Sam Bryan

For the final pattern that I will be writing about for this capstone, I wanted to write about something that I’ve felt for a while, but I did not know if my intuition was correct. I picked this one because of this line, “someone who has never failed at anything has either avoided pushing at the boundaries of their abilities or has learned to overlook their own mistakes.” I feel that I have faced setback after setback in my life. I like to believe that it helps make me into a better, stronger, and more resilient person. When I struggle to learn something, I find that I understand it more thoroughly than if it came easy. It will also be much less likely to forget. The struggle is something to be embraced. It should not be a reason to give up. On the contrary, it should be a sign you’re going in the right direction. It’s like a video game where you’re not progressing in the level if there’s no bad guys in the way. I thought the “action” piece that the authors suggest is an apt one.

At the very beginning of this sprint, on April 25, Mia was able to push the portion Dan worked on (“Tabs2”) so that we could all see it. Up until this point, the rest of us were not on the same page. We were looking at a previous one we had come up with. We were instructed by Mia to hang tight until she was able to push it. Ryan and I were both unsure whether she would be able to, so we talked about doing it from scratch. That night, I started the process, but I didn’t get far before Mia let us all know that she was able to get it pushed. At that point, the majority of the component was done. I noticed that the button to create new slides was broken. It was a small fix, but I was able to fix the bug. Most of this past week was preparing for the presentation. I feel somewhat that I was under utilized and that I could have done more. It is not that I did not want to do the work. I offered often to do more. Once I was able to see the component, most of it was done. I suggested start

I skimmed through a few apprenticeship patterns before I found on the one that hit home with me, “Sweep the Floor.” The “problem” it presented was something that I am faced with starting every new venture at this stage on my journey. It stated, “You are a new apprentice on a project.” No matter where I go, this will describe me. I have talked in my last apprenticeship pattern blog that I am starting as an intern at a friend’s start up, and I will be taking the advice presented here and applying it to this and the next venture I go to afterwards. The solution advocates for doing the “simple, unglamorous, yet necessary, tasks.” It is tempting to do the opposite and try to do the “fun,” “exciting” things, but it stresses to not to, and prove yourself through the small tasks. I have had the thought that in most fields that you don’t need a degree for, one would start at an entry level job. From there, they would work their way up. The stories friends have told me about their grueling

The apprenticeship pattern framed the problem is that if you do not have room to make mistakes in your day to day programming, you will not have room to grow. The next line hit close to home, “It’s as if you’re always on stage.” I learn quite a bit from my school assignments, but I don’t always think I have mastered each area before moving on to the next topic. The problem arises when I know my code could be improved upon, but it’s currently working. I don’t want to restructure my code too much, because I’m afraid of making it worse. The term comes to mind, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” I have problems with this way of thinking, but when you’re pressed to make something work before the impending deadline, “good enough” is sometimes feels like the only option I have left. This pattern champions a different approach to this kind of mentality. I like the idealized version that they have laid out based on the research of K. Anders Ericsson. This describes where a mentor would ass

It is a shame that we are so close to the end of the semester. We were gaining so much momentum. It took us a while for us to get off the ground, but once we did, we never stopped gaining speed. I feel we will be able to keep this up through this last sprint. My hopes at the beginning of the semester for what we could accomplish were unrealistically high, but I am not disappointed with what we accomplished. We have not completed a full working component quite yet, but we are very close. I think our efforts are best spent finishing the one we are currently working on and doing it right. If we divided our efforts into starting something new, we run the risk of not fully completing anything. In the sage words of Ron Swanson, “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.” If we are able to get the tabs working beautifully, I will be happy with our effort. I have felt that our group has done a phenomenal job this sprint and every sprint before with our communication. We have a few

The long and short of the pattern is to not accept a lucrative position or promotion if it takes you away from practicing your technical skills. If those skills aren’t constantly honed, they will be lost or become outdated before long. A family friend was a midlevel manager at a software development company before he was laid off. He had gotten away from doing the technical work. The trouble was that most companies promote from within, so it was hard for him to apply for a job that he had before. It was also hard for him to start a job doing the technical side because those skills weren’t as fresh in his mind. There’s a good lesson to be learned from his story. I often hear from people complain their manager is out of touch. The pointy haired boss  from Dilbert strikes a chord for so many for a reason. Perhaps more fitting to this pattern is The Office’s (U.S.) Michael Scott. While he has his moments, he is by in large an extremely incompetent manager. However, he does go on some s