What are three new things you have learnt about yourself and your ego due to the core learning?
- I've learnt how harsh I was towards myself in general. This made it difficult for me to achieve any sense of accomplishment and not only it affects self-esteem but also accurate self-assessment and healthy boundaries that allows you to improve and work well together with others.
- Relating to the first point, I've learnt the importance of speaking up and expressing yourself more in larger spaces. I've learnt that I have tendency to shy away from these spaces however, it's an important space as it can demonstrate human skills and also contribute to the community.
- I've learnt that I have high adaptability which can both help and hinder me from being the best version of myself. Learning the limits and how to utilise them in the correct space will be something that I would like to work on further.
What are the role of values, empathy, and self-awareness in learning and programming?
Although technical skills are important in completing your job, other emotional intelligence (EQ) skills such as empathy, self-confidence, influence and motivations are also crucial in continuing learning and working with others in a organisation.
Value, empathy, and self-awareness are all important aspects of EQ which is the ability of being able to identify and understand your own emotions. These are important elements when you're on a continuous learning journey like programming where you're always encountering something new or things you don't know because it gives you ways to navigate these difficult situations with a more optimal state.
Value provides a grounding of who you are as a person and leads to better self-awareness which is the central part of EQ. Self-awareness provides you with accurate self-assessment of where you're at, leading to better plans to improve oneself. It is also related to self-esteem and confidence where it gives you a good foundation for you to receive feedback and also recognise accomplishment without being overconfident. This leads to the third point of empathy where with the above foundations, you're able to have better understanding of other's emotion and state they're in. You've more inclined to actively listen and demonstrate empathy in a way that is meaningful to them.
What has surprised you the most about the core learning?
That all the knowledge acquired in the Core learning process is extremely useful for the the programming learning journey. When I started doing Core, I wasn't too sure how it could be related to programming but the more I've learnt about these topics, the more I could see how it can be used to enhance the learning experience and also create a better space/industry in general.
What were the most challenging aspects of the core learning?
Self-reflection was the most challenging in a way that it exposed your vulnerabilities and things you've avoided from confronting. This ended up being a good turning point for me as I was able to face these things with the newly acquired Core knowledge and take it as a learning opportunity to practice the new skills.
Why do you think we, a programming school, are spending so much time focusing on core learning in a web development Bootcamp course?
As mentioned in the section for role of values, empathy and self-awareness in programming, the reason these skills are important in a programming school is because it's important to develop these Core skills in order to be the best version of oneself and also be able to work/collaborate well with others. Programming is both an independent journey but also about community. To have the ability to be self-aware and know who you are can help with the difficult and frustrating times that you encounter when learning. Having empathy and high EQ can help in working well with others which is a crucial skill additional to technical abilities.
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?
I've felt that the time spent on Core module was extremely helpful and essential part of being a good developer. The skills acquired in this learning module has been useful for not only programming learning but also in private life as well which is important from overall wellbeing perspective. Additionally, learning programming is a difficult journey and is not easy. When things get difficult, it's important to have a skillset or a way to keep going and Core has taught me various skills on how I can manage those hard times.