# Professional Development

#### Pick out 3 behaviors that resonate with you in the list and describe why they resonate with you in a reflection (4-6 sentences).

##### 3 behaviors: #4 (acknowledge that most major decisions don't matter that much), #6 (understand that code is cheap), #26 (act as a leader, not as a boss)

The three behaviors that I've listed above each resonated with me the most for different reasons. The phrase at the end of the description of #4 (programmers are quite zen like) allowed me to change the way I handle feeling overwhelmed when trying to learn new elements of programming. Taking a deep breath, standing up for a moment, and gathering my thoughts has already done wonders for my stress management. Understanding that not only is code cheap (#6), but also the important output is the experience gained from writing the code in the first place has changed how I view my productivity while coding. Instead of looking at the deletion of code as a failure, I can now re-frame it as a necessary experience to optimize my code and make myself a better programmer. Finally, #26 re-enforced one of the motto's I've always tried to keep in my life: "Lead from the front", meaning that the most effective leaders take on the least desirable tasks in an effort to motivate those around them.

#### After reading, consider the idea of checklists. Write a reflection (4-6 sentences) on the benefits of a checklist and how an organizational system such as a checklist might help you first as a student and later as a full-time developer.

Before reading the article, I was fairly familiar with using checklists in my everyday life as a reminder to complete basic tasks (meeting @ 10 am, grocery store lists) quickly and without forgetting the tasks entirely. After reading however, I can now grasp not only the utility that checklists provide, but also how essential they become when trying to accomplish complex or multi-tiered problems. The article made clear that no matter how intelligent or careful a person is (Harvard doctor), the use of a checklist can prevent serious mistakes from being made; we are humans after all and humans make mistakes. As a student, checklists can help to prevent feeling overwhelmed by a confusing and complex task by instead breaking the task down into easy to navigate pieces. Later on in full-time development when the tasks get exponentially more complex but your knowledge base is greater, checklists can have the same calming effect as well as allow for tasks to be completed in the most efficient manner possible by many people working as a team.

#### After reading the three articles, answer the following questions in a reflection (4-6 sentences):

##### What is your impression of strengths-based development? What questions do you have about this kind of development?
##### What do you feel are your top strengths? How do you know?
##### How do you hope to develop your strengths for your new career in software development?

Personally, I think strength based development is certainly a good strategy for building an efficient and successful team in the short term, however I also think this strategy has some shortcomings. Just like people change over time, their strengths/weaknesses may change over time. With this in mind I think it is important to focus on a persons strengths in relation to how they could help to accomplish a goal today, but at the same time keeping an open mind to how people change over time, for good or bad, is also paramount to having a long term, adaptive, successful team. Based on my past work/life experiences I think my top strengths are: being an effective organizer, working well with others, and not being afraid to ask others for help/direction. My indications for these strengths come from a combination of my superiors in the past telling me they appreciated me asking instead of wasting time spinning my wheels to receiving positive feedback from team members on teams I have personally lead. As I've gotten older the realization has hit me that a majority of people change over time and this can include a person strengths and weaknesses. Going forward in software development, I know that organization is paramount and I can develop that and my other strengths by asking questions of those around me to learn their strategies for organizing, leading, and asking for help when necessary, which hopefully will differ greatly from my own strategies and therefore bolster my own strengths.