Foundation Reflection

What are three new things you have learnt about yourself and your ego due to the core learning?

• I learnt that I sometimes have a fixed mindset. I used to think I wasn't good at math, therefore I was not that kind of person that could do coding. Now I know that we can all improve through learning.
• I learnt that sometimes when I was talking to people, we were actually not truly communicating. Both parties could be not paying full attention to the conversation but thinking in their own world. Ways to improve this including truly listening to others, empathizing with them, and reflecting on our emotions and behaviours.
• I learnt that I have a fairly strong ego. I should be more open to feedbacks and suggestions in the future, which can be valuable learning opportunities for me to grow and improve.

What are the role of values, empathy, and self-awareness in learning and programming?

That's how we can realize and take care of other's feels as well as ourselves through the journey. It help us make a stronger connection with each other, so we can work together in a better way.

What has surprised you the most about the core learning?

I learnt about the growth mindset. Not only can it apply to learning knowledge, but also to learning interpersonal skills. Such as how to interact with people, and how we can utilise that skill to better serve our work and life.

What were the most challenging aspects of the core learning?

The challenging part would be to be truly honest with myself, reflect on what happened before, realise what I didn't do well, admit it and think of ways to actually improve in the future.

Why do you think we, a programming school, are spending so much time focusing on core learning in a web development Bootcamp course?

Because as I have heard a couple times during foundation, companies are not just looking for good programmers. More importantly, they are looking for good people in general. Good people who can communicate well and work well in a team. Therefore, good core skills are an indispensable part in our working life.

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?

No, it certainly does not. I think this is the part of education that I missed in my previous years. Growing up in China, schools were more focused on academic performance. There was no attention paying on how we should interact with other people. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to experience different teaching styles and to be able to absorb what I need from different culture and perspective.