gear_up.md

Gear Up

Empathy is important because it can put you in someone else's shoes and give you an opportunity to see through their eyes. When you are able to see a product from someone else point of view, it creates the opportunity to build better software because at that point more people will benefit instead of just your own viewpont software. Empathy is important for working with a team because once you put yourself in their shoes it provides you the opportunity to better communicate with someone. By instituting the skill of empathy, this provides logic and emotional skills that better suit you to work effectively amongst a team. At my previous job, one of my colleagues who turned into one of my closest friends had moved to the US from Africa. I was able to listen intently to his story and try to put myself in his shoes. By doing that and truly understanding his situation it gave me a broader viewpoint. I think that interaction brought us closer together and able to continue to communciate and work more efficiently together. Its most difficult to be empathetic when things are moving fast in a professional setting. Your mind is moving so fast that you might react without empathy. I have to know that when a teammate or group becomes involved, I need to slow the mind down and focus on listening instead of reacting. In one of the recommended readings it talked about the study of pulling over to help someone in need. The results came down to whether or not the person was in a rush or late that determined if they would pull over. In these situations we need to slow our minds down and stay focused on empathy.