to the smallest detail because it looks better, works better, and just is better. Consistency is key to the success of most things, and consistently paying attention to the nitty-gritty details is crucial in software development because one incorrect symbol can make everything break.
- Knowing my strengths and working preferences will drastically help me maximize my productivity as long as I am honest with myself and my team about them, and my team is open to that information/workflow. For example, working remote is not something I see myself handling very well initially in my career; I will most likely force myself to go to a coffee shop or open workspace. If I am in a group project, I tend to try and meet up with the group members as often as I can to maximize the time spent working on the project.
