I will focus on the goals that I set for myself after my work term at Auvik, as well as comment on areas I feel were either most improved or in need of improvement.
A goal I now hold at high regard is improving my communication. I worked on two different teams over the term – each team member working on tasks dependant on one another – and quickly realized the importance of good communication. I will say that I have mixed feelings on this goal. There were no notable issues working with individual team members, and I can receive and incorporate constructive criticism very well now. However, it is clear that I need to work on communicating more often and on a consistent basis. There were times when I became so encumbered with solving a problem that I isolated myself and neglected asking for help. My team members were left in the dark on my progress. Looking back, I realize my fault and know I have to work on being more assertive and persistent when getting the answers I need. In my next work term, I will make sure that – no matter how little it may be – I show my progress every day and show dependability to my peers.
Another goal was to develop my programming skills. In particular, my focus was to prepare myself for the future by learning best practices and how production-grade applications are developed. The codebase at NCR was monumental; my supervisor made it clear that I would need at least a month of training before I was ready. It was slow paced at first, but well worth the time spent. By starting with simpler tasks, I could direct my focus towards learning both the application flow and the development workflow. I shadowed my team members and learned documentation and testing standards (both of which were heavily enforced at NCR). When it came time to start complex tasks, I was ready. I listened to feedback from code reviews and asked questions when something was unclear. Though I realize now that I should have asked questions more often, I’m confident that I made meaningful progress towards this goal.
My last goal was to work on my organization and planning skills. I was able to work on this goal as our team participated in daily stand up meetings to get updates from each team member, as well as quarterly iteration meetings that prompted team discussion to chart out all the expected features to implement and bugs to resolve. Work at NCR was very much deadline orientated. There were set deadlines to deliver code to the bank, and sprint workloads reflected these deadlines. It was difficult to keep up at first; many of my early tasks were carried over to the next sprint. With each sprint though, I got better at planning; discussing my task with team members, drawing diagrams, understanding how it fits in the big picture. I learned how essential plans are despite how unimportant they may seem. Upon completing my time at NCR, I feel much more confident in my ability to organize myself. In my next work term, I will make a conscious effort to share my plans with peers and make sure I am on the right track.