1. I have been living with a fixed-mindset for most of my life. I would say largely as a result of our schooling systems and how people are encouraged to learn and achieve. As I learnt more about fixed vs growth mindsets, the more I recognised how my actions in life are from that mind-set. For instance I am sometimes be opposed to face challenges and can get detered if I fail. However, I found just learning about the concept has made me aware of the actions of this mindset, and helped me start using a growth mindset, which then further helps learning tech.
2. I have a pretty good system of problem solving. Early on in core, we looked into thinking like a programmer. And at the time I found that my way of problem-solving had a lot of similarities with how a coder would handle problem solving. For me I feel Im quite good at breaking problem down into chunks and working on bits at a time, I think I am good at researching online when I am stuck etc. And Ive found as I have had to problem solve, that I have been reasonably successful, which is very assuring at times.
3. I also learnt that I am pretty good at identifying and sometimes managing my emotions. As I was learning about EQ, I found there was a lot of stuff that it mentioned about how people identify when they are in particular, emotional states, and are able to take action from that to then either, get out of those emotions, or use them productively. Retrospectively, I learnt that I have been tending to do that throughout my life at various points. I think at times of stress in particular, I am good at identifying when I am reaching a breaking point, and am able to take action to destress myself when I need to. This is not always sure to work but I know that I have done so in the past, I just didnt realise, what I ws doing.
I think learning programming, especially in the way we are doing it, where we are learning alot, all very new concepts, very fast, its really important to be aware of ones self and those around you. There have been, and I can assume going forward, we are going to be challenged so much further. And this can cause a lot of stress, and other negative emotions can certainly build up. Knowing yourself and your values, is important to help yourself and others navigate through these stress filled times. And this furthur more when we start working with others, having empathy and awareness, of yourselves, and others is just as important to create a working environment for everyone to succeed.
I think what most surprised me, was how relevant a lot of it was to me, and how some of these concepts, eg. Neuroplasticity, that I had never even heard of, but knowing this information made learning tech easier. Just having had a change of perspective on learning, and the science of how people actually do it.
I found writing some blogs challenging at times. Not really the blog posts that involved researching a topic, but more the ones where we had to be personal. I struggled a bit with what I wanted to put out in blog form, like what level of personal stuff is appropriate to share and what to not. I think as I kept working on blogs, I got more confident just writing what I wanted and not question it too much. I think that gave a more accurate idea of where I was coming from, who I am.
I think as I mentioned before, learning programming like we are, hard and fast, having an awareness of yourselves, how you operate, is really important to get you through this course. Because there will be times where we are really challenged or stuggling, and having core knowledge of learning and yourself will help you in learning tech, but also how to manage yourself when you are not doing so well. The core information is a great supplement to help get us through tech learning.
I do not think it was a waste of time. Admittedly after the first sprint, I was a bit hesitant as to how good core learning would be, but I found weeks after that really useful. The topics were always relevant, and multiple times have helped me get through some of the rougher tech learning times. I think also learning different stuff and not just technology, is a good way to space out different learning, and not tunnel vision on just one thing.