Aside from learning the basics of Ruby and Object-Oriented Programming, Phase 0 of Dev Bootcamp has introduced us to an equally important concept: peer pairing. It's something very few, if any of us have had any prior experience with, but we've had a lot of practice over the last several weeks. Here is my experience thus far:
This is different
That was my initial reaction after my first session. I definitely liked the part where I got to meet someone new, but was completely intimidated by the process. I had no idea what I was doing.
Pairing, though, is just like any other skill. The more you do it, the better you become, and that certainly has been my experience. Breaking through and solving a problem is by far the most rewarding thing. Sharing in success is a huge motivator. On the flip side, I find that it's sometimes difficult to come up with a plan of action for a pairing session, especially if there are several different projects you could be working on.
Feedback
Another big piece of DBC is providing feedback to your peers after pairing sessions. I was very hesitant about this part at first because I have had a lot of experience with peer-to-peer feedback in music school. It wasn't good. 18-22 year-olds don't have enough experience to give any real, constructive feedback, but their egos tend to cloud better judgement. And while the demographics at DBC are different, I was leary about giving feedback as well as receiving it because most of us have little to no experience programming.
Thankfully, DBC has made it a huge point of emphasis to teach proper feedback techniques and provides examples of both good and bad feedback. And they keep it simple: Specific, Actionable and Kind. That doesn't mean you need to sugarcoat, but providing feedback that is specific, actionable and kind means that you are providing feedback that is well thought-out and is intended to help.
As a singer, I was constantly seeking out feedback to help improve my performances. At DBC, my approach is the same. There is always a little bit of nervousness when checking to see if there is new feedback because it hurts the ego a little bit when someone says you aren't great at something. But I look forward to it because I want to get better and I know that the feedback is only meant to help. Going in knowing that the feedback is supposed to be specific, actionable and kind helps to lower our guard and make us more open to recieving feedback.
From the feedback I have received so far, I know for sure that I need to keep improving on my communication skills as well as being prepared with a game plan for the session.
Giving feedback is a little tough for me because I tend to over-analyze it before I submit it. It can be tough to give constructive criticism and it's also hard to make sure that your feedback is specific and actionable enough to be useful.