Tech Elevator Week 1: “Make Things Work, Then Make Things Better”
Welcome to my blog series on my shift to the technology industry.
Feel free to catch up on my previous posts!
It’s Been a Whirlwind of a week.
Here Are My Biggest Takeaways
Self-care is going to be so important.
It can be overwhelming to input so much new information into your brain every day. For me, self-care means getting outside every day in the morning. I’m 10 minutes from Melbourne Beach so I go for a walk before class and catch the incredible sunrise.
I also saw the SpaceX Launch on Wednesday night! Check out the video!
My classmates are my biggest resource.
Working collaboratively is an important skill to develop to be successful in the tech industry. If I have any questions, there is probably someone who has worked through that same concept. Additionally, it is beneficial to help others on their journey as well.
It’s time to start networking.
It’s not too early to start thinking about my job search. I am looking for jobs that are remote or based in Los Angeles. If you know of any opportunities for a junior developer please let me know!
Make things work. Then make things better
These words of wisdom came from my brilliant instructor Mary. In programming, it’s better to have a program that works than a complicated program that doesn’t. You can always add to it once it is functioning!
I also saw this phrase as a way to live life. How often do we catch ourselves chasing the next thing in pursuit of happiness? What if we learned to be happy with what we have, then make things better?
My Top 5 Clifton Strengths
As part of the professional development provided by Tech Elevator, I took an assessment to determine my personal strengths. These strengths are used to craft my “elevator pitch” will be used in interviews.
The Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment was created under the leadership of educational psychologist Donald Clifton. He wanted to identify the skills of the best of the best of the best and to capitalize on them.
The Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment helps identify the areas where you have the greatest potential for building strength. It measures recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior.
Here are my top five Clifton Strengths! Learn more here.
Learner
You love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences, but whatever the subject, you will always be drawn to the process of learning.
The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence. The thrill of the first few facts, the early efforts to recite or practice what you have learned, the growing confidence of a skill mastered — this is the process that entices you.
Your excitement leads you to engage in adult learning experiences — yoga or piano lessons or graduate classes. It enables you to thrive in dynamic work environments where you are asked to take on short project assignments and are expected to learn a lot about the new subject matter in a short period of time and then move on to the next one.
This Learner theme does not necessarily mean that you seek to become the subject matter expert, or that you are striving for the respect that accompanies a professional or academic credential. The outcome of the learning is less significant than the “getting there.”
Achiever
Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive. Achiever describes a constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself.
And by “every day” you mean every single day — workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning inside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more.
After each accomplishment is reached, the fire dwindles for a moment, but very soon it rekindles itself, forcing you toward the next accomplishment. Your relentless need for achievement might not be logical. It might not even be focused. But it will always be with you.
As an Achiever you must learn to live with this whisper of discontent. It does have its benefits. It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It is the jolt you can always count on to get you started on new tasks, new challenges. It is the power supply that causes you to set the pace and define the levels of productivity for your work group. It is the theme that keeps you moving.
Futuristic
You are the kind of person who loves to peer over the horizon. The future fascinates you. As if it were projected on the wall, you see in detail what the future might hold, and this detailed picture keeps pulling you forward, into tomorrow.
While the exact content of the picture will depend on your other strengths and interests — a better product, a better team, a better life, or a better world — it will always be inspirational to you. You are a dreamer who sees visions of what could be and who cherishes those visions.
When the present proves too frustrating and the people around you too pragmatic, you conjure up your visions of the future and they energize you. They can energize others, too. In fact, very often people look to you to describe your visions of the future. They want a picture that can raise their sights and thereby their spirits. You can paint it for them.
Practice. Choose your words carefully. Make the picture as vivid as possible. People will want to latch on to the hope you bring.
Intellection
You like to think. You like mental activity. You like exercising the “muscles” of your brain, stretching them in multiple directions. This need for mental activity may be focused; for example, you may be trying to solve a problem or develop an idea or understand another person’s feelings. The exact focus will depend on your other strengths.
On the other hand, this mental activity may very well lack focus. The theme of Intellection does not dictate what you are thinking about; it simply describes that you like to think. You are the kind of person who enjoys your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflection. You are introspective.
In a sense, you are your own best companion, as you pose yourself questions and try out answers on yourself to see how they sound. This introspection may lead you to a slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceives.
Or this introspection may tend toward more pragmatic matters such as the events of the day or a conversation that you plan to have later. Wherever it leads you, this mental hum is one of the constants of your life.
Competition
Competition is rooted in comparison. When you look at the world, you are instinctively aware of other people’s performance. Their performance is the ultimate yardstick. No matter how hard you tried, no matter how worthy your intentions, if you reached your goal but did not outperform your peers, the achievement feels hollow.
Like all competitors, you need other people. You need to compare. If you can compare, you can compete, and if you can compete, you can win. And when you win, there is no feeling quite like it. You like measurement because it facilitates comparisons.
You like other competitors because they invigorate you. You like contests because they must produce a winner. You particularly like contests where you know you have the inside track to be the winner.
Although you are gracious to your fellow competitors and even stoic in defeat, you don’t compete for the fun of competing. You compete to win. Over time you will come to avoid contests where winning seems unlikely.
Kindly,
Garrett