What surprised you most about learning the human skills 'core curriculum'?

What surprised me the most about learning core is how many resources there are out there to frame, describe, communicate and elucidate the experiences we have as humans as we work together to achieve a common goal.

I was also surprised at how our thinking has evolved and continues to evolve on the topic of human skills.

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

Throughout the process, I worked hard to silence my inner critic and trust in the practical value of the abstract ideas I was learning (We all like to think of ourselves as being very open minded - but I think it pays to be wary!). Doing so enabled me to learn from the material and then seek further clarification from other sources and course facilitators when my curiosities weren’t satisfied. I was very happy to keep the ego in check, in this regard.

Another learning was that I put alot of emphasis on, or have some anxieties around, being sure that I am understood. A tool I can use to ‘check-in’ and ease that concern is looping back what I’m hearing from anyone I’m communicating with.

I also felt that the learning helped me describe or understand what is unique about me.

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

All human skills help us understand the real and potential experiences of ourselves and others, and respond to them with intentionality.

Describing what happens in our minds as we go through a learning experience is hard. But having empathy and self awareness can help us be reflective, and this allows us to evaluate our self-talk and our values. Patterns of behaviour or thinking that do not serve us can then be discarded.

What has surprised you the most about the core learning?

I was surprised at how practical it was. The theory gave us a framework but it was up to us to do the hard work of reflecting and observing our own experiences, and also to put certain tools into practice.

What were the most challenging aspects of the core learning?

Building mindfulness habits was difficult. The temptation was to practice mindfulness ‘when I felt I needed to’, however there were days where I knew that a more regimented approach would have saved me (allowed me to focus my energies more effectively) before it was already too late.

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

I think it’s about setting us up to be effective, resilient learners. It’s also a great way to prepare for fitting into or adding to the culture of any workplace we enter.

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? Justify your answer.

No, I think the core curriculum sets a positive expectation in terms of how we interact with eachother going into bootcamp. Acquiring these frameworks early on also means they start paying a return in multiples, from this point on.