I had many goals for this work term, but the ones listed below were the most important to me.
My first goal this term was to learn and become skilled in JavaScript. My supervisor and co-workers assisted me in reaching this goal; I received in-depth code reviews from experienced developers and was given the opportunity to write the backend to a new node microservice. I studied code from existing projects and used tools to keep my code clean and readable. I was motivated to write structured code that could be built upon and maintained with minimal effort.
Related to this, I also set a goal to improve my understanding and writing of asynchronous code. With the experience I’ve gained from this work term in web development and JavaScript, I’m confident that I achieved this goal. During the term, I would look up tutorials on my own time and ran small tests to deepen my understanding. While working on the application, I read over the client-side code when working on the server-side (and vice-versa) so I knew exactly what each section of code did. The aspect of my work that actually helped me to learn the most was when my code didn’t behave as expected. By using breakpoints to debug, I saw exactly how and when the data changed; I learned the flow of asynchronous code and how it differs from synchronous code. Upon completing this work term, I can identify asynchronous code very quickly and I understand the appropriate (and inappropriate) use cases for asynchronous programming. I wouldn’t be able to say that before my work term at IBM.
A goal I held at high priority for this work term was improving my communication. To be specific, I wanted to become a more reliable co-worker and teammate through my everyday actions. From my first work term to now, I am very happy with the progress I’ve made. There were frequent stand up meetings and bi-weekly sprint meetings that allowed for opportunities to share my current status, discuss pitfalls and give my own input on how the product could be improved. When I needed clarification or was stuck, I did not hesitate to ask my supervisor or co-workers for assistance. My oral communication skills are still on the weaker side, but they are noticeably improving. In future work terms, I plan to continue improving this area and take the initiative to broaden my social network at work by finding opportunities to learn and share my learnings.
My last goal was to work on personal organization skills and managing my time well. Considering the nature of my work, I’m happy with my progress towards this goal. During each sprint, I would always draft a work plan and create simple to-do lists. This helped to keep myself on track, and getting deliverables in on time was never an issue. Like with any skill though, there are always improvements to be made. In the future, I will start to leverage prioritized to-do lists and consider work item interdependencies so that I can spot potential pitfalls early on and spend my time more effectively.