Pair Programming and Receiving Feedback

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Part of the DBC experience is pairing with others in solving challenges together. This has been really new to me because throughout college, I didn't have many group projects or group study going on. Initially, I was pretty nervous about it.

How I originally felt before pair programming

I still get a little nervous before each pair session but overall, I've found it as a great way to enhance my communication and technical skills. I worry that I won't be able to contribute much to the session. With a pair, we typically can finish the challenge around two hours, whereas if it were just by myself, it'd take me all day. To mitigiate my nervousness, I typically prepare for the challenge for a couple of ideas so that I can at the very least offer suggestions on how to approach the problem. It is very rewarding when we are on the right track, I understand what we are doing, and overcome an obstacle together.

How I feel when I understand
How I feel when my pair and I solve a challenge in less than two hours

I've only checked my feedback twice, even though I realized now that I should be checking it weekly. I think it's because I am worried I will get a negative review and it'll break my confidence for future pairing. Actually, that is something I need to work on: building my confidence. The feedback is helpful because it points out that I am my own worst critic and that there is probably a positive correlation between confidence and skill. I think it is a weird counteractive defense mechanism, I tend to be too open about my weaknesses and feelings. So something I need to work on is to start believing in myself because it takes too much energy to doubt myself.

It's hard for me to give feedback because a lot of times I don't pay too much attention to people's weaknesses - I am too absorbed with how I am performing. I usually think they do great and my mind goes blank when I try to think of something actionable, specific, and kind. I think the only time I am disappointed is when my pair isn't communicating with me what they are doing and leaves me wondering what is going on.

Pairing has really helped my learning because I love learning from others who know what's going on and it feels good to explain things to those who get a bit lost.