gear-up-AmandaSierra.md

Gear-Up

1. What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?

   • I honestly have been a lot less empathetic since my mid teen years, but I still tend to be very understanding about being in another persons shoes. Whenever I go to a restaurant and hotels/hostels, I think of how I can help the person who will be attending me or cleaning after me in someway to make it easier on them. I don't know how it has helped me but I am sure they appreciate it. I beleive that just simply thinking, " what would I like or do different if I was this person?" helps.

2. How does empathy help you build better software?

   • Empathy would help me be a better programmer by helping me stand and understand the lives of those using the software. If there is something that the user struggles with it would be great to help the user by building software that is useful for them, that would make their life easier. It's about thinking of the way you can make a difference with your knowledge. Technology has come far enough to help large populations with their daily issues and be able to make it easier on them.

3. Why is empathy important for working on a team?

   • It is important to understand the other teammates point of view to be able to see what they want to explain. Sometimes it is hard to understand others, specially if there is, for example, cultural differences. Listening and asking questions is definitely a good way to find out what they are trying to say to understand. Understanding eachother as a team builds a stronger team.

4. Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.

   • I have worked a lot with young women and usually their worries or issues at the time were based on relationships. So being there for them and listening was a great way for them to voice out their concerns. Sometimes people just want to be heard, not really receive any kind of tips or ideas, just vent. Many people as well have been through difficult times in relationships, and tend to understand what the other person is going through, which makes them a bit empathetic to the issue.

5. When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?

   • A hard time to be empathetic would maybe be when the person has been constantly negative and not really helpful in a team setting. It is fine to be empathetic to an extent, I think. You can't physically or mentally be completely available to be an empath to a negative source. It is draining and unfair to yourself. I believe it is important to be aware of yourself first, to see if you can extent the extra energy to be empathetic to negative people or situation. If I feel like me being empathetic in a certain situation has me feeling drained or not really positive, I would not go any further with giving my time and energy to it. My mental health and stability comes first.